Biblical Hebrew Forum

["David Stabnow" <dstabno AT lifeway.com>]

Liz wrote: "When you say "brought together" by a D narrator, who was that
D-narrator, when did he live, how did he know the story?"

Herodotus and Josephus signed their names on their histories.  The writer
of Judges did not.  Does that mean that Herodotus and Josephus wrote facts
and the author of Judges wrote fiction?  Or does it merely mean that at the
time of the writing of Judges it was not customary for historians to sign
their names; or perhaps he was a court historian (Esther 2:23) and was not
allowed to sign his name.

When did he live?  Sometime after there was a king in Israel, because he
frequently mentions that at that time there was no king in Israel.

How did he know the story?  How did Herodotus or Josephus know the stories
they wrote?  The same way any historian knows his facts: by research --
collecting documents, oral traditions, and eyewitness accounts.

You're being too skeptical.  It sounds like if you don't know his name, the
street address of his scriptorium, his date of birth, and his mother's
maiden name, you won't accept it as a historical account.  That's the same
kind of skepticism that, in a slightly more radical form, is endangering
the present by refusing to believe accounts of the past and learn from
them.

Dave Stabnow
Bible Translation Editor
Broadman & Holman Publishers
Nashville, Tennessee
615-251-5851
david.stabnow AT lifeway.com

    Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,
do everything for God's glory.  (1 Cor 10:31, HCSB)