Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Jim:

On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 7:09 PM, <jimstinehart AT aol.com> wrote:

>
> You wrote:  “Why do you add what is not in the text, in this case
> “exhausted”?
>
> Not only is it logical and inevitable that the flock would be exhausted,
> after Jacob had pushed the flock quickly all the long way from the upper
> Euphrates River to Gilead, but the text explicitly says that:
>

But what about after that? The implication is the opposite. The text
explicitly says that Jacob spent at least a few days at GL(D, and an unknown
time at each of the stops after that. The total time from GL(D to the
meeting with Esau could have been months, and the implication from the text
that it was. Even the “going quickly” from Padan Aram to GL(D could have
been a couple of months, within the capability of the flocks without pushing
them too hard.

You’re a city dude living in the upper Midwest USA. In previous messages you
have shown yourself unfamiliar with farming, deserts, and other aspects of
country living. I, on the other hand, before moving here, spent most of my
time either in the country or in farming communities, from as far north as
Norway to desert irrigation and ranching along the Mexican border. Right now
I live in the only place in the US that has a Mediterranean climate where
the native grasses have all gone to seed, i.e. harvest time for grains.
Hence what I think is “logical and inevitable” is often opposite from yours.

My reading of the text is that this meeting with Esau probably happened in
the fall, after leaving Padan Aram months earlier, in the spring. That’s an
average of only a few miles a day, well within the capability of sheep to
travel without getting exhausted. Your “logical and inevitable” often makes
no sense. That’s why when you add to the text, you often sound like a
babbling fool.


> Jim Stinehart
> Evanston, Illinois
>

Karl W. Randolph.