Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Karl and Uri:
 
Karl:  I hear where you’re coming from.  (See below for pouring more oil on 
the fire.)
 
Uri wrote:  “[A]n examination of the preserved PNs in the EA [Amarna] letters 
clearly indicates a good percentage of 'Indo -European'  background in the 
Western Levant at that time.  The term includes not only the rulers, or 
"kings", in Canaan, but also elsewhere in states like Amurru, or cities like 
Gubla, which eventually became Phoenician. All very far from Hatti.  For 
details one can check the monograph  of Richard S. Hess on the Amarna Names.”
 
Why is it that Uri Hurwitz finds it natural to mention those non-Semitic 
names in Canaan from the Amarna Letters in a b-hebrew thread on the Biblical 
“Hittites”, yet not a single university scholar has  e-v-e-r  done so in 
evaluating who the Biblical “Hittites” may have been?  Here is the #1 
scholarly article on who the Biblical “Hittites” were.  Note that it never 
mentions, even in passing, the words “Amarna”, “EA”, or “Late Bronze Age”.  
http://98.131.162.170//tynbul/library/TynBull_1969_20_02_Hoffner_HititologyOT.pdf
 
I hope people noticed George Athas’ remark on this subject:  “…it may be 
worthwhile asking not only whether there actually were Hittites or Hurrians 
in Palestine at any stage…”  Taking that as my cue, let me now expand on 
Uri’s point by showing just how dramatic this uncontroverted evidence is.
 
During most periods of time, we don’t know the names of many rulers of cities 
in Canaan.  But for Year 13 of Akhenaten’s reign, we know the actual names of 
the rulers of most cities in Canaan.  Just take a look at the names of these 
princeling rulers that I have set forth below.  I have picked most of the 
most famous cities in Canaan.  Are these the Biblical “Hittites”?
 
Why is it that in evaluating the Biblical “Hittites”, no university scholar 
has  e-v-e-r  mentioned any of these nine well-attested names of princeling 
rulers of cities throughout Canaan?  Uri quite naturally referred to these 
prominent non-Semitic names in the heart of Canaan (albeit only in general 
terms).  But to the best of my knowledge, all university scholars have 
completely ignored all of these princeling names in evaluating the Biblical 
“Hittites”.  Why?
 
1.  Jerusalem
 
Ruler:  IR-Heba
 
 
2.  City of Hebron =  Qiltu
 
Ruler:  $uwardata
 
 
3.  Carmel/Gintikirmil (in the Shephelah, west of hill country), plus nearby 
Rubutu
 
Ruler:  Tagi
 
 
4.  Megiddo
 
Ruler:  Biridiya
 
 
5.  Acco
 
Ruler:  Surata
 
 
6.  Akshaph
 
Ruler:  Endaruta
 
 
7.  Qadesh of eastern Upper Galilee (if Gudda$una = Qadesh)
 
Ruler:  Yamiuta
 
 
8.  Ashteroth
 
Ruler (or, perhaps more likely, maryannu defender):  Birida$wa
 
 
9.  Kumidu (Egyptian garrison in the southern Beqa Valley, just north of 
Qadesh of eastern Upper Galilee)
 
(Non-Egyptian) commander of this Egyptian garrison (presumably another 
maryannu/charioteer):  Arawa-na  
 
[The name is per Richard Hess.  The last part of the name is damaged.  Wm. 
Moran does not see the consonant N there.]
 
Other than the suffix, this name is likely identical to )RYW-K at Genesis 14: 
1.  Is )RYW-K at Genesis 14: 1 one of the Biblical “Hittites”?  Why has no 
university scholar ever mentioned the great similarity of these two names in 
print?  Why has no university scholar ever asked in print whether )RYW-K at 
Genesis 14: 1 is one of the Biblical “Hittites”?
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois






-----Original Message-----
From: K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
To: JimStinehart AT aol.com
Cc: fournet.arnaud AT wanadoo.fr; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Thu, Jul 29, 2010 3:23 pm
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] H-XT-Y at II Samuel 11: 3


Jim:


On Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 1:03 PM, K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com> wrote:

Jim:


On Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 10:28 AM, <JimStinehart AT aol.com> wrote:


…

 
What we need to do is to convince at least one mainstream university scholar 
to look at what actually happened in Late Bronze Age Canaan.  Then if such 
open-minded scholar would compare what actually happened in Late Bronze Age 
Canaan to what the Bible says about the Biblical “Hittites”, a refreshing new 
dialogue about the historicity of this part of the Bible might well ensue, to 
the benefit of one and all.
 


You don’t know what you are asking for.


… You are asking for one professor to commit professional suicide, for what? 
Once he’s drummed out of academia, he can safely be ignored and/or ridiculed. 
That’s a pretty big price, and how many professors are willing to do that? …



Another example I meant to include, “oh that…yeah I know, we are told not to 
look into this, its pretty well communicated if you research into giants or 
other races they will end your career immediately, we are told to say its all 
1800’s media fraud regardless of the evidence, in fact they think they have 
found a living tribe of Neanderthals in northernmost Canada, but I don’t know 
anymore about it, its pretty controversial, again if you ask questions you’ll 
be working at McDonalds tomorrow”. This quote found at 
http://s8int.com/WordPress/?paged=2 about a student who just graduated from 
Berkeley. 





 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois





Karl W. Randolph.