Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Niels Peter Lemche <npl AT teol.ku.dk>]

>       [Thomas L. Thompson] Granted that if the patriarchal stories are to
> be dated to the 12-11th centuries,  the reference to Ur Kasdim--or to the
> Philistines--could not be posed as an argument against that. Certainly, my
> Historicity book of 1974 specifically took the beginning of the Iron Age
> as
> the earliest conceivable date that many of the elements in the story could
> have existed. I did not however date the composition of the traditions:
> only
> an a quo at that time. However, as I have understood the 'anachronism'
> argument, one must also deal with a lot of elements and not merely one or
> two of the more datable items. In 1975, Van Seters (Abraham in History and
> Tradition) proposed the 6th century as a period where one might best be
> free
> of likely anachronism. I don't see where his arguments need change in
> regard
> to any earlier dating of the texts. In 1992, I proposed a more
> comprehensive
> 'anachronism' argument, based on the implicit understanding of 'Israel' in
> the traditions, arguing that the traditions imply a post-exilic ideology.
> The argument is not as simple as the Ur Kasdim one. Others have made a
> variety of arguments in the same direction.
>       Thomas
> 
        [Niels Peter Lemche]  You see, the problem  is really why we should
separate this occurrence of Kasdim from other occurrences that span the
literature from 2 Kings to Hezechiel and Daniel? The anachronism argument
has no other support than the posibility that the patriarchal narratives
should originate in somewhat the known form around 1100  BCE. I do not think
it easy to maintain that position. And again I asked for evidence about the
presence of the Chaldeans before the 9th century BCE. Nobody has answered so
mayby nobody knows about any such evidence, and then we are back to square
one. There is no reason to equate the Chaldeans with the Arameans or to
relate them to the Arameans before they appearin the documentary material.
Furthermore, it would be nice to do some more work on the elusive origin of
the Arameans, a subject never really solved. The old immigration models have
not been very favoured lately.

        NPL