Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] midwives

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>
  • To: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • Cc: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] midwives
  • Date: Sat, 05 Nov 2005 17:06:55 +0000

On 05/11/2005 16:37, Yigal Levin wrote:

Karl, now you're back to advocating a 15th century Exodus. There is no reason to think that the author of Exodus had ever heard of the so-called "Hyksos". And that, as I wrote before, the real issue - what the author of Exodus intended his readers to think about the midwives, not who we, with our "understanding" of "real history" think they might have been.


I don't want to defend Karl's Hyksos idea. But your alternative picture seems to be that the author of Exodus knew little about the real Egypt was writing from imagination about conditions there. That speculative position would have significant implications on the names - although possibly in either way: one might argue that an author ignorant of real Egyptian names would have given Hebrew names to Egyptian as well as Israelite characters; or that he or she would have given clearly foreign looking names (even if not real Egyptian ones) to non-Israelites and so the Israelite names imply that the midwives were Israelite.

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





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page