Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jim West <jwest AT highland.net>]

At 06:53 PM 2/9/00 +0100, you wrote:

>My question, after all the blather from Dr. Barré, remains the same. Is
there any 
>indication from Amarna, the Bible, Egyptian records, Assyrian/Babylonian
literature, 
>etc. which prevents the Habiru invasion of the Amarna letters from being a
14th 
>century conquest of the area by Joshua consumated in the following 
>generation?

Im not sure how such could be verified or falsified Jonathan.  How would you
know the answer to this question even if there was neutral evidence?  (which
there isnt).  How could the "Joshua" conquest (!!!!!!) be coordinated with
the Habiru invasion????  Im just a bit confused as to how the Habiru and
Joshua could possibly be tied together.

>Could it be that Amarna does not mention Israelites because the Amarna 
>Akkadian/Canaanite word for "Israelite" is "Hebrew"/"Habiru"? Could it be 
>that 
>Philistines are not mentioned in Amarna because that is just not what they
called 
>themselves? If these two "can it be"s are answerable in the affirmative,
then do the 
>records of the conquests and peoples from Amarna line up with the accounts 
>in 
>Joshua and Judges?

Could it be that the Habiru have absolutely nothing at all to do with
Joshua?  Could it be that what you are comparing here are totally unrelated?
I dont see the connection and I dont think there is one.  But I cant falsify
your supposition because there is no way to falsify a negative.

Best,

Jim

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jim West, ThD
jwest AT highland.net
http://web.infoave.net/~jwest