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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] El-Paran

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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org, George.Athas AT moore.edu.au
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] El-Paran
  • Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 17:40:11 EDT

James Christian:

Do you have any support from the secular history of the ancient world that
the expression "sea the salt" referred exclusvely to the Dead Sea, and
could not refer either to the oceans generally, or to any other salt sea, in
particular the Mediterranean Sea? Ugaritic literature suggests a notion of
a god of the salt sea, meaning the oceans in general, which would reference
in particular the Mediterranean Sea. From your knowledge of the Greeks, I
am quite sure that the Greeks often referenced the Mediterranean Sea as
being a salt sea. Although that of course is from a much later time period,
the concept is the same. If you have any ancient secular historical
support for your key contention that "sea the salt" could not possibly refer
to
the oceans or the Mediterranean Sea, that would greatly strengthen your
case. But if you have no such support, and I myself have found nothing
along
those lines in the secular history of the ancient world, then I reiterate
that the Bible refers to people who sail the Mediterranean Sea as "salts".
That supports my view that a reference to "sea the salt" could well be a
reference to the Mediterranean Sea. The valley of siddim was near the sea
the
salt. The valley of siddim was not destroyed and replaced by a sea the
salt. YHWH in chapter 19 of Genesis promises Lot that Zoar will not be
destroyed, suggesting that any divine destruction was localized, and did not
include Zoar. Other than your peculiar reading of the word HW) at Genesis
14:
3, nothing in the Bible suggests that the valley of tilled fields was
destroyed and replaced by the Dead Sea. Rather, under a normal reading of
the
word HW), the valley of tilled fields was near the salt sea. The valley of
tilled fields is still there as we speak, and did not become the Dead Sea.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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