Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ken Litwak <kdlitwak AT concentric.net>]

Ian, your reply to me quoted something I didn't write and hadnothing
to do with the specific issue I am addressing.  I will get to
archaeological and epigraphic data, but that is not the topic I raised. 
Please deal with the topic instead of going to some other topic, if you
wish to discuss it.  All the archeaological evidence in the world does
not say anything about what should be criteria for dating texts.  Let us
focus on just ONE thing at a time please.  Do you have any suggestiojns
for criteria for establishing the likely dates of compositions oa any
texts?  No evidence that you cited in your post has anything to do with
establishing when Aristotle's Rhetorica or Thucydides War was written. 
I'd like to deal with this one issue of dating texts without going off
in other directins and not really discussing the issue at hand.  Since
you assgined virually all the Scri[ptures of Israel to the 2nd cenruy
BC, I'd like to know your crieria for doing so.  I've suggesed that
basing it on MSS dates is not valid in light of other texts.  Let's deal
with tha specific issue.  


Ken Litwak