Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

Karl, your dinghy example misses my point. I'm not arguing that conquest has 
to be the foundation for loanwords to start moving around. I'm arguing that 
meaningful contact does. That might be conquest, but it could just as easily 
be trade, or something else. But when it comes to Persia and Judah, the *most 
plausible* for such exchange is the Persian Era. I'm not ruling out the 
*possibility* that these words entered before the Persian Era, but rather 
that it is less likely than the Persian Era. There is proof that Persia and 
Judah had exchanges in the Persian Era, but no evidence whatsoever to my 
knowledge of anything before then. So, in terms of evidential likelihood, 
Persian Era is still more likely than any time before.

Do you have anything substantial to point to that might indicate some kind of 
meaningful sustained contact between Judah and Persia before the Persian Era? 
If you don't, then your argument remains purely in the realm of speculation. 
In my books, that makes it much less plausible than the argument for a 
Persian Era date for Qohelet, which has some historical substance.


Regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au