Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Karl wrote:  “As for the dating, Jim Stinehart has long ago indicated that he 
believes that Genesis is not a historical book, rather a set of legends that 
were compiled centuries after the event. Therefore, to argue dates is useless 
with him.”

On the contrary, my view is that the bulk of the Patriarchal narratives was 
composed in Year 15 [during the Amarna Age], by the first Hebrew [only one 
author], and has pinpoint accurate historical recall of the key events of 
Years 12-14.  I categorically reject the mainstream scholarly view that the 
Patriarchal narratives “were compiled centuries after the event”.  Since I 
view the Patriarchal narratives as having been composed by a contemporary of 
the events that are being described, it is of the utmost importance to me 
when the last 40 chapters of Genesis were composed.  Indeed, the potential 
excitement of the Hebrew grammar issue concerning the second half of Genesis 
14: 4, which is the subject of this thread, is precisely that it may give us 
an absolute date for one key event in the Patriarchal narratives.  From that, 
we can then derive the dates of many other events in the Biblical text, and 
also determine the date of the composition of the text as well.  That is why 
it is so important whether or not Genesis 14: 4 says, and means to say:  
“…and Year 13 they rebelled”.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois