Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ian Hutchesson <mc2499 AT mclink.it>]

Hi Wondell,

>Speaking of Canon - When I was a member of a local BBS here, on one of the
>religious message boards - a gentleman posted a message stating that the
>book of Dabariym(Deuteronomy) was a 'patent fake' and that 'reputable
>scholars' had found evidence, archaeological or otherwise, that it was
>copied from Sumerian and Babylonian(or Akkadian?) tablets of which
>remnants existed in a  cave near Qumran. 

There have been no reports about tablets from any of the caves, especially
tablets with Akkadian (or even Sumerian) cuneiform, to the best of my
knowledge. None of the DSS standard texts mention it -- and they would if
something as startling as this were true. It is so improbable, that I'd
have to think either that the person was having you on or had been had on!

>I know there are many
>similarities between the Pentateuch and those fantasy "epics"....

As the Ancient Near East was a continuum of traditions, it's not strange
that there are similarities. Some people are convinced one of the psalms
was written by the Egyptian pharaoh akhenaten because of similarities with
his solar hymn. Similarities are one thing, probably based on a certain
amount of common heritage through contact, but that stuff was "ripped off"
wholesale, well...

I was listening to a symphonic suite by Balakirev a while back and suddenly
I heard a theme that was very familiar to me from a later work by
Stravinsky -- slightly different, but the similarity was too much to
indicate coincidence. Yet, classical composers were of the habit of
absorbing folk music into their symphonic works, but the end result is
usually quite unique.

>but the
>guy that wrote this message claimed it was entirely ripped from those
>tablets and there was no such thing as Aaron collecting the words of Moshe
>and authoring Deuteronomy.

We will unfortunately never know the history of production of a text like
Deuteronomy, though one might be able to suggest dates or phases of
development.

Sorry, I don't think I or anyone else can help you much  more on this.


Cheers,


Ian