Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] 1446 BCE Exodus ? Apiru/Habiru = Hebrew ?

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: MarianneLuban AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] 1446 BCE Exodus ? Apiru/Habiru = Hebrew ?
  • Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 17:36:59 EDT

In a message dated 7/24/2004 2:14:22 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
uhurwitz AT yahoo.com writes:


> As for the exact meaning and the etymology of the term,opinions are
> divided, though in many contexts it seems to be "bandits, nomads" and so
> forth.
> Certainly so in the Amarna letters.

I don't think this is quite right. Yes, in the context of the Amarna
letters, at least, the Apiru would be rebels, (against the Egyptian Empire)
and
every kind of name that is associated with revolt. In fact, one
correspondent
tells Akhenaten that the Apiru have killed just about all the pharaoh's
representatives in Canaan and that he had better act fast. But evidently
Akhenaten
does not or cannot do much because it is left to his successors to try to
recover
these territories--which they never again do with as much success as the
earlier 18th Dynasty kings. I don't think Apiru means "nomads", either, for
reasons I stated before.




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page