Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

It's certainly possible, Karl, yes. But the possibility of something does not imply its actuality or even its probability. They are separate considerations. So my question is not whether this was possible, but what specific evidence do we have that would lead us to see it as probable and realistic. The very nature of the situation you describe implies a complete lack of evidence, without even any collateral evidence to scaffold it in this specific case. So I'd like to know how you know or can confidently assert it. I'm simply applying standard academic rules for logical and evidence-based argumentation. That's all.

So my question still stands: How do you know this? If all you have is possibility, then it's pure speculation. You still might be right, but there's absolutely no way of knowing that or not.

GEORGE ATHAS

Dean of Research,

Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)

Sydney, Australia

From: K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
Date: Friday, 12 April 2013 2:55 AM
To: George Athas <george.athas AT moore.edu.au>
Cc: "Dr. Reinhard G. Lehmann" <lehmann AT uni-mainz.de>, B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] akkadian bible?

George:

Seeing as if there was any significant writing from ancient nomadic

cultures, if it was of any decent length to include histories and

religion, would it not have been written on leather or other such

portable materials? And the probability of such materials surviving to

this day is so slight as to be practically zero?

Weren’t some of the graffiti in the Sinai attributed to nomads?

Karl W. Randolph.

On 4/11/13, George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au> wrote:

Thanks for the input, Dr Lehmann. Oral tradition for nomadic cultures is,

indeed, the norm. Writing is quite extraordinary. Do we have any examples of

writing from ancient nomadic cultures?

GEORGE ATHAS

Dean of Research,

Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)

Sydney, Australia