Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Hi Karl,


> >
> > 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
> >
>
> Context. In Genesis, the father knew and approved, whereas in the Amarna
> letter he did not know and disapproved. Completely contradictory.
>
>
Actually, it's far worse out of context than that Karl. The context of the
Amarna correspondence is that he is trying to pretend he had nothing to do
with the attacks on neighbouring territories. In fact, he is such a coward
that he is willing to lie about not knowing his son had been hiring hapiru
to carry out the attacks and is even willing to give his son up to the
Pharoah. This has no parallels with Genesis 34 whatsoever.

James Christian