Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Read <J.Read-2 AT sms.ed.ac.uk>]

Hi George,

sorry for the late response. Been away from the old keyboard.

Basically, you seem to be raising the question of dating the language  
of the Torah independently of the internal evidence. The problem we  
have here is that we seem to be working in the opposite direction to  
the authors of the hebrew texts. They were working forwards. While we  
are working backwards. Anyway, be that as it may.

What we need here is a well established reference point to start the  
discussion from. I suppose we can all agree that the Babylonians  
conquered Judah and carried them off captive (although there may be  
some disagreement of the exact date). So, why don't we use that.

Just so that I can get an idea of where you are coming from could you  
give me an idea of what dates you give to the Torah, Joshua, Judges,  
Samuel and Kings with respect to your understood date of the beginning  
of the exile? Also if you stated one or two words on your reasons for  
that dating it would help me formulate a response.

Cheers

James Christian

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