Biblical Hebrew Forum

[dwashbur AT nyx.net]

On 14 Oct 2008 at 11:20, Gabe Eisenstein wrote:

> Dave Washburn:
> 
> You say there is no evidence for the connection with Shechem. I said 
> that the association with Joseph is itself evidence, but you ignored 
> this. More specifically, the context concerns the political ascendancy 
> of Ephraim.

I ignored the statement because it's not evidence.  It's just a statement.
 
> Other evidence can be adduced if one accepts that the texts were written 
> by different authors. You give a lot of weight to the requirement of 
> consistency with other texts about Jacob. It would be more convincing if 
> there were another text about Jacob's military activities.

I don't accept JEPD.  You do.  It's likely that never the twain shall meet.
 
> But in any case I don't believe that the text in question is primarily 
> historical. We are dealing with personifications of the political 
> realities of a certain era -- an era, I would guess, in which Schechem 
> was still pre-eminent, and there was a memory of its pre-Israelite status.

This is a common assumption, but it's still nothing more than an assumption.  
I doubt we're 
going to get anywhere with this topic.

Dave Washburn
"I'll hold the nail.  And when I nod my head, you hit it with the hammer."