Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>]

At 09:32 AM 8/8/2002 -0400, Yigal Levin wrote:
>At 08:23 AM 8/8/2002 -0400, Randall Buth wrote:
>>shalom 
>>
>>> "The biblical record quite definitely indicates 'ibri is derived
>>>from Eber, the name of one of Shem's sons (Gen 10:21; 11:14, 16).
>>> Abraham is identified as a descendant of Shem, of Eber's line 
>>>(Gen 11:26)." 'ibri is used of the descendants of Eber,
>>
>>Yes, but there is a 'ringer'.
>>
>>The above could be expaned to argue 
>>that Canaanite is NOT related to Hebrew, 
>>because Gn 10 has Canaan linked with Egypt/Mitsrayim and 
>>not with Shem and Eber. 
>>
>>For those unacquainted with Hebrew, Phoenician, Moabite, ElAmarna
>>Canaanite IS Hebrew, or better the otherway around, 
>>Hebrew is Canaanite. 
>>And Canaanite is not the direct descendent of Hamitic languages. 
>>
>>What would have been better is to read Gen 10 as reflecting the 
>>politics of the 2nd millenium BCE, and not to ask linguistic questions
>>of it.
>>
>
>While modern linguists and anthropologists tend to use language as THE main
>criterion for defining the "relationship" between ethnic groups, the
>ancients, including the composers of the biblical genealogies, used a
>number of additional criteria as well (and probably never defined a
>"methodology" for their use). These include their assumed cultural,
>political, religious and ideological connections to each other. Remember,
>for example, that Isaac and Ishmael are brothers, but Hebrew and Arabic
>come from two different "branches" of the Semitic "tree". So, yes,
>linguistically, Canaanite and Hebrew are very close (just how close is a
>matter of debate). To the Israelites, however, it was ideologically
>important to form a distinction between themselves and their predesessors
>in the Land.
>It was once widely assumed that the assigning of the Canaanites to the
>Hamitic family reflected a memory of Egyptian domination of Canaan during
>the Late Bronze Age, but this reality is not reflected anywhere else in the
>Bible (such as the Patriarchal narratives of Joshua) and it is doubtful
>that the editors of the Priestly genealogy in Genesis would have know about
>it. 
>
>Hodesh Tov,
>
>Yigal
>
Sorry. Before anyone asks me "what Patriarchal narratives of Joshua?"; that
should have been "Patriarchal narratives OR Joshua".

Yigal






Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.