Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

James:

On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 1:50 PM, James Read <J.Read-2 AT sms.ed.ac.uk> wrote:

> Hi Karl,
>
> don't mean to drag the whole TLDTH thing up again but...
>
> I've been rereading a lot of Genesis (yet again) both in Hebrew and
> Greek because of the many recent discussions we've had that touch on
> it. (does anybody know of reliable Syriac and Coptic versions that I
> can view online?)
>
> Anyway, I noticed that Genesis 36:9 mentions another TLDTH of Esau
> after already having had one at Genesis 36:1. I was just wondering how
> you viewed this. Do you  view this as the footer of another document
> of Esau or just a part of the document of Jacob?
>

Why not a second short document from Esau? There’s nothing that says that he
couldn’t write two.

>
> Another thing I noticed was Genesis 36:31
>
> Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of E´dom before any
> king reigned over the sons of Israel
>

I have no problems with this even if no kings had been set over Israel as of
yet.

>
> This is pretty much repeated word for word in Chronicles 1:43.
> Obviously, this verse is problematic for the likes of you and I who
> view the torah as an ancient document. I see 2 possibilities here:
>
> 1) This is a late interpolation by somebody after there had been a
> King in Isreal
> 2) Moses the prophet, with foreknowledge that there would be a king in
> Isreal, wrote these words
>
> Possibility 2 is unlikely, as the torah would read strange for anyone
> reading it pre monarchy.
>

Why? Moses not only anticipated kings in Israel, he laid down a series of
laws pertaining to them. Deuteronomy 17:14 ff.

>
> Any thoughts?
>
> James Christian
>
> Karl W. Randolph.