Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

James Christian:
 
You like to look at original sources.  Let’s compare the exact wording 
concerning key foreign policy events in the Patriarchal narratives to similar 
wording in the Amarna Letters.  In all 4 cases, the underlying situations, 
though so peculiar and specific as to be unique in human history, are 
nevertheless essentially identical.  Note how even the words used are 
somewhat 
similar.
 
1.  Irate father-in-law from Naharim on the upper Euphrates River reaming 
out his monotheistic son-in-law from far to the west, who had been forced to 
marry a woman from Naharim that he did not want to marry, for refusing to 
hand over certain statues that were wanted by the irate father-in-law from 
Naharim:
 
(a)  “[W]hy did you steal my [statues of] gods?"  Genesis 31: 30
 
(b)  “Now, may my brother [son-in-law] give me the statues….”  Amarna 
Letter EA 29: 136-147
 
2.  Early monotheists’ reaction to the fact that the Amorite state of 
Amurru was in the process of being sold out to the dreaded Hittites in Year 
14:
 
(a)  “…the iniquity of the Amorites….”  Genesis 15: 16
 
(b)  “Say to [the] ruler of Amurru:  …If for any reason whatsoever you 
prefer to do evil, and if you plot evil, treacherous things, then you, 
together 
with your entire family, shall die….”  Amarna Letter EA 162: 33-38
 
3.  Losing defense of the princeling ruler closely associated with Shechem 
as to the charge that a son of his had wrongfully consorted with 
tent-dwelling people/Apiru/Hebrews, as he says to the first historical 
monotheistic 
leader of a people, shortly before he is murdered in a sneak attack on behalf 
of, but not with the approval of, the first historical monotheistic leader of 
a people:  
 
(a)  “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter.  Please give her 
to him to be his wife.”  Genesis 34: 8
 
(b)  “I did not know that my son was consorting with the Apiru 
[tent-dwellers].”  Amarna Letter EA 254: 30-37
 
4.  Key event in Year 14 in the first year, being the decisive year, of the 
Great Syrian War:
 
(a)  “…these kings [including a Hittite king, Tidal] made war with Bera 
[and with] B-Risha…”  Genesis 14: 2
 
(b)  “Message of Bieri [and] Message of Abdi-Risha:  …‘The troops of Hatti 
[the Hittites]…set the cities…on fire….’”  Amarna Letters EA 174 and EA 
363
 
5.  In the 350 Amarna Letters and the entire Hebrew Bible, the only person 
who has a major problem getting access to contested water wells is a guy 
named:  “Abimelek”:
 
(a)  “Message of a-b-mil-ki [Abimelek]:  …[T]he ruler of Sidon does not 
allow me or my people to go to land to fetch wood or to fetch water for 
drinking."  Amarna Letter EA 154 from Abimilki of Sur
 
(b)  “And Abimelek [)BYMLK] said to Isaac….  [T]he herdsmen of Gerar 
quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours."  So he called 
the 
name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.  Then they dug 
another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name 
Sitnah.”    
Genesis 26: 16, 20-21
 
*       *       *
 
How can 100% of mainstream university scholars assert that there’s no 
accurate history in the Patriarchal narratives?
 
“The patriarchal traditions are in no sense history, and the question about 
the historicity of the patriarchal stories and figures is a question 
wrongly put.”  Claus Westermann, “Genesis:  An Introduction” (1984), Augsburg 
Publishing House, Minneapolis, Minnesota, at p. 135
 
Are those university scholars blind?  How can you get a more accurate 
secular history of Years 12-14 of Akhenaten’s reign than the foregoing?  
Those 
Biblical stories aren’t fiction.  They’re telling about the historical time 
period of the historical birth of Judaism.  Why should we be surprised that 
Judaism was born in tough times, when the world seemed about to collapse, and 
Egypt was hamstrung with a crazy, ineffectual, headstrong pharaoh?  Welcome 
to the Middle East, the historical birthplace of Judaism.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois