Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Tony Prete <tonyprete AT earthlink.net>]

At 09:04 AM 02/28/01, Dave Washburn wrote:
> Raymond wrote:
> > 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).
>
> Agreed.  At the same time, it's necessary to use caution when 
> interpreting what these items really mean.  In particular, does the
> Kuntillet `Ajrud inscription indicate that ancient Israel *universally*
> and consistently believed YHWH had an Asherah, or does it 
> indicate a localized phenomenon that took place during one of 
> Israel's many reported periods of idolatry?  People's answers will
> vary with their presuppositions about things like what we can know 
> about ancient Israel, how reliable the biblical texts are, the history
> of religions and other aspects of the field.  But in most cases,
> there 
> are several ways of looking at the implications of these brief and 
> often cryptic messages.

I appreciate Dave's clarification, which is especially important with the
Asherah matter because of its potential for mis-application (and I
emphasize "mis") to the contemporary "goddess"
interests.  Also, presenting these two extra-biblical sources as
examples of "Hebrew inscriptions dating from the biblical
times" can create the impression that there are lots of others. Is
that true?

Anthony Prete

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