Biblical Hebrew Forum

["biblical hebrew" <jcr.bhebrew AT gmail.com>]

Hi Jim,

I think you've just succeeded in losing any support for your theories from
me. Your suggestions are completely nonsensical. What kind of logic does
your suggestion that Abimelech slept with Sarah when he had no desire for
her have? Absolutely none! Have you even considered how your propositions
sound? People don't sleep with other people's wives with no desire just for
the fun of it.

Are you suggesting that Abraham was involved in some kind of ANE wife
swapping with rival chieftains in order to get negotiations off to a good
start? Next you'll be suggesting that the silver Abimelech gave was in
gratitude for the good time Abraham gave him???

The author of the account specifically says that Yhwh stopped Abimelech and
not merely that Abimelech said so. The author has no such intentions as you
suggest and his agenda is to show Abraham as a righteous man NOT as some
kind of ANE wife swapping pimp who collaborates and makes up stories about
god stopping them from doing the dirty. And until you understand that you
are a long shot off convincing anybody on this list about your otherwise
interesting theory.

It is a shame, really, because I was starting to give serious consideration
to your suggestions. But I think it is now clear to me that if you are not
willing to drop these ludicrous suggestions which do not exist in the text I
will find it very difficult to take your theories seriously.

James Christian Read - BSc Computer Science
http://www.lamie.org/hebrew       Thesis 1 - Aleppo codex machine translation
http://www.lamie.org/lad-sim.doc  Thesis 2 - language acquisition simulation