Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Karl:
 
1.  You wrote:  “Since you assume that the central theme of Joshua, namely 
the invasion of Canaan by Israel in the late 15th century BC, is a myth and 
false history,
 why do you give any credence to the city lists in the book?”
 
I agree with mainstream scholars that Joshua cannot be relied upon in its 
account of a Conquest.
 
But one of the main points of my recent threads is that the city lists in 
Joshua derive in large part from accurate, Late Bronze Age sources.  There 
are a 
few late glosses, but there’s a great deal of accurate information from the 
Late Bronze Age in Joshua’s city lists, in my opinion.
 
The reason why I give “credence to the city lists in the book” is because 
the cities in southern Canaan named in Joshua, especially at Joshua 15: 
52-59, 
match up so closely to the last 30 items on the Thutmosis III list.
 
For example, there is no way that Joshua could come up with “Magaroth” (per 
the Septuagint) at Joshua 15: 59, which beautifully matches MQRT at item #106 
on the Thutmosis III list, unless Joshua had good Late Bronze Age sources for 
those city lists.
 
2.  “[W]hy do you ignore that the pharaoh $$Q (probably pronounced 
"Shishakka") is
 Shisherka, otherwise known as Thutmosis III? In your latest posting, you
 moved him back to mid 15th century BC, a contemporary of Moses, instead of
 late 10th century BC?”
 
To the best of my knowledge, all mainstream scholars place Thutmosis III in 
the 15th century BCE, and Shishak/Sheshonq in the 10th century BCE.  The 
b-hebrew list is not the place to discuss a New Chronology alternative theory 
regarding when the pharaohs reigned.
 
3.  You wrote:  “Where is your evidence that Yakob-El is an old Amorite name?”
 
I believe that is the majority view of mainstream scholars, or at least it is 
a common view among mainstream scholars.  I previously quoted Gordon J. 
Wenham:  “The name Jacob…is usually regarded as a shortened form of Y( QB-)L 
ya[ayin] qob-el ‘may El protect, reward’ (the  meaning of the verb is unsure) 
and 
is a typical Amorite name of the early second millennium.”
 
Let me now add to that Robert Alter, at p. 128 of his book “Genesis”:
 
“The original meaning of the name Jacob was probably something like ‘God 
protects’ or ‘God follows after’.”
 
The scholarly view is that the name “Jacob” started out as being a shortened 
form of “Jacob-El”, which is an old Amorite divine blessing.  The author of 
the Patriarchal narratives, however, associates the name “Jacob” with “heel”:
 
“In this instance [the account of Jacob’s birth], the etymology is 
transparent:  Ya[ayin]aqob, ‘Jacob’, and [ayin]aqeb, ‘heel’.  The grabbing of 
the 
heel by the younger twin becomes a kind of emblem of their future 
relationship, 
and the birth, like the oracle, again invokes the struggles against 
primogeniture.”  Alter at p. 128  
 
4.  You wrote:  “Except for Joshua, which you believe is untrustworthy, city 
names were not listed except when something significant happened in or near 
them, so why do
 you think that the Bible has a near exhaustive record of all town names in
 pre-Babylonian Exile Israel? What is your reasoning?”
 
The Hebrews knew a lot more about cities in southern Canaan than the 
Egyptians.  Joshua lists hundreds of cities (or towns, villages, etc.) in 
southern 
Canaan, and as noted above, Joshua’s city lists definitely seem to be based, 
in 
large part, on authentic, accurate Late Bronze Age sources.
 
The problem with Biblical geography is not what the Bible says.  No, the 
problem with Biblical geography is how post-Biblical analysts have 
mis-interpreted 
what the Bible says about geography.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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