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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Dates of Ezra and Nehemiah

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  • 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] Dates of Ezra and Nehemiah
  • Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2006 20:55:49 +0100

On 17/09/2006 07:07, Yigal Levin wrote:
...
Remember, we get our absolute dates for biblical chronology from Egyptian and (mostly) Mesopotamian documents, not vise-versa.

This may be true of Mesopotamian chronology, but not of Egyptian. There is no dependence of biblical chronology from the time of Saul onwards on Egyptian chronology, but entirely vice versa. The orthodox estimate of the date of Shoshenk I is dependent on estimates by Thiele etc of the date of the Shishak invasion in 1 Kings. Kitchen et al have fitted other Egyptian rulers around this date for Shoshenk I but with a lot of uncertainties. And Thiele's dates are derived from the Bible and from Mesopotamian data, but not at all from Egyptian. The only biblical dates dependent on Egyptian chronology are some scholars' speculative dates for a 13th century BCE Exodus, but these dates actually conflict with the biblical dates, as well as being based on uncertain Egyptian dates and a very speculative identification of Rameses II as the Pharaoh of the Exodus, for which the main evidence as far as I can tell is his prominence and the feeling of some that it would be appropriate for God to humble such a great and proud ruler.

--
Peter Kirk
E-mail: peter AT qaya.org
Blog: http://speakertruth.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.qaya.org/





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