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  • From: "David N. da Silva" <huyxh8s02 AT sneakemail.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Biblical Historicity ( Amalek)
  • Date: 23 Aug 2004 20:10:25 -0000

Peter Kirk writes:

> But the statement of mine which you
> quote relates only to "anyone who
> believes in the "Divine Origin" of the
> Torah". Are you saying that there
> are such people who reject the
> fundamentalist position?

I don't know if there are, but there certainly could be. God, wishing to
bring the children of Israel from Egypt to Canaan, could have transported
them in a flash, but chose rather to bring about the same result by speaking
a few words to a shepherd with a speech impediment. He allowed his chosen
implements to work, sometimes in a fallible way - mistakes he could have
prevented from happening, but chose not to. How would such a being, given
his desire that a book should exist, set about the process of bringing it
into existence? I would say that to suppose he would simply dictate the
text, is like supposing he would simply transport the Hebrews to Canaan. He
just doesn't work that way. It is more consistent with his known actions to
work through humans, and allow them to be human. It seems rather to suppose
a certain crudeness and lack of subtlety to suppose he would dictate the
text. But this does not make the text not of divine origin - any more than
it was Mosheh, rather than Yahweh, who brought the children of Yisra'El from
Egypt.

If a fundamentalist is one who thinks that the text was dictated by God, then
I would say it is certainly possible to believe in the divine origin of the
text without being a fundamentalist.

David Nunes da Silva
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