Biblical Hebrew Forum

[ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben Crick)]

On Wed  6 Jan 99 (08:45:45 +0100), mc2499 AT mclink.it wrote:
> There is no doubt about the location of Ai.
> 
> The name actually says it all: (heap of) ruins. It doesn't augur well
> for a report written about a functioning city.

 Dear Ian

 There may be some textual confusion between Ha`iYR the city and Ha`aY
 the ruin (Joshua 8). Bethel is not necessarily Beitin, and Ai not is
 necessarily Et-Tell. D Livingston argues cogently for Bireh to be the
 site of Bethel. The topography agrees with that of the book of Joshua,
 and one and a half miles east of Bireh is another small Tell, as yet
 unnamed and unexcavated, which could be Ai. I don't have the bibliography
 I'm afraid: it's my note from something I read about 10 years ago.

 There are, of course, no convincing explanations of this conflict between
 archaeology and the Book of Joshua.

 $aLoWM
 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
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