Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Hi Bryant,

as far as I can tell the proponents of a late authorship of Qohelet  
base their conclusions on the use of 2 words in Qohelet which they  
view to be Mishnaic Hebrew (or rather proto-Mishnaic Hebrew if we're  
going to be precise about this). They see the absence of these words  
in works dated earlier as enough evidence that these words were not in  
use in the days of Solomon or even pre-exile.

There are a number of problems with this kind of reasoning. First and  
foremost that the corpus we have is so small it is impossible to make  
conclusions of that kind with any degree of certainty.

James Christian

Quoting "Bryant J. Williams III" <bjwvmw AT com-pair.net>:

> Dear George, Uri, et al,
>
> Several times statements have been made that Qohelet is a late book   
> that can be
> deduced from its content alone (last post by Uri); that it is a late book
> (George); yet, no evidence has been produced to show that this is   
> so; or "such
> as is obvious in the style of Qohelet (Uri). It is NOT so obvious.   
> Please show
> the evidence.
>
> If we are discussing on this list the differences between BH and MH and are
> using Qohelet as the example, then please let us see the evidence of  
>  both sides
> of the debate. He said, You said, does NOT cut it. Please show the   
> chapter and
> verse, i.e. the evidence. Please give the examples of MH being found in BH.
>
> Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Uri Hurwitz" <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
> To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 1:32 PM
> Subject: [b-hebrew] Qohelet
>
>
> Dear Rolf,
>  The opposition to the the evidence about diachronic development of   
> BH,at least
> in this debate, did not seem take into account the evidence of Hebrew
> inscription which have been dated to pre-exilic times. Whether in the Lachish
> letters, the Arad material , the Yabneh letter, or many others smaller
> fragments, there is in them no scintilla of evidence of Mishnaic language.
>
>  One may bring as a further point, the evidence of dialogue, or direct speech
> which authors of many texts within the HB books used in their   
> narrative, such as
> "Am I my brther's keeper?" This was done for various reasons, but   
> the overriding
> one was to introduce the drama of live conversation. This was done   
> in the living
> style familiar to the authors and their hearers or readers. Again,   
> there is not
> the slightest trace of what would become Mishnaic language, such as   
> is obvious
> in the style of Qohelet.
>
>  That the latter is a late book, can be deduced from its content alone.
>
>  Uri Hurwitz
>
> ( Please do not mix me up with Avi Hurvitz, not a relative )
>
>
>
>
>
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