Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Stoney Breyer" <stoneyb AT touchwoodcreative.com>]

Hey, guys -

Fair's fair. Karl raised no question of the interpretation of miracles or
the historicity of the Sodom account; he keeps responding, politely, to
other people's aggressive questioning on those matters, but the question he
asked, and is still asking, is What fuel is implied by the "smoke of a
forge" phrase in that account? I thought that was a perfectly legitimate
question, and a pretty interesting one, too.

Stoney Breyer
Writer / Touchwood Creative

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of James Christian
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 5:48 AM
To: Yigal Levin
Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Fuel for smelting furnaces

Also, Karl, how could a natural disaster interpretation explain how Lot's
wife turned into a pillar of salt? Are you thinking of some salt like
compound ash/dust from the erruption?

James Christian

2010/1/29 Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>

> Dear Karl,
>
> I won't argue your interpretation of miracles nor will I ask how you know
> that wherever the "Red Sea" was it was shallow and had been dredged for
> shipping, but please tell me, WHAT ruins of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and
> Ziboim? I don't know that these cities have ever been identified with any
> certainty. Are you referring to Bab ed-Dhra', on what used to be the
> "Lissan" peninsula?
>
> 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 6:48 PM
> To: B-Hebrew
> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Fuel for smelting furnaces
>
> James and Levin:
>
> My interest is linguistic and archaeological.
>
> Not all miracles are without a natural cause, the miraculous part being
the
> timing. For example, the escape across the Red Sea was because a strong
> east
> wind blew the water off a naturally shallow area (long since dredged away
> for shipping), but the wind came just when Israel needed it, and stopped
> just when it would drown the Egyptian army. Exodus 14:21, 27
>
> Similarly, it has been suggested that a large earthquake could have caused
> a
> massive fountain of liquified, high sulfer content bitumen that was
ignited
> to fall on and around Sodom, Gomorrah, Adnah and Ziboim. That would
explain
> the thick layer of ash found in and around the ruins of those cities.
>
> The reason for my question is the description that the smoke was like that
> from a smelting furnace (literally a furnace with foot operated bellows),
> connected to the question, was there in Bronze Age times enough wood from
> trees in areas like Timnah where there were copper mines, to smelt the
> ores?
> If there were insufficient trees, was collected bitumen (or asphalt) used
> for smelting? My understanding is that when heavy crude (such as bitumen)
> is
> burned, it is quite smoky. Or did the ancients use a combination of wood
> charcoal and bitumen? What evidence is there either way?
>
> It may be that not enough evidence, from either archaeology or
linguistics,
> survives from the Bronze Age to answer that question.
>
> It's not a big thing, but I was just curious.
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
>
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