Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Karl:
 
1.  You wrote:  “Just because 1 Samuel doesn't list certain towns, doesn't 
mean they didn't exist.”
 
But I Samuel does reference many of the towns in question:  Ziph, Jezreel, 
Maon and Carmel.  All of the towns in southern Canaan in both Joshua and I 
Samuel existed.
 
2.  You wrote:  “Further, why list towns that were not part of the action 
involved?”
 
Ziph, Jezreel, Maon and Carmel were certainly where “part of the action [was] 
involved”!  There’s a great deal of action near Ziph and Carmel in 
particular that is narrated in I Samuel.  But young David never hung out 
there on a 
regular basis, because those towns northwest of Hebron were in a dangerous 
location for David, a location that to that point had been controlled by 
Saul.  
David hung out in the safe, though harsh, confines of the land south of the 
city 
of Hebron, just as I Samuel 30: 26-31 reports.
 
3.  You wrote:  “And just because they were not part of the action, does that 
mean that they didn't exist?”
 
They were part of the action, and they did exist.  If we’re willing to look 
northwest of the city of Hebron, instead of south or southeast of the city of 
Hebron, many of these towns show up on the Thutmosis III list.  As I noted in 
a 
prior post on this thread, Ziph is item #116 on the Thutmosis III list, 
Jezreel is item #115, and Carmel is item #96.  The Bible doesn’t make up 
fictional 
towns in southern Canaan.  No way.  Every Biblical author, and 100% of their 
audience, knew the geography of southern Canaan intimately.  If there’s one 
thing that can be counted on for accuracy in the Hebrew Bible, it’s the local 
geography of southern Canaan.
 
4.  You wrote:  “Does your [theory of the case] have any Biblical basis at 
all?”
 
Yes.  Once one understands the underlying geography, most of the stories in I 
Samuel make complete sense.  Saul never chased David when David was in the 
harsh land south of the city of Hebron.  However, just as surely, whenever 
David 
ventured up farther north than the city of Hebron, whether it be the 
foothills or the eastern Shephelah northwest of the city of Hebron, or the 
MDBR north 
and northeast of the city of Hebron, Saul would be sure to try to hunt David 
down.
 
David doesn’t come up to Carmel to take his third bride (Abigail) personally, 
because it was too dangerous way up there on the northeast corner of the 
Sorek Valley (Carmel’s location in the Amarna Letters and the Thutmosis III 
list). 
 That was Saul territory.  And David takes wife #2 from Jezreel in a similar 
locale, as David is trying to extend his influence up north, north of the 
city 
of Hebron, especially the attractive eastern end of the Sorek Valley 
northwest of the city of Hebron, with the Aijalon Valley being just beyond 
that.
 
The stories in I Samuel make sense, and we can verify many of these towns in 
the secular history of the ancient world, on my theory of the case.
 
Meanwhile, on your theory of the case, and on the mainstream scholarly theory 
of the case, the stories in I Samuel make no sense, and none of the towns at 
Joshua 15: 55-57 can be verified in the secular history of the ancient world.
 
5.  You wrote:  “What if the text makes claims that contradict your 
assumptions, do you say that the text's "batting average" is pretty poor too?”
 
Be confident that the Hebrew Bible will not make fictional, much less 
nonsensical, claims about the local geography of southern Canaan.  4 of the 
10 towns 
listed at Joshua 15: 55-57 show up in I Samuel just where they should, 
northwest of the city of Hebron.  Not a single one of those 10 towns listed 
at Joshua 
15: 55-57 shows up where it should not, in the list of towns south of the 
city of Hebron where David hung out at I Samuel 30: 26-31.  Everything makes 
perfect sense as to the Biblical evidence.  And many of those towns can be 
verified by ancient inscriptions, which pre-date the common era by many 
centuries.  5 
of those 10 towns listed at Joshua 15: 55-57 show up on the mid-15th century 
BCE Thutmosis III list.
 
The Biblical texts themselves are perfectly coherent and historically 
accurate about the geography of southern Canaan.  It’s the post-Biblical 
analysts who 
have profoundly misinterpreted what these Biblical texts are saying as to the 
local geography of southern Canaan.
 
There were only about a dozen towns south of the city of Hebron.  When I 
Samuel 30: 26-31 lists almost all of those dozen towns, without listing a 
single 
one of the 10 towns listed at Joshua 15: 55-57, that’s telling us something.  
No town listed at Joshua 15: 55-57 was located south or southeast of the city 
of Hebron.  All 10 of those towns existed, but not a one of those towns was 
located south or southeast of the city of Hebron.  Rather, all 10 of those 
towns 
were located northwest of the city of Hebron.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

**************Stay up to date on the latest news - from sports scores to 
stocks and so much more. (http://aol.com?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000022)