Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dave Washburn <davidlwashburn AT gmail.com>]

On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 11:43 AM, Nir cohen - Prof. Mat. <nir AT ccet.ufrn.br> wrote:

chavoux, jim,

to the best of my knowledge, the proto-sianic alphabet was invented at
about 2000 bc. all the evidence indicates that it was used mainly
on animal skins. animal skins are not as durable as clay tablets.

akkadian, yes, was used in the region, but only in political-economical
documents between leaders. not, as far as i know, for any religeous
purposes.

now, if we assume that the hebrews did keep a written version of their
history and faith, which (so far) is just a supposition, i'd rather suppose
that it was written in proto-sinaic on animal skins than that it was written
in akkadian. for many reasons, starting with the fact that nobody spoke
akkadian in the region except one or two scribes.

and then again, it is just a supposition. why dont we leave it until
jim's tablets will be found by the archeologists? otherwise, what
is there to discuss positively?

In this instance, I have to agree with Karl based on probabilities. If a nomadic people did keep any kind of written records, and those records were recorded in cuneiform on stone or clay tablets, after a few decades they would need a camel the size of the space shuttle just to carry the tablets from one oasis to the next. Alphabetical documents written on leather or parchment would have been much easier to transport, as well as much easier to add to as time went along. I can neither verify nor refute Nir's comments about who knew Akkadian, but based on the sheer amount of material, I find it difficult to envision an extended nomadic family unit such as Abram's hauling a truckload of tablets here and there as they followed their flocks.

Obviously, others' mileage may vary, and since we're all just educated-guessing here, I don't have a problem with that.

--
Dave Washburn

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