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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: bjwvmw AT com-pair.net, leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] anything about Amarna
  • Date: Tue, 11 May 2010 11:28:35 EDT


Rev. Bryant J. Williams III :

You wrote: “Furthermore, just because the ‘generally’ accepted dating of
the composition of Genesis 14 is considered LBA (according to you which I do
not accept), does not mean that the events recorded occurred in the LBA.”

But many foreign policy events recounted in the Patriarchal narratives have
a clear parallel in the Amarna Letters. Here are 4 key cases.

1. Great Syrian War

Historically, the first year of the Great Syrian War occurred in Year 14
(of Akhenaten’s reign), and Genesis 14: 5 references Year 14. The Great
Syrian War featured an odd coalition of 4 attacking rulers, one with a
Hittite
name, one with a Hurrian name, one with a Ugaritic name, and one with an
Amorite name. That’s Tidal (a Hittite name), Arioch (a Hurrrian name), C
hedorlaomer (a curse in Ugaritic), and Amrapel (where the first half of this
west
Semitic name means “Amorite”). Historically and in the Bible, these 4
attacking rulers demolished a league of 5 rebellious princelings, in a valley
of
tilled fields (the Orontes River Valley), near a salt sea (the Mediterranean
Sea).

2. Iniquity of the Amorites

The historical iniquity of the Amorites (Genesis 15: 16) is that in Year 14
of Akhenaten’s reign, the Amorite states of Ugarit and Amurru iniquitously
sold out to the dreaded Hittites, thereby potentially threatening the first
Hebrews in beloved Canaan.


3. Decapitation of the Shechem Offensive

In Year 13 of Akhenaten’s reign, a princeling ruler closely associated with
Shechem, who had been trying to get tent-dwelling people to help him create
a Greater Shechem, was killed in a sneak attack on behalf of, but without
the approval of, the first monotheistic leader of a people. That’s chapter
34 of Genesis, which is portrayed in the Biblical text as occurring 13
tenfold regular years after Abraham’s birth. Both historically and in
chapter 35
of Genesis, there is surprisingly little negative reaction to that dramatic
murder.

4. Monotheist Breaks with Father-in-Law from Naharim re Statues

In Year 12.7 of Akhenaten’s reign (being 12.7 tenfold regular years after
Abraham’s birth in the Biblical text), the first historical monotheistic
leader of a people broke with his father-in-law from Naharim on the far-away
upper Euphrates River. The last straw in both cases was that the
monotheistic
son-in-law from far to the west never gave certain demanded statues to his
irate father-in-law from Naharim. Genesis 31: 33-35. This, despite the
fact that both historically and Biblically, that son-in-law’s father had
likewise married a woman from far-off Naharim and never had a bit of trouble
with
his in-laws from Naharim.

* * *

The Patriarchal narratives have pinpoint historical accuracy in a mid-14th
century BCE historical context. The contention of mainstream university
scholars that it’s all fiction, and that except for chapter 14 of Genesis
it’s
all 1st millennium BCE fiction, cannot stand the light of day.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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