Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

Since the thread about the date of Exodus raised a question about the dating 
of Hebrew texts, I'm going to start another thread on dating (which is well 
and truly within our forum's bounds).

It is claimed that some Hebrew texts can be dated quite early because of the 
presence of archaic elements, some of which can be observed in older 
languages. However, there are considerable problems with this notion. Here 
are two significant issues:

(1) How do we know that seemingly 'archaic' elements are confined to an early 
date and cannot have continued into later times? This is quite a crucial 
question given that many so-called 'late' texts still contain numerous 
'early' features. And some so-called 'early' texts even contain so-called 
'late' features.

(2) It is possible that a scribe writing at a fairly late date could 
successfully emulate earlier styles. Yea, verily, perchance the scribe doth 
immitate olde conducts.


I recommend to our members the forthcoming two volumes by Ian Young, Robert 
Rezetko and Martin Ehrensvärd on dating Hebrew. I had the privilege of 
proofing the volumes and found them quite convincing in arguing that Early 
Biblical Hebrew and Late Biblical Hebrew are really contemporary styles 
(i.e., the terms 'early' and 'late' are misleading). The book should be out 
this year.


Regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au