Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

It is easy to see that both Phonecian and Paleo alphabets are later lazier
adaptations of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet which is not so lazy in terms of
drawing things like ox heads. Even older attested symbols are those of
Proto-Sinaitic script found in Palestine and Sinai region and dated to 1800
and 1500 BCE. See for example the Wadi el-Hol script. Here's a picture of
the 1500 dated text:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a9/Ba`alat.jpg<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a9/Ba%60alat.jpg>

<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a9/Ba%60alat.jpg>Evidently, the
1800 text is represents an older script than the Phoenician script that they
started circulating around the mediterranean from 1500 onwards. Also it is
easier to see the connection with Egyptian pictograms in this stage of the
evolution of the alphabet. If we are to believe the historic claim that
Moses ran away from Egypt into the Sinai he would certainly have had contact
with this alphabet and not the later Phoenician stage of its evolution.

James Christian

2010/1/22 James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>

> Hi all,
>
> recent theories I've been presenting to the list members about the Hebrew
> alphabet and its implications for the perception of the inventors hinge on
> one very important factor. Who invented the alphabet?
>
> Throughout my presentation I've been very careful to limit the discussion
> to 'the perception of the inventors of the alphabet' without stating any
> definite conclusions of who those inventors were. And so, I would be very
> interested in hearing from supporters of Phoenician origins why they feel
> that to be the case. I suspect such theories are largely based on a late
> authorship of the Torah (which for most of us who believe it to be ancient
> are lines of evidence merely lines of conjecture). Is there anything worth
> considering that doesn't involve a conspiracy theory that the Isrealites did
> not come out of Egypt? As the Hebrew alphabet characters are evidently
> adapted pictograms from Egyptian I really don't see why we need a Phoenician
> stepping stone.
>
> James Christian
>