Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

On Nov 8, 2007 10:39 PM,  Jim Stinehart wrote:

> The same would also happen if you were to  assert that the only substantive
> Amarna Letter we have that was written by  Akhenaten (Amarna Letter EA 162) 
> is
> expressly on the topic of "the iniquity of  the Amorites", which is 
> referenced
> so memorably at Genesis 15: 16.  Do you realize that secular scholars, in
> their published works, try to tell us that "the iniquity of the Amorites" at
> Genesis 15: 16 refers to untoward sex practices of Gentiles in Lebanon?

No, I didn't!  I want to look it up for myself!  Could you please
provide the reference?

> People naively think that secular scholars  have considered these issues
> objectively and in detail, and have rejected the  comparison of the 
> historical
> time period of the Amarna Letters to the historical  time period of the
> Patriarchal narratives on the merits.  In fact, no secular scholar from a  
> leading
> university in the West is permitted to consider such  arguments.

That's awful!  Could you please provide the protocol guidelines from a leading
university in the West that forbids the consideration of such arguments?

> 4.  As you know, secular scholars at leading universities in the West
> unfortunately consider the Patriarchal narratives to be "fairy tales", 
> composed  by
> multiple authors and incoherently edited, with the Patriarchal narratives
> allegedly not being pulled together until a 1,000 years or so after the 
> fact (of
> when the Patriarchs were supposed to have lived).

No, I didn't know!  Could you please provide me an exact citation of a secular
scholar who considers the patriarchal narratives to be "fairy tales"?

Yitzhak Sapir