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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>
  • To: "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Iron and Curses in Deuteronomy 28
  • Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:48:18 -0600

Hi, Yitzhak,
Dear Harold,

No problem about the double mailing.

There seems to be some confusion. The link I gave you with the footnote,
is Herbert Hoover's translation of a classic work on metallurgy (De Re
Metallica). It is dated, and you can rest assured that Jane Waldbaum
integrates the information from Egypt into her analysis, which includes
a century more of discoveries and studies and archaeological
methodology than does Hoover's paragraph. The article in the
Journal of Materials Processing Technology quoted Hoover's footnote,
which is the only information you brought from that journal.

HH: All right, I see what you did now. Thanks for the clarification and for finding their reference.

Now,
I would be ready to read that article although the price as you noted
is too steep. It is also important to realize the difference here as it
relates to peer review. The Journal of Materials Processing Technology
would probably have the articles being reviewed by other engineers.
Waldbaum's article was published in a book on archaeometallurgy,
and probably originated in a conference on archaeometallurgy. So her
article was reviewed by experts in both archaeology and metallurgy,
and probably also by experts in both. I'm not saying here that the
article by Drs. Sherby and Wadsworth isn't accurate or proper, but
I am saying that Waldbaum's article passed more pertinent review,
and in any case, Herbert Hoover's quote in their article is just a
quote of Herbert Hoover and should be treated in kind.

HH: I will try to read her article.

I think your reading of Num 35 is very very forced. If the author
went through the trouble of differentiating iron from wood or stone,
and metal weapons were generally available also in bronze, it
would have been appropriate to add a listing for bronze. The fact
that you must take this interpretation to sustain your view really
speaks for the strength of the argument. However, your
interpretation, even if in my opinion very very forced, does address
the questions I brought upon the verse (and others like it).

HH: I don't think it is forced. They obviously had bronze, since it is mentioned a great deal. There was no need to enumerate every kind of metal, since Moses was simply pointing to various large categories of objects that could be used for murder: metal, stone, and wood.
While I realize you place Moses in the 15th century (and evidently
also view him as historical), you need to realize that you would find
support in Waldbaum's comment that I quoted in the possible
alternative interpretations of the evidence, because the nickel-rich
iron is really a way scholars use to identify meteoritic iron.

HH: As I said, I will try to read the article. Thanks for recommending it. It looks nice.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





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