Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Thomas L. Thompson" <tlt AT teol.ku.dk>]

> -----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
> Fra:  Jonathan D. Safren [SMTP:yonsaf AT beitberl.ac.il]
> Sendt:        1. juni 2000 15:29
> Til:  Biblical Hebrew
> Cc:   Biblical Hebrew
> Emne: Re: Jericho's Anomalies (cut)
> 
> Dear Jonathan,
> As one of those partly responsible for what you call a late dating of the
> patriarchs (I don't know what you mean by nonauthenticity!) I am somewhat
> surprised that this old debate is being put forward as important. The
> literature on this debate is decades old as you know and no clear results
> have been obtained regarding the two Urs of the Bronze Age. If there is an
> issue here--and it is very small fry at that--it is the reference to
> Kasdim, not Ur: but you know that.
> Thomas
> 
> Thomas L. Thompson
> Professor, University of Copenhagen
> 
> I also wrote that those who continue to insist on a southern
> identification of Ur are
> doing so because this is a linchpin of their assumption of the lateness
> and
> nonauthenticity of the Patriarchal Narratives, and without a southern Ur,
> their whole
> house of cards collapses.
> The Patriarchal Narratives may be legend, but they point to a Northern
> Mesopotamian
> origin of the Patriarchs.
> Strangely enough, there may even be support from a recent Y-chromosome
> study of Jewish
> populations and host populations which indicates that, by Y-chromosome
> makeup, Jews of
> all origins are closest to Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Non-Jewish
> Iraqis were
> not in the sample, so fnal conclusions will have to wait.
> Sincerely,
> --
> Jonathan D. Safren
>