Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Karl:
 
The Patriarchal narratives are more sophisticated than your 
ultra-literalist approach.
 
1.  Ages of the Patriarchs
 
The brilliant, sophisticated approach of the early Hebrew author of the 
Patriarchal narratives is most easily shown by analyzing your comments about 
the ages of the Patriarchs:
 
“So you contend that Abraham lived to a ripe old age of 175? And Isaak to
 180? Jacob to 139 and Joseph to 110?”
 
On the first level, Abraham is portrayed as dying after witnessing 175 New 
Years.  To the Hebrews, there was a New Year observed both every fall and 
every spring.  So to convert to American years, that would be age 87½ 
regular, 
12-month years.  At that level of understanding, everyone is a reasonable 
age in the Patriarchal narratives, with no exceptions.  Isaac dies at 
un-doubled age 90, Jacob dies at stated age 147 “years” [not age 139!!!!;  
that 
would ruin  e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g], which is age 73½ regular years, and Joseph 
dies at age 55 in regular years.
 
But at a second level, all these numbers have symbolic meaning.  Joseph 
dies at stated age 11 tenfold years [110].  Joseph is Jacob’s 11th son, so 
Joseph dies at an appropriate age.  As to Jacob’s stated age at death of 147, 
note that 7 x 7 x 3 = 147, and 7 + 7 + 3 = 17.  That highlights the number 
17. 
 Though not stated in your post, Genesis 47: 28 explicitly tells us that 
Jacob lived 17 years in Egypt.  Thus both in the Patriarchal narratives and 
in 
the Amarna Age, the first historical monotheistic leader of a people was 
the ruler of his people in Egypt for 17 years.  In fact, a more exact figure 
would be the number 17½, since Akhenaten died more than ½-way through his 
17th regnal year.  That’s the symbolic importance of Abraham being stated to 
die at age 17½ years tenfold [175].  The Hebrew author is using numerical 
symbolism to record for eternity when the Patriarchal Age was:  during the 
time 
when Egypt’s strange, troubled, unsuccessful monotheistic pharaoh died in 
his Regnal Year 17, more than ½-way through his regnal Year 17.
 
Those numbers in the Biblical text are “old and reliable”, which is what 
James Christian asked me.  But No, we are not to think that Abraham lived to 
age 180 in regular, 12-month years.  That’s not the sophisticated message of 
the early Hebrew author of the Patriarchal narratives.
 
That numerical analysis is the tip of the iceberg, Karl.  I can point to 
all sorts of things in the Patriarchal narratives that were unknown in the 
1st 
millennium BCE, but which are recorded with pinpoint historical accuracy in 
the Biblical text.  But your ultra-literalist interpretation is not how the 
sophisticated Hebrew author of the Patriarchal narratives wanted the text 
to be viewed.  It’s “old and reliable”, but it’s not simple and 
self-evident.  It needs interpretation.
 
2.  Joseph in Egypt
 
It is too bad that you ignore chapters 39 and 40 of Genesis, because that 
is one of the rare autobiographical sections of the Patriarchal narratives, 
where we learn how the early Hebrew author of the Patriarchal narratives 
fared in Egypt.  In Year 13, with Joseph being age 13 regular years, the 
Hebrew 
author, just like Joseph, helped figure out who was dastardly planning to 
assassinate Pharaoh.  Just like Joseph, the Hebrew author was a junior 
assistant of the captain of the guard, who was in charge of Pharaoh’s 
security.  
The Hebrew correctly figured out that the Cupbearer was entirely innocent, 
and 
that the “Baker” was the ringleader of the traitorous Egyptian officials 
who plotted against Pharaoh.  That is why work on all the nobles’ tombs at 
Amarna ended permanently in Year 13.
 
The early Hebrew author thought that he should have been rewarded for his 
brilliant detective work by being given the position of the executed “Baker”
, who had been in charge of Egypt’s grain storage.  That is the historical 
basis for the story that Joseph “rose to become the first grand vizier of 
Egypt”.  But in fact, pharaoh Akhenaten historically treated the Hebrew 
author 
like Pharaoh treats Abraham in chapter 12 of Genesis.  The Hebrew author was 
given some gold and silver for services rendered, and semi-politely booted 
out of Egypt for good.
 
Thus Joseph’s story is closely based on historical fact, but it needs to be 
interpreted.
 
In fact, the Hebrew author probably realized that it was much better for 
mankind that he went back to beloved Canaan and resumed living in tents and 
tending sheep and goats as before.  The religion of Judaism would not have 
flourished if its founder had adopted Egyptian dress and spoken perfect 
Egyptian, and lived most all of his adult life in Egypt, as Joseph did.  What 
Akhenaten did was not fair or right, but in the end it helped all of us.
 
3.  Exodus
 
You wrote:  “And if you admit that these are “old and reliable”, then you 
would have to admit that they predated the Exodus dated to about 1440 BC by 
centuries.”
 
I rarely if ever post on the Exodus.  My views do not in fact preclude 
there being an historical Exodus, except that any historical Exodus would 
have 
to have happened after the mid-14th century BCE, being about 1300 BCE at the 
very earliest.  But I have no expertise on the Exodus.
 
4.  Dating of Abraham
 
You wrote:  “Therefore by your own statement above, you have to admit that 
the story of Abraham long predated the EA letters, by centuries.” 
 
No, I myself see the Patriarchal Age as being the mid-14th century BCE, 
which is the identical time period covered by the Amarna Letters.  Virtually 
everything in the Patriarchal narratives is very closely based on what 
actually happened during that time period, and in most cases the stories are 
verifiable, thanks in large part to the Amarna Letters.
 
Karl, I do not share, or pretend to share, your literalist view of the 
Patriarchal narratives.  Abraham did not live to age 175 years in regular, 
12-month years.  Rather, that’s a symbolic number, 17½ tenfold, which shows 
pinpoint accurate historical knowledge of the Amarna Age, as explained at the 
outset of this post.  
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois