Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

George:

I really shouldn’t answer this at all, for how does it deal with Biblical Hebrew?

On Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 7:05 PM, George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au> wrote:

Karl,

I refer you to my book on the Tel Dan Inscription for a detailed argument that בית דוד is the Aramaic equivalent of "City of David".

Two problems here: 1) how do you get “city” from “house”? and 2) isn’t this a question of extra-Biblical Aramaic and not Hebrew? (Sorry, I don’t have access to your book, unless it’s on line.)

 

As for your other claim about the dating of Ugarit and the wholesale reconfiguration of the entire ANE chronology, I guessed I'm enslaved to evidence and orthodoxy because I need a job. But I'll stick with the evidence.

Is this not a question of history and archaeology?

I first started questioning the orthodox historical model as I was reading evidence that contradicts it. I’ll have to admit that the first evidence that I found against that model is the account as it appears in Exodus. That account utterly rules out any post-Hyksos pharaoh as being the pharaoh of the Exodus. In so far as this is a question of the account in Exodus, it can be considered a part of b-hebrew.

Since that time I have learned of archaeological evidence that points to a 13th dynasty pharaoh, in other words pre-Hyksos, as the pharaoh of the Exodus. The destruction of Jerico occurred shortly after that. The evidence from archaeology indicates that the orthodox historical model needs to be adjusted by centuries.

With both an account written by one of the principles in the action and backed up by archaeology contradicting it, what evidence is there to support the orthodox historical model as propounded by Kitchen and his disciples?

As for the dates of Ugarit, since it was dated by cross-referencing finds with Egypt, any changes in Egyptian history will change the dates for Ugarit as well.

GEORGE ATHAS

Dean of Research,

Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)

Sydney, Australia

Karl W. Randolph.