Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>]

On 14/11/2005 23:59, tladatsi AT charter.net wrote:

> Peter,
>
> I believe Ex 1 was writen principally to make a *Theological* point.  The 
> literary effort merely serves the theology.  There was obviously a great deal 
> of history between Joseph and Moses.  At best only a miniscule fraction is 
> reported in Ex 1.  The author only reported enough history to make the 
> theological point.  I beileve a general rule for the MT is that literature 
> and history are merely theology's handmaindens.
>
>  
Well, you may be partly right. There was doubtless a lot of Egyptian 
history happening, but the author was concerned with the (theological) 
history of Israel and God's dealings with them. And on that front 
nothing much happened for centuries (as far as we know) and so the 
period could be passed over in near silence.

But I don't accept your last sentence. And you have ignored my main 
point, which was that you assumed a date of composition many centuries 
after the event. You may be right, but to assume it begs all sorts of 
interesting questions.

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