Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Walter Mattfeld" <mattfeld AT mail.pjsnet.com>]

Mr. Washburn has brought up some interesting points. He is quite right about
many scholars distancing themselves from Ussher's chronology. I referred to
Ussher for the benefit of the viewing audience, many of whom I assume are
Christian, and many of which are familiar with this chronology from the
still popular King James Version of the Bible.

Another point taken by Mr. Washburn, is that some of my interpretations are
uniquely my own and not shared by the scholarly community at large, which is
quite true.

I do not subscribe to the JPDS theory which among other things posits parts
of Genesis to have been written by a Jahwist in the court of King Solomon
some time in the 10th century BCE. My research, as indicated in my earlier
post, contradicts this notion. If Genesis is really 10th century BCE why
isn't Asshur mentioned as the leading city of Assyria, which it was from the
14th century BCE until eclipsed by Calah being made the capital by
Assurnasirpal II ( 885-859 BCE) in the 9th century BCE, followed by Nineveh
becoming the capital under Sennacherib in 704 BCE ?

How could the Jahwist in 960 BCE not know of the capital city ofAsshur,
famous since the 14th century BCE (Asshur the city is never mentioned in the
Bible, as pointed out by Grayson) ?

Grayson makes the following observations about the city Asshur:

"The city Asshur, which was the original capital of the kingdom of Assyria,
is also never specifically referred to in the Bible...In the 14th century BC
Asshur became the capital of a land which was for the first time called
Assyria...Asshur continued to be the capital until the 9th century BC when
Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BC) moved the capital to Calah. Then in the 7th
century BC the capital was once again moved, this time by Sennacherib
(704-681 BC) to Nineveh." (cf. p.500, Vol. 1, A.K. Grayson, "Asshur," David
Noel Freedman, Ed., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, New York, Doubleday, 1992,
ISBN 0-385-19351-3)

 How could Moses in 1440 BCE or the Jahwist in 960 BCE know of Calah ?
Grayson observes about Calah:

"...Calah was of no significance in the 3d and 2d millenium BC. It was
singled out for importance only in the 9th century BC when Assurnasirpal II
chose it as his capital. Assurnasirpal totally transformed the insignificant
village into a metropolis which was suitable to be the center of the empire
he created." (cf. p.808, Vol.1, A.K. Grayson, "Calah," David Noel Freedman,
Ed., The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Doubleday, 1992)

It is just as unlikely that Moses or the Jahwist knew of Lud/Lydia in
1440/960 BCE, when according to the testimony of Asshurbanipal, this nation
was unknown and unheard of by "his fathers", remarking on the fact that
Gyges of Lydia/Luddu has sought him out, seeking to be his vassal, and
offering captured Gimmerai (biblical Gomer) warriors as a token of esteem ?
My research seeks to establish plausible historical allusions within the
text to establish the date of the text.

Bury on Lydia and Assyria, citing Asshurbanipal's own words preserved in
cuneiform:

""Gyges, king of Lydia, a district which is across the sea, a remote place
of which the kings my fathers had not heard speak of its name. The account
of my grand kingdom in a dream was related to him by Assur, the god my
creator: "Of Assurbanipal, king of Assyria, the beloved of Assur, king of
the gods, lord of all, his princely yoke take." (cf. p. 840, notes to p.
104, citing a cuneiform translation by G. Smith, History of Asshurbanipal,
p. 64, 73, in  J.B. Bury, A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the
Great, New York, the Modern Library, Random House, 1937)

Genesis has a variety of historical markers dating it. Allusions to a flood
myth originating with the Sumerians in the 3rd millenium BCE; allusions to
cities that did not possess "world-renoun" until after the 10th century BCE;
allusions to nations not known to exist prior to the 7th century BCE like
Lydia (at least the Assyrians were not aware of it); allusions to Madai's
(Medes) descent from Japheth, which I have ascertained to be a 5th century
BCE reworking of the 6th century BCE Athenian Medus myth by the Persian
royal court.

In conclusion, as noted hundreds of years ago by the brilliant but much
maligned Jewish humanist scholar Spinoza, "It is clearer than the sun at
mid-day, that Moses did not write the Pentateuch." I would add to Spinoza's
observation, that there was no Jahwist in Solomon's court composing it
either. Based on my research into the historical allusions behind  Madai's
Japhethic descent, Genesis as we have it today "in its final form" was
composed in the 5th century BCE, in the Post-Exilic period (although it does
contain Pre-Exilic relics, concepts and facts).

All the best,

Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld
Walldorf by Heidelberg
Baden-Wurttemburg
Germany