Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

On 10/14/07, Jim Stinehart wrote:
>
> Yitzhak Sapir :
>     1.  You wrote:   "Genesis 26 speaks of a special blessing of God to
> Isaac."
> So this is your view of this section of the Patriarchal  narratives.  Isaac
> faces a terrible  drought/famine in Hebron.  So Isaac  moves to the Negev
> Desert (!?!?!).  While in the Negev Desert, Isaac becomes incredibly 
> wealthy by
> growing  crops in the Negev Desert (!?!?!).  This sequence of events is 
> easily
> explained as follows:  "Genesis 26 speaks of a special blessing  of God to 
> Isaac.
> "

No.  Isaac faces a terrible drought.  He goes on heading to Egypt, making a 
stop
at Gerar.  God appears to him and tells him "Don't go to Egypt.  Stay
in Gerar, and
I will bless you."  He stays.  God blesses him.  Abimelekh kicks him out.  
They
fight over wells.  Yes, it doesn't explicitly say that he was
ultimately heading for
Egypt, but God probably knows something we don't.  I did not say that Negev in
this verse necessarily means "Negev desert."  Why do you suggest that I said
this?

I did not say all scholars relate the concept of "fairy tales."  Rather, some
scholars claim that motives that are discernible in literary studies of fairy
tales are apparently present in the Patriarchal Narratives.  Other scholars
do not.  But either way, all scholars claim that the Patriarchal Narratives
represent, at best, historical memories, even if details have become garbled.

Your attempt to blur the Sade/Shin distinction won't work.  They are different
letters, and they were recognizably different, from the Amarna age onwards.
That the pronunciation of Hezekiah's name developed over time does not
mean that Sade and Shin were confused, or even that Hezekiah's name
was confused.  Cur's name didn't develop to Shur, or from Shur.

Your view does not square with the text.  It does not explain why Jews who
spoke Hebrew translated the text so it meant something else in Greek.  Even
if the traditional reading is changed in favor of yours, it does not help in 
any
bit the problematic issues with the Patriarchal Narratives, from a historical
point of view.  Your attempts at history, as I have seen here and on Miqra,
are far from convincing.

Yitzhak Sapir