Biblical Hebrew Forum

["leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

James,

The Samaritan script is a very late, stylized version of the Paleo-Hebrew
script. The specific style is very different than the style of Paleo-Hebrew
script known from the Samaria Ostraca, for instance, which DO date from the
Iron Age northern kingdom of Israel. The earliest actual existing
manuscripts of the Samritan Pentateuch are from the Middle Ages. So no,
that's no proof of anything. It would be like saying that the Jewish
Pentateuch was written in the Roman period, because the script used for
writing Torah scrolls today is the Jewish/Aramaic script of the late Second
Temple Period.

Your deffinition of "minimalist" is not the one usually used, although many
"minimalists" do tend to date texts late. In any case, I don't see Yitzhak
as fitting this deffinition.

What do you say about the issue of Mt. Gerizim?


Yigal Levin

Original Message:
-----------------
From: James Christian jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com
Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 10:06:45 +0300
To: leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 30:20-30


Hi,

I use minimalist here in the sense of the approach that typically asserts
the late boundary for dating. However, the alphabet used in Samaritan
versions alone should speak volumes about the minimalistic late boundary of
the Pentateuch.

James Christian

On 16 May 2010 01:53, Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il> wrote:

> James,
>
> 1. What do you mean by "minimalist" when you use it here?
>
> 2. What evidence do you have that the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch
> is
> as old as the division of the monarchy? To counter your claim, I'd point
> out
> that there is no evidence, textual or archaeological, of there being an
> important cultic site on Mt. Gerizim before the Persian Period, despite
the
> fact that the SP repeats the commandment to sacrifice there regularly
> several times. According to the Bible, the main sanctuaries of the
Northern
> Kingdom were at Bethel and at Dan. Had there been such a sanctuary at Mt.
> Gerizim the Bible would surely have denounced it.
>
> Yigal Levin
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of James Christian
> Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2010 12:51 AM
> To: Yitzhak Sapir
> Cc: b-hebrew
> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 30:20-30
>
> YS: Before we explore this amazing agreement, it is important to point out
> that
> the spelling of the Pentateuch definitely does not predate the 6th century
> BCE.
> Furthermore the Samaritan Pentateuch agrees with the Jewish Pentateuch
> on issues of spelling (the spelling is actually more developed in the
> Samaritan,
> generally speaking), so we would have to conclude that the agreement and
> mutual confirmation of the Pentateuch by both communities happened
> sometime not before the 6th century BCE.  A likely time would be the 3rd
> century BCE, for various reasons.
>
> JC: This is all pretty standard minimalist stuff but full marks for your
> ability to regurgitate views you have read in a minimalist book. I guess
> we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one as we've already been
> through this perhaps more times than Jim has presented his conspiracy
> theories on the location of the Salt Sea.
>
> However, the shape of the Samaritan canon in general would suggest that
> your
> minimalist view is extremely misguided. The split in the canon follows the
> timeline of the split of the kingdoms and the Samaritan pentateuch is
> evidently older than the split. The nationalistic differences can be
argued
> to be later for obvious reasons. But it is these very differences which
> give
> the agreements their age.
>
> James Christian
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