Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

On Tue 26 Jan 99 (13:58:14 +0000), jwest AT highland.net wrote:
> The problem is that:
> 1- there is no historical evidence that "david" conquered the city.
> 2- That his sons were priests.
> 3- that melchiz. was an historical personage
> 4- that the narrative of the dtr "historian" is historical!
 [snip]

 Dear Jim,

 Thanks for your reply. Albert Schweitzer is renowned for his /Quest of
 the Historical Jesus/, and we have to admit that he failed in his quest.
 But Jesus of Nazareth will just not go away, for all that.

 So we need not be dismayed that the Quests for the historical Abraham
 or Jacob or Moses or David seem to be failing. These characters are very
 substantial "spooks" for all that. The whole of Judaism, Christianity,
 and (to some extent) Islam look to them as founding fathers. John Bright
 in his /History of Israel/, SCM, 1960, seems to find the subject coherent
 although he admits the difficulties. For Egyptology I learned from Sir
 Alan Gardiner, /Egypt of the Pharaohs/, Oxford, 1961. David Rohl threw a
 substantial "cat" among the "pigeons" with his /A Test of Time/, Arrow
 Books, 1995; I'm still trying to digest it!  [How does a pygmy eat an
 elephant?  - one mouthful at a time!]

 All the archaeologists who have investigated Jericho have commented upon
 the extreme denudation of the site; it does not yield its secrets easily.
 I'm awaiting the reports from the recent Italian expedition. Even so, I'm
 sure that even that won't be the definitive "final answer"!

 JEDP still lives on, despite the labours of e.g. Ken Kitchen in /Ancient
 Orient and Old Testament/, Tyndale Press, 1966, in pulling the Wellhausian
 rug out from under it. I am not competent to referee the discussions on
 this List by people who are more knowledgeable than I: which is why I
 remain here to read all your posts.

 Shalom,
 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
 <ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
 http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm