Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Walter Mattfeld wrote:

> If Ezra wrote the "Primary History" (Genesis-2 Kings), then it is most
> unlikely that he would have written the statement found in Ge. 13:7,
> describing the historical situation in the days of Abraham and Lot-
>
> "At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites dwelt in the Land"
>
> This statement suggests to some commentators that the narrator is explaining
> to his audience a situation that currently doesn't prevail, i.e., there are
> no Canaanites or Perizzites presently in the land.
>
> That Ezra would not have written this is suggested by comments attributed to
> him in Ezr.9:1-
>
> "The people of Israel...have not separated themselves from the peoples of
> the lands...from the CANAANITES, the Hittites, the PERIZZITES, the
> Jebusites, the Ammonites..."
>

It is more likely that the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Hittites, etc. no 
longer
existed in Ezra's time, and that basing himself on what was written in the 
Torah, he is
using these peoples as a metaphor for the non-Jews then living in Judah.
Sincerely,
Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College
44905 Beit Berl Post Office
Israel