Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Peter Kirk"<peter_kirk AT sil.org>]

Dear Jonathan,

You wrote: "a distinction which could not have arisen before the 
Josianic Reform of 621".

Why?

Please give arguments not from silence. Also bear in mind that there 
is no a priori reason to assume that the surviving accounts of the 
Josianic reform are more reliable than those of the giving of the 
Pentateuch.

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator 
_________________________________
Subject: Re: Ethics of our Profession
Author:  <yonsaf AT beitberl.ac.il> at Internet
Date:    14/02/2000 11:27


Dear Ken,
Your assessment of the position of the "Copenhagen school" concure with mine 
in many respects.
However, there still remains internal evidence in the Torah for a 
post-exilic redavtion.
For example, there is the distinction made between Priests and Levites, a 
distinction which could not have arisen before the Josianic Reform of 621, 
and which is first reflected, outside the Torah, in Ezekiel. We thus have to 
push the final redaction forward into the very last days of the Kingdom of 
Judah, at least, or the Babylonian Exile (where Ezekiel lived), if not the 
beginning of the Persian Period.
Spinoza's idea that Ezra wrote the Torah is still a pretty good guess (but 
only that).
Sincerely,
Jonathan D. Safren


-----Original Message-----
From: kdlitwak [mailto:kdlitwak AT concentric.net] 
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2000 2:11 AM
To: Biblical Hebrew
Subject: Re: Ethics of our Profession

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