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b-hebrew - [b-hebrew] Habiru/Apiru/Ibrim (was: Date of the Jericho Battle)

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  • From: "Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Habiru/Apiru/Ibrim (was: Date of the Jericho Battle)
  • Date: Sun, 23 May 2004 00:14:35 +0200

OK, let's do it.

My impression has always been that the initial connection was made simply
because, to the European scholars who first translated the el-Amarna letters,
"Habiru" sounded lot like "Hebrew". However, even assuming an etymological
connection between (PR and (BR,
a. A careful analysis of the EA texts finds no mention of the Apiru as
"tribes", "invaders", "conquerors" or anything else that is similar to the
biblical account of the conquest. Many of the cities mentioned in the
conquest story, such as Jericho, Ai, Gibeon, Hebron, Debir, Shimron, Achshaph
are not mention in the EA texts (and indeed many were not even settled at the
time).
b. The term "Ibri" and its uses in the Bible are also unclear. DOES it refer
to an "ethnicity"? Is it a social status?
c. IF the EA letters were to be taken as evidence of a "Hebrew" invasion of
Canaan during the 14th century, such an invasion had no real effect: the
"wave" of destructions, the appearance of "Israelite" settlements in the hill
country and the end of Egyptian rule of the country all began in the 12th
century.

Yigal
----- Original Message -----
From: Uri Hurwitz
To: Yigal Levin ; b-hebrew
Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2004 10:48 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] True Date of the Jericho Battle


Yigal wrote: "However, even if that date is off by about a century
either way it would not
make a difference, as there is NO archaeological OR textual evidence of any
appearance of anything that anyone could identify as "Israelites" until the
very end of the 13th century.

Yigal"
I believe you refer here to the the "Israel Stele" by Merenptah;
indeed late 13th cent., and there the matter could rest.

But some timid souls would still support Th. Meek's thesis, and he was
not the first or the only one, that the infamous Habiru of the Amarna tablets
in the 14th century were the Hebrews. He made this connection on clear
linguistic grounds, which makes this worth discussion on this list. And it
would push back the external references to biblical Hebrews by over a
century. But please don't tell Rainey (among those who violently deny any
connection with the Habiru) what I wrote here.

Uri
,





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