Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Steve .Thompson AT avondale.edu.au" <steve.thompson AT avondale.edu.au>]

Jim, how does your view of the uniformity of language of the Hebrew Bible 
stand up to the hypothesis that within the Hebrew of the Bible there is 
diversity of dialect, etc?  This is argued, for example, by Ian Young in 
_Diversity in Pre-Exilic Hebrew_ (1993).

Steven Thompson, Dean
Theology Faculty, Avondale College
Internet:  steve.thompson AT avondale.edu.au
CompuServe:  102555,1513
Voice +61 2 4980 2225
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On Sunday, 24 January 1999 4:13, Jim West [SMTP:jwest AT Highland.Net] wrote:
> At 10:51 PM 1/23/99 +0000, you wrote:
>
> >Do I understand rightly that, at the earliest, Joshua 1-6 dates to the 
2nd
> >century BCE? In that case, I presume that later historical books, such 
as
> >Kings, might be, say, 2-3rd century AD, and demonstrably late books, 
such
> >as Ecclesiastes and Malachi would be medieval?
> >
> >Mark Joseph
>
> The point is that the language of the OT is extremely uniform- and points 
to
> a compositional date around the Maccabean/Hasmonean eras.  If you were, 
for
> instance, to suppose that Josh stems from the 13th century and Daniel 
from
> the third, you have a thousand year spread where the language remains
> incredibly uniform.  Apply that same thousand year spread to English and
> make even the smallest attempt to say that the language has remained
> essentially unchanged--- and you have the heart of the problem.
>
> The Hebrew Bible, further, contains a relatively uniform theology. 
 Again,
> suppose that the theology of the Church is the same now as it was a 
thousand
> years ago and the problem is reiterated.
>
> The Hebrew Bible was evidently composed quite late.  Else I invite you to
> explain the constancy of the language throughout the whole.  (without
> recourse to the notion that it was dictated by God like that).
>
> Best,
>
> Jim
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> Jim West, ThD
> Quartz Hill School of Theology
>
> jwest AT highland.net
> http://web.infoave.net/~jwest
>
>
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