Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Philippe,

> I am new on this list, my name is Philippe Wajdenbaum; I have been following 
> the discussions for about a week or so. As Daniel seems to be a subject; I 
> think that Jewish authorities did not consider him as a prophet because he 
> spoke about an embarassing period of time, wich is the time of the 
> Hasmoneans. Either you believe in his abilty to predict future, either you 
> admit the book was written after the facts. In the book of Daniel, in 
> Hebrew, the orchestra of Nabuchodonosor is made of Greek instruments: 
> psalterion, caitharis and sumphonia (Dn. 3:5).
>  


HH: Greek words and culture were known during the Persian period. It is 
not necessary to draw any conclusions on that basis.


> For this period is embarassing, the books of Maccabees were rejected -or 
> never injected- in the Tanakh. Why would the hellenistic period be 
> embarassing for Jewish authorities?


HH: My understanding is that the Apocrypha were not accepted into the 
canon for at least two other reasons:

1) Israel believed that the succession of the prophets stopped with Malachi

2) Israel only accepted Hebrew or Aramaic texts into the canon.


> I think that early discussions from this 
> board in the year 2000, have the answer. The whole Tanakh was written in the 
> hellenistic period, I 'am afraid, like Thomas L. Thompson and Niels Peter 
> Lemche claim it.
> By the way, Sanhedrin comes from Greek Sunedrion, so if there ever was a 
> Sanhedrin before that period, it must have had another name.
>  

HH: The two men you mention have had a deadening disbelief that they 
want to pass on to others. Don't fall victim to a theory that would deny 
to Israel its ancient history and to Christians the historical 
foundations of their faith. Their schemes make the Old Testament a 
misrepresentation of reality. They are like the Holocaust deniers, only 
they take things a step farther. They take God's glory through history 
away from Israel.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard

>