Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Trevor Peterson <06PETERSON AT cua.edu>]

>===== Original Message From David Stabnow <dstabno AT lifeway.com> =====
>I can see where a writer or speaker could make a casual mistake that
>results in an anachronism.  Let's take your "pencil" example.  I might say,
>"The Egyptian scribe picked up his pencil and recorded the royal history."
>Some archaeologist or academia nut would correct me, informing me that
>pencils weren't invented yet.  I would counter that I just meant, in
>general, a writing instrument; I didn't intend to be specific.  However, if
>I were to make the claim that Amenhotep was the first man to use a lead
>pencil, that would be indefensible, since it is obviously a specific claim
>not a casual mistake.  Gen 4:22 seems to be the latter kind of specific
>claim, unless, as Mr. Levin wonders, "barzel" can mean metalworking in
>general.

Well, it doesn't say that he was the first, does it? But I don't think that 
what I said before is affected either way. The question was how a person 
could 
make the mistake of attributing ironwork to an earlier period. If I lived in 
the iron age and I wanted to comment on someone's skill with metalwork, I 
would probably include iron with other metals, especially if I weren't 
particularly aware of a time that people didn't use iron. I used the example 
of a pencil because it's not a very high-tech implement. I don't know offhand 
of when they began to be used. Maybe lead or graphite markings have been 
found 
on truly ancient material, or maybe no one thought of it until 100 years ago. 
I probably have the means to research an answer, but in a culture where that 
means does not exist, what can I do but assume that people used the same 
things long ago. Keep in mind especially that we're talking about cultures 
where material culture changed very slowly by today's standards. The fact 
that 
I can buy a computer today and have it be out of date tomorrow reminds me 
every minute that technology changes. But if every generation of my family 
that I know of has plowed the same piece of ground with the same tools, what 
reason do I have to think that it was ever any different?

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics