Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

----- Original Message -----
From: Walter Mattfeld <mattfeld AT mail.pjsnet.com>
To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Sunday, May 21, 2000 8:43 PM
Subject: Dating the Pentateuch, Davidic Anomalies (1 Sam. 30:26-31)


> Dating the Pentateuch: Davidic Anomalies (1 Samuel 30:26-31)
>
> It is my understanding that the Pentateuch is a part of a National History
> extending from Genesis to 2 Kings, thus, in order to date this National
> History, as well as the Pentateuch, one must look at all texts, not just
the
> first five books of the Hebrew Bible.

There are a lot of assumptions here. National histories grow. There is
absolutely no reason why the Pentateuch (or at least an early version of it)
could not be dated long before Samuel.
>
> I am attempting to date texts not by comparing word forms and usages
> (diachronic studies), but by noting the presence of towns and villages
who's
> archaelogical existence has been confirmed, establishing their dates of
> foundation, occupation and abandonment.
>
> I note that 1 Samuel 30:26-31 mentions several villages whose elders
> received spoils taken by a victorious David from the Amalekites. Three of
> the cities appearing in this list have been identified and their
> archaeological parameters established. They are Jattir, Aroer and Eshtemoa
>  1 Sam. 30:27-28).

Actually more than three "have been identified and their archaeological
parameters established". What about Bethel and Hebron? You are simply
choosing the three which best suit your argument.
>
> Jattir is currently identified with Khirbat `Attir, the pottery sequences
> suggest the city was not in existence in the days of David, the late
> 11th/early 10th centuries BCE:
>
> "In 1971 the Levitical City survey found that the earliest occupation at
> Khirbet `Attir was Late Iron II...Most of the Iron II pottery comes from
the
> 7th/6th centuries; the 8th century was also represented. The
identification
> of Khirbet `Attir with biblical Jattir stands. Although the archaeological
> evidence does not support an occupation of the site during the conquests
of
> King David, it was occupied during the writing of the Deuteronomistic
> history." (ABD 3.650, John L. Peterson, "Jattir," 1992)

For you to use this last clause in an argument for the dating of the
Deuteronomistic history is circular reasoning. If we ignore the last clause,
this is just argument from silence.
>
> Joshua 21:14 suggests the town existed in the 15th/12th century BCE as he
> alotted it to the tribe of Judah, obviously this is an anachronism. The
town
> didn't exist in David's days either (1 Samuel 30:27).
>
> Eshtemoa is currently identified with es-Samu`, which lies 8 kilometers
> northeast of Khirbat `Attir, southwest of Hebron in the hill country of
> Judah.
>
> "The first to identify es-Samu` with biblical Eshtemoa was Robinson
> (1841:626-627), and his identification has never been contested..." (ABD
> 2.618, John L. Peterson, "Estemoa," 1992)

Why have they never been contested? Why is Robinson's early 19th century
pseudo-science still taken as gospel truth (even when the gospels aren't)?
Are the Jattir and Aroer identifications also Robinson's?
>
> Peterson noted that in 1971, Yeiven in the course of repairs to a 4th
> century CE Synagogue at es-Samu, found two vessels of the 9th-8th
centuries
> BCE. This is the only "hard date" appearing in this article. If Eshtemoa
is
> not any earlier than this period, then it, like Jattir, didn't exist in
> Joshua's days as a town to be alotted to Judah (Jos.15:50, 21:14). It
didn't
> exist in David's days either.
>
> Aroer is currently identified with `Ar`arar. The town doesn't appear in
> Joshua, its only appearance is 1 Samuel 30:28.
>
> According to archaeological work done at modern `Ar`arah, believed to be
> ancient Aroer, the site was unoccupied before the 7th century BCE:
>
> "Ar`arah was excavated between 1975 and 1981 by A. Biran and R. Cohen.
They
> concluded that this 5-acre site was first settled in the 7th century BC
and
> was occupied intermittently, until ca. AD 70. Though it is possible that
> further excavations might uncover remains from the 11th or 10th centuries
> BC, it does not appear that `Ar`arah was occupied in the time of David."
> (ABD 1.400, Gerald L. Mattingly, "Aroer 4," 1992)

Mattiingly points out the danger of arguing from silence and warns against
drawing the type of conclusions you are drawing.
>
> Biran suggested that Tel Esdar, 1 1/2 miles away from `Ar`arah, might be
> Aroer, as it did possess pottery of the 11-10th centuries BCE, the period
of
> David. He suggested the name moved from Isdar to `Ar`arah when the latter
> was founded in the 7th century BCE (ABD 1.400, Gerald L. Mattingly, "Aroer
> 4," 1992)
>
<snip>

I have a general, though perhaps unanswerable, question here about the
settlement patterns in the area during the 11th-10th centuries. Were there
settlements other than the supposed Jattir, Eshtemoa and Aroer? Was the area
unpopulated? Or was it populated by nomads? If the last, that would explain
why there were no permanent settlements at this time and yet be quite
consistent with the account in 1 Samuel 30: at the time the names could have
been those of general areas of settlement, which later became the names of
permanent settlements in the same areas. Any archaeological record of these
nomads could be scattered over a wide area.

Peter Kirk