Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Yitzhak Sapir:
 
1.  Mr. Wellhausen himself knew nothing about the secular history of the 
mid-14th century BCE.  Mr. Wellhausen thought that the Hittites were 
fictitious.  
Mr. Wellhausen knew little or nothing about the Hurrians, the Amarna Letters, 
the Decapitation of the Shechem Offensive in the mid-14th century BCE, or the 
iniquity of the Amorites in the mid-14th century BCE, when the Amorites 
iniquitously sold out northern Lebanon and the west coast of Syria to the 
dreaded 
Hittites.  Mr. Wellhausen did not know that in the mid-14th century BCE, 
there 
actually was a princeling ruler named Abimilki (similar to “Abimelech”), who 
lived at Sur (with Sur arguably being referenced at Genesis 20: 1), who had 
interminable struggles for access to valuable water wells, similar to such 
struggles referenced in chapters 21 and 26 of Genesis.
 
Thus if the questions are whether the Patriarchal Age was the mid-14th 
century BCE, and if the Patriarchal narratives were composed in the mid-14th 
century 
BCE by the first historical Hebrew, how then could we look to Mr. Wellhausen, 
who knew absolutely nothing about the secular history of the mid-14th century 
BCE?
 
2.  You yourself have not set forth a story in the Patriarchal narratives 
that, in your view, is redolent of the 1st millennium BCE and does not 
reflect 
the mid-2nd millennium BCE.
 
3.  We are trying to figure out the basis for your insistence that only a “
fundamentalist” could deny the Wellhausen JEPD theory that the Patriarchal 
narratives are fiction ginned up by four Hebrew authors in the mid-1st 
millennium 
BCE.
 
4.  Please set forth a quote by a reputable academic scholar that purports to 
identify a story in the Patriarchal narratives that is redolent of the 1st 
millennium BCE and that does not reflect the mid-2nd millennium BCE.
 
5.  It just does not seem plausible that four ghostwriters in the mid-1st 
millennium BCE could create a long line of memorable stories, and that every 
single one of such stories just “happens”, by pure coincidence, to reflect 
the 
important events in a tiny time period in the mid-14th century BCE.  
Certainly 
some of the stories in the Patriarchal narratives must be manifestly out of 
place in a mid-14th century BCE time period, if the Wellhausen theory of the 
case 
is correct.
 
6.  I have mentioned many stories in the Patriarchal narratives that seem 
manifestly out of place in a 1st millennium BCE timeframe.  In the first half 
of 
chapter 50 of Genesis, for example, Pharaoh sends all of his top officials 
all 
the way to Canaan for the super-magnificent funeral of Jacob/“Israel”.  That 
over-the-top pro-Egypt viewpoint never surfaces anywhere else in the Bible, 
outside of the Patriarchal narratives.  Egypt killed Hebrew King Josiah in 
the 
7th century BCE, and Egypt did not do enough to prevent  Israel and Judah 
from 
being destroyed by Assyria and Babylonia in the 8th – 6th centuries BCE.  So 
where is this pro-Egypt viewpoint in the Patriarchal narratives coming from?  
It does not seem to square with the historical facts of the 1st millennium 
BCE.  Yet it makes perfect sense in the mid-14th century BCE, when the first 
Hebrews looked to Egypt to prevent the dreaded Hittites from conquering 
Canaan and 
destroying the fledgling Hebrews.
 
We have also recently noted that Jacob/“Israel” tells YHWH that Jacob will 
honor YHWH if YHWH makes sure that Jacob’s trip out to Harran is successful.  
That is not the way 1st millennium BCE Hebrews talked to YHWH, or thought 
about 
YHWH.  Yet it makes sense in a mid-14th century BCE context, when Judaism was 
just beginning, and there still was some bona fide question at that very 
early point whether the Hebrews would and should devote themselves eternally 
to 
YHWH.
 
We have also mentioned that nothing about the character Levi in the 
Patriarchal narratives foreshadows any knowledge that in the 1st millennium 
BCE, there 
would be a line of beloved Levite Hebrew priests.  Levi misuses the sacred 
sacrament of circumcision at Shechem so that the weakened men of Shechem can 
be 
ruthlessly killed in a surprise attack.  Of course, that story makes perfect 
sense in a mid-14th century BCE context, as it is but a variant of the 
historical Decapitation of the Shechem Offensive.
 
7.  Rather than have me list another dozen or so stories in the Patriarchal 
narratives that do not fit the 1st millennium BCE, but which do have 
astounding 
accuracy as to the well-documented secular history of the mid-14th century 
BCE, what everyone on the b-Hebrew list is waiting to hear, rather, is this.  
What story or stories from the Patriarchal narratives would you or reputable 
academic scholars cite as being redolent of the 1st millennium BCE, while not 
reflecting the mid-2nd millennium BCE?
 
We honestly do not understand why you are following a theory created by a 
19th century German who knew absolutely nothing whatsoever about the secular 
history of the mid-14th century BCE.  What story or stories in the 
Patriarchal 
narratives do you or do secular academic scholars see as being inconsistent 
with 
a mid-14th century BCE Patriarchal Age, and a mid-14th century BCE 
composition 
date?  If this is all fiction ginned up by multiple authors in the 1st 
millennium BCE (your view), then certainly there would have to be some 
stories in 
the Patriarchal narratives that do not match at all the peculiar, unique, 
short-lived situation of the mid-14th century BCE.
 
Please cite a statement by a reputable academic scholar identifying one or 
more specific stories in the Patriarchal narratives as being redolent of the 
1st 
millennium BCE, while not reflecting the mid-2nd millennium BCE.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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