Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dave Washburn <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

Briefly:

On Thursday 27 February 2003 15:46, Lisbeth S. Fried wrote:
> Dear Pastor Eddy,
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of
> > Pastor Mark Eddy
> > Sent: Thu, February 27, 2003 4:58 PM
> > To: b-hebrew
> > Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The Priestly Stratum
> >
> >
> > I really don't have time to get involved in this. If only
> > there were 36 hours in a day! I still have to
> > answer questions on another thread (which I intend to get to
> > in a couple weeks), but I have to chime in a
> > little bit (interspersed below).
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Lisbeth S. Fried"
> >
> > > Dear Ian,
> > > I disagree that the people of pre-Exilic Judah were polytheistic.
> >
> > What do you mean by "the people"?
>
> I meant anyone!
>
> I know that the prophecies
>
> > of Jeremiah were not compiled until the exile
> > had begun, but it seems to me that there were at least two
> > groups in Israel at his time. The "orthodox"
> > monotheists, such as Jeremiah, and large number of other
> > people who worshipped many gods. What else does
> > Jer. 11:11-13 mean?
>
>   13 For the number
>
> > of your cities became (the number of) your
> > gods, O Judah;
>
> This actually was the starting point of my research.
> I assumed that at the time of Jeremiah there were
> cult sites in every city and that I would be able to
> find them in the Iron Age II strata of Judah.

Perhaps this is part of your problem, because that's not what it says.  It's 
using the number of cities as a baseline for comparison, not saying there 
were cult sites in every city.  The point of the statement is to give a 
word-picture that denotes a huge number, and the statement is probably a 
hyperbole in the first place.

-- 
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur