Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Ark of the Covenant

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] Ark of the Covenant
  • Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 20:23:59 EDT

In a message dated 8/19/2004 3:13:09 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
hholmyard AT ont.com writes:


> Dear Marianne,
>
> >Because that description fits me, I am unable to
> >believe that Moses wrote the Torah.
> >In Genesis, in the story of Joseph, two men are named "Potiphar"
> >(called Petepres in the Septuagint).
>
> HH: I see only one man named Potiphar. The references I have are the
> following:
>
> Gen. 37:36 ¶ Meanwhile, the Midianites sold
> Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's
> officials, the captain of the guard.
> Gen. 39:1 ¶ Now Joseph had been taken down to
> Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of
> Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard,
> bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him
> there.
> Gen. 39:4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and
> became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge
> of his household, and he entrusted to his care
> everything he owned.
> Gen. 39:5 From the time he put him in charge of
> his household and of all that he owned, the LORD
> blessed the household of the Egyptian because of
> Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on
> everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in
> the field.
>

What about Poti-phera, the priest of On, whose daughter Joseph married? It
is obviously the same name.


>
> > As it happens, such a name was not used in Egypt until the latter
> >part of the Late Period of Egyptian history (1070-378 BCE).
>
> HH: First, you are forming the name in Egyptian
> on the basis of the Hebrew.

Why blame me? The consensus is that the name is "P'di-Pre", going by the
Petepres of the Septuagint.

So there is some room > for error there, isn't there? Second, it would be
> hard for me to say that a name had not been used
> in the United States for a two hundred year
> period. So to say that a name that appeared in
> Egypt at a late date could not have been used at
> any time prior to that, a period of thousands of
> years, seems a stretch.

Have you studied Egyptian prosopographia? I have. Until you do, just trust
me.
Any Egyptologist would tell you the same.



>
> HH: Perhaps you had in mind the priest Potiphera:
>
> Gen. 41:45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name
> Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of
> Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And
> Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt.
> Gen. 41:50 ¶ Before the years of famine came, two
> sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of
> Potiphera, priest of On.
> Gen. 46:20 In Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were
> born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera,
> priest of On.
>
> HH: The Hebrew saw a difference between the two
> names, so we have to assume that Potipher and
> Potiphera were two different names in Egypt,
> don't we? Perhaps you're saying that this sort of
> name does not appear, but that sounds sort of
> impossibly omniscient to me.

Fine with me. Believe as you like. I say the names are one and the same.
But how does one being Poti-phera and the other something else make any
difference to what I said about the name not being in vogue until the Late
Period?





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page