Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il>]

Walter Mattfeld wrote:

> I have also pointed out that the Hebrew Bible's chronology supports an
> Exodus date sometime in the 16th century BCE (contra 1 Ki.6:1), the same
> century as the Hyksos expulsion. It follows that the destroyed archaelogical
> ruins found in Canaan in the 13th century cannot be "Joshua's conquest". In
> order for scholars to maintain that it is, they have had to "butcher up" the
> Bible's chronology, denying an Exodus circa 1440 BCE (cf. 1 Kings 6:1).

Dear Walter,
How can you on the one hand accept the artificial chronology of the Torah and 
Kings
(480 yrs. from the Exodus to Solomon's temple =  12 x 40 = typological x 
typological =
fictitious) and on the other hand not accept Mosaic authorship of the 
Pentateuch and
date it instead to Exilic times? Do you mean to say that when the Pentateuch 
was
finally edited and the chronological framework was added, someone actually 
had records
of the length of time from the Exodus to the completion of the Solomonic 
Temple?
Aren't you being inconsistent in dealing with the veracity of the Biblical 
material?
Sincerely,

Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College
44905 Beit Berl Post Office
Israel