Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

No, it is wrong. Also high ranking people may be called habiru. Furthermore,
some might take it as an insult against the gypsies who after all think of
themselves as forming an ethnicity. George, did you ever come acros Oswald
Loretz: Habiru-Hebräer (BZAW), from 1984. I can recommend it.

Landsberger's 'refugée' is by far the best translation, making it likely
that the root is ayin-beth-resh.

NPL


> -----Original Message-----
> From: George Athas [SMTP:gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au]
> Sent: Thursday, 10 February, 2000 07:24
> To:   Biblical Hebrew
> Subject:      Re: "Hebrew"/"Habiru"
> 
> > [...]
> > 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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