Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Brian Roberts <formoria AT carolina.rr.com>]

On Monday, July 26, 2004, at 03:51  PM, MarianneLuban AT aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 7/26/2004 11:17:08 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
> formoria AT carolina.rr.com writes:
>
>
> > > Given the tendancy of Ramesses II for self-glorification, if he had
> > > conquered
> > > Jerusalem, we would have heard about it.  After all, he boasted plenty
> > > about
> > > the Battle of Kadesh--and that was not even a true victory for the
> > > Egyptians but
> > > a kind of "draw"--where neither side really gained much.
> >
> > Do the pharaohs ever defy our expectations?
>
>
> History, as we know it from any era, is not about "expectations".  All 
> we
> know about any ruler in ages long past comes from his own recorded 
> deeds or the
> observations of someone else who had something to contribute.  But when 
> there
> is plenty of evidence, a definite picture emerges about the character, 
> aims,
> and proclivities of any given king.

Tendencies, proclivities, character, aims. It sounds terribly nebulous 
and too subject to manipulation over time by those writing the papers. 
After a hundred years of it, you end up with an accepted expectation, 
based on the above. Logic dictates that our knowledge of history is not 
a complete corpus. Therefore we must be careful with how we apply our 
models and profiles.

Best Salaams,

Brian