Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Yitzhak:

On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 1:45 AM, Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>wrote:

>
> Hi George,
>
> I think even Karl's "Lecturer" would count as oral tradition and
> popular memory.  It is a historical claim -- that names and
> titles were placed at the end of documents only in a particular
> historical period (until 1500 BCE).  Yet, even though wide
> evidence has been adduced to show that the historical claim
> is wrong and was not part of the original theory that he is
> advancing, he continues to hold on to what he remembers
> (popular memory) and what he heard (oral tradition) and what
> he remembers having heard.


Here I’m being careful, neither accepting nor rejecting your input until
further analysis. There are certain items that make me pause:

1) the lecturer clearly stated that it referred to titles and/or authors,
the colophon you refer to is very different, in that it can include much
different material and may actually omit title and author.

2) The author and/or title use is supported by the text of Genesis itself.

3) Your “early” counter examples have been pointed out by some historians
actually to have dated from the early iron age, i.e. around 900 BC, rather
than the 1800 BC claimed by the majority of academic historians. So there
are questions about the validity of those counter examples.

As for Ruth 4:18, the theory as I was taught rejects it. I personally have
my doubts because it refers to events long after Ruth lived. The example of
Ruth may actually be an example of a colophon instead of author and/or title
use found in Genesis.


>
> Yitzhak Sapir
>

Karl W. Randolph.