Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 19/09/2004 18:27, Michael Banyai wrote:

> Peter,
>
> all your hypotheses make sense only in a context in which the cult of golden 
> calves was interdicted. This is obviously not the case for the period of 
> Moses till Salomo.
>  

What is your evidence for this? I accept that there were some golden 
images worshipped during this period (and condemned at least in 
retrospect) e.g. Gideon's ephod which you mentioned (Judges 8:27), but 
no worship of calves is recorded. Anyway, I made no claim that this 
story corresponded with historical truth, only that it is a coherent but 
possibly fictional story. So any objections that my picture is 
unhistorical are irrelevant.

> So the whole discussion makes no sense since it is contradicted by the wider 
> evidence against the interdiction. ...

What evidence?

> ... There is for you no place for the development of a theology, and each 
> single case necessitates numberless assumptions and exceptions.
>  

Michael, you are leaping to all kinds of unwarranted conclusions about 
what I might or might not understand about development of theology. I 
accept that developments took place, just not the specific developments 
which you have sought to impose on the biblical text by cutting and 
pasting it arbitrarily.


--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/