Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

James Christian:

You wrote:  “Jim, by that reasoning the UK has several new years. It has
one on January  1st from pagan origins. It has one in September when kids go
back to
 school. It has one in April when the financial year starts. And
 others. Does that mean I should divide at least by three each time a
 Brit tells me his age?”

No.  Nor is that my reasoning.

1.  The term “year” is ambiguous in the U.K. and the U.S., out of context.
 If you ask a schoolchild in the summer what classes he or she will take “
next year”, you probably mean the 9-month period September to May, rather
than meaning the 12-month period beginning the following January.  Yet out of
context, the phrase “next year” would normally mean the 12-month period
beginning the following January.

2.  Consider this real life example.  My boss’s daughter, a teenager, told
me that she had only had 4 birthdays.  I thought it was some kind of a
strange joke.  It turned out that she is very proud of having been born on
February 29, so that she only has a real birthday during a leap year.  The 
context
meant everything.

3.  The Hebrews count people’s ages based on how many relevant New Years
have transpired since the person’s birth.  I am well aware that, out of
context, we would normally assume that a Hebrew’s age is being set forth in 
terms
of how many fall New Years have passed since the person’s birth,
disregarding spring New Years entirely.  But I think you see the potential 
ambiguity
there.  Moses (though any historical Moses long post-dates any historical
Patriarchal Age) said that the first month of the year shall be in the spring.
How can we be so certain, out of context, that all spring New Years will
always be ignored for purposes of setting forth a Hebrew’s age?


4.  So the only logical way to proceed here is to consider the context.  We
all start by looking at the Patriarchs’ ages on the initial assumption that
they are being set forth in terms of how many fall New Years have
transpired since the Patriarch’s birth, ignoring spring New Years.  But that 
first
guess turns out to make no historical sense whatsoever.  Why would Abraham’s
father Terakh be portrayed as living to age 205 years, in 12-month years?

So we should try a second way.  Since rural Canaan likely observed two New
Years every 12 months, one in the fall and one in the spring, why not ask if
perhaps, uniquely, the Hebrew author of the Patriarchal narratives daringly
decided to increase each person’s age at  e-v-e-r-y  New Year, including
not only fall New Years, but also spring New Years?  What do we have to lose
by asking that question?

If that theory of the case is wrong, then since we have 22 stated ages of
people in the text, one would certainly think that many of those stated ages
would make no sense at all if they are un-doubled.  Many people would be way
too young, after their stated ages were erroneously un-doubled.  Yet 22 of
such 22 stated ages make perfect sense if they are un-doubled.  And
virtually no stated age in the text makes historical sense (in a Late Bronze 
Age
historical context) if it is not un-doubled.

So the proof of the pudding is in the eating.  Context determines all.
Check out my theory, and see what each person’s age would be on my theory of
the case.  Don’t forget that periods of years in Harran and Egypt (but not any
ages of people) are set forth in 12-month years in the text, on my view of
the case.

Just check it out.  What do you have to lose?  If my theory of the case is
wrong, surely there should be some horrible inconsistencies in the text when
read that way.

But if, on the contrary, all 40 ages and periods of years in the text make
perfect sense, on all levels, on that theory of the case, then that theory
of the case makes a heck of a lot more sense than the scholarly theory of the
case, which is as follows:

(1)  "[P]rodigious life spans [are] attributed to the Patriarchs.”  John J.
Collins, “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible” (2004), at p. 84.

(2)  "The actual chronological place of this event [Isaac's death, reported
at Genesis 35: 28-29] is obviously considerably earlier in the narrative.
The biblical writers observe no fixed commitment to linear chronology, a
phenomenon recognized by the rabbis in the dictum, 'there is neither early nor
late in the Torah'."  Robert Alter, “Genesis:  Translation and Commentary”
(1996), footnote 29 at p. 201.

(3)  "The over-all chronological scheme [of the Patriarchal narratives]
remains obscure."  E.A. Speiser, “Genesis” (1962), at p. 126.

(4)  "In fact, the episodic style of the narratives that recount the life
of Abraham is only tenuously attached to a biological clock;  witness the
ages in which Abraham and his spouse go through major moments of their lives.
The same can be said of Isaac.  Rebekah herself is famously unattached to
chronology…."  Jack M. Sasson, "The Servant's Tale:  How Rebekah Found a
Spouse", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, January-October 2006, volume 65, at 
p.
248.

 Why passively accept the scholarly view of the ages of the Patriarchs,
which holds that no such ages make sense on any level, and that there are
super-obvious “mistakes” in the text regarding chronological matters that 
prove
that there were multiple authors of the Patriarchal narratives, with
entirely inadequate editing?

A lot is on the line here.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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