Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Raymond de Hoop <rdehoop AT keyaccess.nl>]

On 26-02-2001 15:44 Karen Spray <karen.spray AT lineone.net> wrote:

> I was wondering what (if any) other Hebrew texts of comparative antiquity
> exist which might shed light on word meanings etc in the Hebrew Bible.

Karen, 

there are Hebrew inscriptions dating from the biblical times. However, they
do not help very much with regard to the meaning of words, though sometimes
they do. 

On the other hand, sometimes they are rather revolutionary with regard to
the religion or history of ancient Israel. For example, an inscription from
Kuntillet `Ajrud mentions that Yhwh has an Ashera. An inscription from Tel
Dan (though in Aramaic) mentions the _BYTDWD_ which refers to the house of
David (see http://members.nbci.com/gathas/teldan.htm for much more
information).

In case you're interested in some additional material for the study of the
meaning of (Biblical) Hebrew words, you will have to study some other
NW-Semitic languages, like Aramaic and Ugaritic.


Hope this helps. Regards,
Raymond

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Dr Raymond de Hoop          Tel.: ++31 50 553 0115
Boeiersingel 11
NL-9745 CA Groningen
The Netherlands             E-mail: rdehoop AT keyaccess.nl


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