Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Joe,

> I too use Judges 11:26 to date the Exodus, but in a completely different
> way. The important thing for me is to find an historical basis for
> determining when this letter was written, who really wrote it and too whom
> was it really written.
>
> The contents of the letter suggests that the first words ("this says
> Jephthah") and the last words ("and between the Beni-Ammon") are highly
> suspect. For after first giving the history of why Israel was justified in
> claiming control of the lands between the Jabbok and Areor (Judges
> 11:15-22), the remainder of the letter (Judges 11:23-27) surely concerns a
> Moabite (not Ammonite) conquest of this region.

HH: The letter mentions Moab a lot because 
Jepthah is giving a historical review of what 
originally happened, and the original events 
centered more on Moab and than on Ammon. Read 
Numbers 21-26 (even the census in chapter 26 was 
the on plains of Moab). And that's part of 
Jepthah's argument. When Israel came to the 
Transjordan, they were nearer Moab and yet the 
Moabites did not attack them. So why should the 
Ammonites three hundred years later all of a 
sudden attack the Israelites?

> Are people on this list aware of Professor Manfred Görg's article "Israel in
> Hieroglyphen" in Biblischen Notizen 106 (2001) 21-27? I have not seen it but
> it concerns an inscription (Berlin block CG 34035 = JE 31408) which
> preserves a fragment of a damaged geographic list containing the names
> Ashkelon, j3-s^3-j-r, and Pa-Canaan (=Gaza). The stela is said to be from
> the time of Ramesses 2 but it is noted that the list may have been copied
> from an inscription written during the mid 18th dynasty (c. time of
> Amenhotep 2), with the writing of the name Israel following the Middle
> Kingdom use of 3 for r. That is, the inscription may mention Israel some 150
> years before the inscription of Merenptah.

HH: Thanks for informing us of this. I will try to look at it.

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard