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  • From: James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>
  • To: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Qadesh of Genesis 20:1
  • Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 20:06:31 +0300

Jim,

you didn't answer the question. You just reiterated elements of your theory
for the nth time. I asked if you place the beginning of the historicity in
the flow of a genealogy.

James Christian

On 12 May 2010 18:00, <JimStinehart AT aol.com> wrote:

> 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
>
>




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