Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Uzi:
 
You wrote:  “I know that these are the patriarchal narratives…but the


prophetic writings were probably composed not too long after….”
 
Hello, hello?  How can you say such a thing?
 
The Patriarchal narratives are much, much older than the rest of the Bible.
 
1.  The Hurrians began to go extinct in the second half of the 14th century 
BCE, and were long forgotten by the time the rest of the Bible was 
composed.  But just look at all the vintage Hurrian names in the Patriarchal 
narratives:  $N‘R, )RYWK, BR(, BR%(, $M)BR, $N)B, HCCN TMR, (PRWN, )YLWN, and 
B)RY. 
 Those are vintage Late Bronze Age Hurrian names that would have been 
incomprehensible to all later Biblical authors.  (No wonder $N‘R later got 
mixed 
up by later Biblical authors with Sumer, even though there’s no linguistic 
match to Sumer, and $N‘R at Genesis 14: 1 is referring to Syria, not to 
Babylonia or southern Mesopotamia.)
 
2.  Not only the “four kings against five” at Genesis 14: 1-11, but also 
every other prominent foreign policy event in the Patriarchal narratives, 
matches up beautifully to what we find in the Amarna Letters from the 
mid-14th 
century BCE.  That includes the iniquity of the Amorites (in selling out the 
Amorite states of Amurru and Ugarit to the dreaded Hittites in the mid-14th 
century BCE), and the Decapitation of the Shechem Offensive (where Biblical 
Hamor represents historical Labayu, with the fate of the leader of Shechem 
being the same ghastly fate, and with the reason for his death in both cases 
being as aptly stated at Amarna Letter EA 254: 30-37:  “I did not know that 
my son was consorting with the Apiru”).
 
3.  And only in the Patriarchal narratives and in the mid-14th century BCE 
does one see the following unique situation.  An early monotheist from far 
to the southwest of Syria marries a woman from Naharim in eastern Syria 
against his will, and even though his father had married a woman from Naharim 
and 
had gotten along swimmingly with his in-laws, this early monotheist rudely 
cuts off all relations with his irate father-in-law from Naharim in eastern 
Syria, with the last straw being the same bizarre situation.  In both cases, 
there were certain statues that the monotheistic son-in-law never turned 
over to his irate father-in-law from Naharim.
 
Should I go on?
 
The Patriarchal narratives have pinpoint historical accuracy in a mid-14th 
century BCE historical context, while “marching to the beat of a different 
drummer” as compared to the rest of the Bible.
 
The Patriarchal narratives are  o-l-d.
 
When 0 of 17 names and titles of the nine contending rulers at Genesis 14: 
1-2 reference a pagan god, you can be sure that in naming a son, Leah is not 
portrayed as secretly honoring the pagan goddess Asherah.  No way.  Not in 
the Patriarchal narratives.  No.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois