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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] "Amalek"/(MLQ vs. "Valley"/(MQ

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  • From: K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
  • To: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "Amalek"/(MLQ vs. "Valley"/(MQ
  • Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:15:35 -0800

Jim:

On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 8:43 PM, <jimstinehart AT aol.com> wrote:

> Karl:
>
> You wrote: “Secondly, Amelek as a name does fit this context in a
> meaningful way.”
>
> Karl, how can you say such a thing?
>

Simple, because I am reading the text according to its lexical, grammatical
and syntactical meanings. Further, I am referring not to a small snippet of
text taken out of context, rather to the total text as written.


> Here are three reasons why Amalek cannot be referenced at Genesis 14: 7.
>
> 1. Victim. Genesis 14: 7 is describing a series of peoples and
> places wrongly ravaged by the four attacking rulers. In the rest of the
> Bible, Amalek is always bad to the Hebrews, and is never a victim.
>

By taking the text out of context, you remove the context of several
centuries, long enough that a victim’s descendants can become the
victimizers.

>
> 2. Wrong Generation. Amalek is described in the last 75% of chapter
> 36 of Genesis as being a son of Esau, who is a son of Isaac. The
> descendants of a son of Esau could not possibly be involved with Abraham in
> chapter 14 of Genesis.
>

Logical fallacy. No where in Tanakh is there a requirement that a name can
refer to one and only one individual, nor that a father is forbidden to name
a son after a famous predecessor.

>
> 3. No Amalek Anyway. Even scholars agree that chapter 14 of Genesis
> is very old. But the last 75% of chapter 36 of Genesis is obviously a
> very late addition to the Patriarchal narratives, centuries after the rest
> of the Patriarchal narratives was composed. Not only does Genesis 36: 9
> obviously start over, again saying this is the line of Esau. But consider
> the following outrageous line of text: “These are the kings who reigned
> in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites.” Genesis
> 36: 31 That part of chapter 36 of Genesis was written centuries after the
> “four kings against the five” report was written down. The author of
> Genesis 14: 7 had never heard of Amalek!
>

This paragraph makes no sense.

>
> So for 3 independent reasons, we see that it is i-m-p-o-s-s-i-b-l-e that
> Genesis 14: 7 could be referring to Amalek, the son of Esau.
>

True, but that does not rule out another Amalek from centuries previously.


> Accordingly, it’s probably like Judges 5: 14: the received Masoretic
> Text references Amalek, but the original text originally said and meant
> “valley”.
>

In both cases Amalek can be the correct reading, and I see no reason to
change the text to fit some preconceived proposition.

>
> Jim Stinehart
> Evanston, Illinois
>
>
> Karl W. Randolph.




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