Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

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
>
>