Biblical Hebrew Forum

["George Athas" <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

> [...]
> Logistically, the Habiru in the Amarna letters are found not only in
> central Palestine, but also in areas such as Damascus, the Beqa'a, Byblos
> and even the Orontes valley. Anyone wishing to forego any validation of the
> OT/HB as historical data for our period of interest will need to explain
> what these "Hebrew"/"Habiru" were doing well outside the indications
> supplied by their proposed witness's testimony.

Yes. You would have to posit the theory that the Israelites were just one of 
a number of
peoples invading. The problem, however, doesn't seem to be that the Habiru 
were invading,
but rather just being a general menace with the odd escalation here and 
there. The best
way to translate the term is, I think, as "gypsies". What do others think?

Best regards,
George Athas
 Dept of Semitic Studies,
 University of Sydney
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