Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III:

 

You wrote:  “[E]yewitnesses would have kept the stories essentially the same even within the community that was now the protector of the original stories.  These eyewitnesses would have been the control over the retelling of the stories to prevent inaccurate transmission of the stories; and yet, allow for some variation in wording as long as this variation did not change the story.  Extrapolating from that, it would seem that the stories passed down from the Patriarchs would be extremely accurate.”

 

Eyewitnesses might work for several generations, and maybe even for a couple of centuries.  But if the Patriarchal narratives were not reduced to writing until late Iron Age Judah [based on the style of Hebrew non-poetical common words in the classic Biblical Hebrew narrative prose of the received text], that would be 700 years or so after the fact [even given my late dating of the Patriarchal Age to the mid-14^th century BCE]. 

 

If the received text has pinpoint historical accuracy, as I claim it does, regarding telling us precisely what happened regarding the birth of Judaism in south-central Canaan in Years 12-14, then such accuracy could only rest upon a (i)  w-r-i-t-t-e-n  record that was done [or commissioned] by (ii) a contemporary, who himself was one of the first Hebrews who lived in tents in south-central Canaan in Years 12-14.  For example, the first Hebrews may have commissioned IR-Heba’s former scribe to record in writing, using cuneiform to write down west Semitic words, a comprehensive outline of the Patriarchal narratives.  That ancient cuneiform writing was not transformed into alphabetical classic Hebrew narrative prose writing until the 7^th century BCE or so, in late Iron Age Jerusalem.  But subject to only a handful of exceptions, those Jewish scribes in 7^th century BCE Jerusalem faithfully, passively and accurately reproduced precisely the west Semitic words that had been written down in cuneiform in the mid-14^th century BCE, albeit naturally using the “modern” grammar and spelling conventions of late Iron Age Judah classic Biblical Hebrew.   T-h-a-t  explains why every historical detail in the received text is precisely right as to the trials and tribulations of the tent-dwelling first Hebrews in Years 12-14, way back in the Late Bronze Age Patriarchal Age.

 

Eyewitnesses can only last a couple of generations.  For great historical accuracy over a period of time spanning many centuries, an original  w-r-i-t-t-e-n  account by a contemporary is required.  What I’m saying is that that original written account of the Patriarchal narratives was done in cuneiform, recording west Semitic/pre-Hebrew words, in the Amarna Age by [or commissioned by] one of the tent-dwelling first Hebrews.  That’s the “missing link”.

 

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois