Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

George:

It would be fine for you to E-mail Prof. Alter, but you don’t have the
facts quite straight yet.

1.  Years ago, Prof. Alter provisionally agreed with my idea that the
events narrated in chapter 37 of Genesis occur prior to the events narrated in
chapters 34 and 35 of Genesis.  (He explicitly reprimanded me, however, for
using the term “flashback”.  He was adamant that what I was suggesting was
n-o-t  a true “flashback”.  Spoken like a true professor.)

I don’t know if Prof. Alter would remember that exchange of E-mails, which
occurred years ago, but he might.  (As you probably know, Yigal Levin’s
published article claims that the “mistakes” in chapter 37 show multiple
authors and insufficient editing.  In fact, once one realizes that the events
narrated in chapter 37 occur before the events narrated in chapters 34 and 35 
of
Genesis, all of those “mistakes” totally disappear.)

2.  Where you’ve got the facts slightly wrong is Prof. Alter’s reaction to
my suggestion that all people’s ages in the Patriarchal narratives are set
forth in terms of 6-month “years”.  I believe that was the idea of mine
that Prof. Alter characterized as being “ingenious”.  However, Prof. Alter was
expressly noncommittal as to whether my “ingenious” theory of the
Patriarchs’ ages was correct or not.  Prof. Alter did  n-o-t  agree that 
Joseph was
age 8½ regular years in chapter 37 of Genesis.

I do not know if Prof. Alter would remember that old exchange of E-mails
that we had, many years ago.  Unfortunately, in retrospect, I then started
talking to him about the historical background to the “four kings against the
five”, and Prof. Alter immediately lost all interest.  Prof. Alter is very
interested in the nuances of the language of Biblical Hebrew, but he has
little or no interest in arguing whether the Patriarchal narratives are 
closely
based on the well-documented secular history of the Late Bronze Age.  That
abruptly ended our E-mail exchange, and I never tried to resume it again.

So by all means, send Prof. Alter an E-mail.  Since my ideas are so unique,
he may well remember them.  Or not.  But I would love to hear any comments
he might have on these ideas.  (I think he probably will remember my idea
that chapter 37 of Genesis is in effect chapter 33½, but then again, who
knows?)  But do not say that I contend that Prof. Alter agreed with me that
Joseph is age 8½ regular years in chapter 37 of Genesis, because he did not 
agree
to that.  He didn’t laugh at that idea, or even expressly disagree with it.
 But he did  n-o-t  agree to it.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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