Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Yeah,

are you just interested in smithy's in Isreal in general Karl? If so the
suggestion of olive trees seems to make sense because of the abundance of
olive trees. A bit like how the ark and its poles being made of Acacia makes
sense. Anybody who's been to the Sinai knows that pretty much nothing grows
wild except for Acacia trees (the long roots make it down to the underground
water supply). Of course we do see other stuff growing in the shaded parts
of the wadi's where Bedouines plant and cultivate other stuff.

In any case, if you were asking with Sodom and Gomorah in mind as Yigal
points out the intention of the author was definitely not to suggest natural
causes of some kind.

James Christian

2010/1/28 Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>

> I'm not at all sure that the writer of the story had anything like "natural
> causes" in mind. God rained sulfur and fire on them. His messengers were
> capable of blinding the Sodomites (and would-be sodomizers?) and when Lot's
> wife looked back she turned into a pillar of salt. Sometimes miracles are
> just that. If you believe in them, then that's that. If you don't, then
> they
> are a literary device, which is not necessarily based on any reality.
>
> Deut. 29:22 describes Sodom and co. as a land burnt by sulfur and salt, but
> I have a feeling that the description there is the outcome of God's
> "overturning", the way the land is in the author's time, not the method by
> which it got that way.
>
> Yigal Levin
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of K Randolph
> Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2010 9:27 AM
> To: B-Hebrew
> Subject: [b-hebrew] Fuel for smelting furnaces
>
> As I was thinking about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and that
> they
> apparently were destroyed by a rain of bitumen forced out by an earthquake.
> Then the smoke rose up like the smoke of a smelting furnace. That sentence
> got me thinking.
>
> In Northern Europe, where my ancestors came from, there were plenty of
> trees
> to burn, first into charcoal, then in the forge. While charcoal produces
> some smoke, anyone who has used it for picnics knows it's not that bad.
> Coal
> also isn't very smoky, not in a forge. Therefore, ancient smelting furnaces
> in southern Judea and down into the Negev probably used a different fuel.
> What was it? Was it bitumen? Another petroleum product? Is there evidence
> from other languages or archaeology? Other than that one statement that
> sounds like the burning of crude oil, I know of nothing in Hebrew that can
> answer that question.
>
> Just curious. I wouldn't be surprised if no one knows.
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2649 - Release Date: 01/27/10
> 21:36:00
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>