Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.ac.il>]

I haven't been following this thread very closely, so I would like to ask if
the following points have been discussed or elucidated:
1) Habiru would be 'ober in Hebrew because of the Canaanite shift, and not
'ibri.
2) Moreover, 'ibri in the earlier books of the Tanakh (Exodus, 1 Sam.) does
not appear to be an ethnic term but a socio-economic class. It's only in
Deut. 15 and Jonah where 'ibri appears to be an ethnic designation.
Sincerely,
Jonathan D. Safren, Editor
Mo'ed - Annual for Jewish Studies
Center for Jewish Culture
Beit Berl College
Beit Berl Post Office
44905 Israel
Tel. 972-9-7476396
Fax 972-9-7475397
e-mail: moed AT beitberl.ac.il
Website: www.beitberl.ac.il/moed



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brian Roberts" <formoria AT carolina.rr.com>
To: "Uri Hurwitz" <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
Cc: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2004 1:18 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] 1450 BCE Exodus ? 'Apiru = Hebrews ?


> On Friday, July 23, 2004, at 05:57  PM, Uri Hurwitz wrote:
>
> >
> > Walter Mattfeld wrote,inter alia:
> >
> > "...Under Pharaoh Akhenaten who reigned ca. 1350-1334 BCE, we are
> > informed
> > that the land of Canaan is in a state of rebellion to Egyptian authority
> > egged-on by forces who are called 'Apiru/Habiru. Loyal
> > Egyptian-appointed
> > mayors of some Canaanite settlements inform Pharaoh that the intent of
> > the
> > 'Apiru/Habiri to seize all the land of Canaan to the border of Egypt to
> > make
> > it their own...."
> >
> > Most of the Amarna correspondence is attributed to the rule of
> > Amenhotep III, Akhenaton's father.  UH
> >
> >
> > "...If the "Apiru/Habiru residing in the Hill Country of Canaan and
> > Shechem of
> > 1350-1334 BCE are NOT the Hebrews in the days of the Judges, 1406-1050
> > BCE,
> > then WHERE ARE THE HEBREWS ? Why _no mention of them_ in the Tell
> > el-Amarna
> > correspondence ? Are they just invisible tent-dwelling "phantoms"
> > wandering
> > the hills with their tents, goats and sheep, waiting to settle down and
> > build their villages in Iron I ca. 1200-1000 BCE ?..."
> >
> > Many scholars see no connection whatsoever between  Early Israelites
> > and the Habiru; some do find the formers among the nomads termed Shasu
> > in Egyptian , and Shutu in Akkadian; "Shosim" in BH may well be derived
> > from it.
> >
> > Perhaps. But I tend to support the association with the 'A/Habiru
> > because of the linguistic assocation with (BRY in the HB, and also
> > because the term Habiru is ill defined when it appears iun ANE
> > documents. Clearly not all Habiru that appear all over the ANE in the
> > 2nd millenium are early Hebrews, but perhaps many early Hebrews were
> > described as such by their neighbors.
> >
> > However when it comes to such early period in biblical history, one can
> > describe it only tentatively in general terms, in what may be called
> > Outline History.
>
> Perhaps the Hebrews who left Egypt under Amenhotep III had heard of the
> trials of their brethren Habiru in Canaan and decided to help reclaim
> their homeland from the Egyptians? It would provide a sensical logical
> motivation for an exodus. Ah, but this raises the question of why
> Amenhotep III would have let them go. Why indeed.
>
> >
> > Uri
> >
> >
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