Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Russ  Bellon: 
You wrote:  "Pharaoh's Cup  bearer would have spoken in Eqyptian. Whatever 
Egyptian word was used would have  had its own subtle connotative 
distinctions. 
We can assume that some shade of  meaning overlapped with the Hebrew word 
used 
to record the conversation but  beyond that arguing the distinctions unique 
to na'ar is not going to prove your  theory." 
O.K., then let's stick with the narrator and Canaan, when the narrator is  
talking to us in Hebrew, and the locale is Canaan. 
1.  At Genesis 37: 2, Joseph  is a "na'ar" at stated age 17.  That  makes 
perfect sense if Joseph is age 17 "years", in 6-month "years", being age  8½ 
regular years.  Joseph is not a  servant, so it would not make sense for the 
narrator to refer to Joseph as a  "na'ar"/boy if Joseph were age 17 regular 
years, 
which was full adulthood in the  ancient world. 
2.  Isaac is twice called a  "na'ar" in the binding incident.  Genesis 22: 5, 
12  Is Isaac  age 37 regular years?  No way.  Isaac is a bit naïve, but he's 
not that  slow in his development.  No, Isaac  is probably age 15 regular 
years, in which case his father Abraham would then be  age 65 regular years.  
Though these  ages are not explicitly stated in the text, it fits in with all 
the 
stated ages  and time periods in the text to view Abraham as being age 130 
"years", in  6-month "years", which is awkward 13, tenfold, during the 
awkward 
binding  incident.  Similarly, we know for  sure that Jacob will be awkward 
age 
130 "years", in 6-month "years", which is  awkward 13, tenfold, when Jacob 
takes the awkward, though necessary, action of  leading all the Hebrews out 
of 
the Promised Land of Canaan into Egypt.  Genesis 47: 9  Note that Jacob says 
to 
Pharaoh, using a  translator, that the years of Jacob's life to date have 
been 
"few".  Certainly Jacob cannot be age 130  regular years.  Jacob is age 65 
regular years. 
3.  Every single age in the  Patriarchal narratives makes perfect sense.  
Only boys or servants are called "na'ar"  in the Patriarchal narratives.  
Isaac 
and Esau do not wait until age 40 regular years to marry.  Isaac does not 
marry 
a woman who is age  30 regular years, which would already be beyond the 
normal childbearing age in  the ancient world.  Jacob is not in  his 70s in 
regular 
years when he weds.  Sarah is not physically attractive to  Pharaoh when she 
is age 65 regular years, nor does Sarah bear Isaac at age 90  regular years. 
Why go with the scholarly view of ages in the Patriarchal narratives when  
such scholarly view makes no sense?  The 6-month "year" view makes sense out 
of 
every single stated age in the  Patriarchal narratives. 
Jim Stinehart 
Evanston, Illinois



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