Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ian Hutchesson <mc2499 AT mclink.it>]

At 08.58 21/05/99 -0500, Jack wrote:
>I'm not helping my own argument for an Aramaic common language for
>1st century Palestine with this question...but bolstering the opposite view
>is sometimes the best way to come to terms.  I think it was Father
>Murphy-O'Connor (sorry, I'm not at home in the comfort of my library)
>who proposed that the Essenes essentially packed up their toothbrushes
>and moved back to Judea from Syria following the victorious Maccabaean
>Revolt.  If this is true, it could explain the Aramaic texts, including Job.

There seems of course as much evidence for the Murphy-O'Connor theory as
there is for the Essene Hypothesis: none!


Ian