Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

See here for traces of the Wadi el Hol inscriptions:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b4/Wadi_el-Hol_inscriptions_drawing.jpg


2010/1/22 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
>>
>
>