Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jerry Shepherd <jshepherd53 AT gmail.com>]

Hi Karl,

 

First of all, I pretty much agrfee with Chavoux's observations.

 

Second, in reply to your question, "The reason for my question is how long a period after the return does he consider the “post-exilic period” and what all does he include with it?", my answer would be that in large measure I would put the entire Hebrew Bible here.  In addition to the books that Chavoux mentions, I believe that much, if not all, of the Hebrew Bible written before the exile was edited and updated, perhaps many of the changes being orthographic and vocalic.

 

Third, when you say, "I've noticed a simpler use of the Hebrew language among those authors among the returnees after exile . . . and you can see the difference, at least I do," this is highly subjective -- not to mention the highly speculative decisions that have to be made with regard to dating.

 

Fourth, even if you are correct that Hebrew became at some point during this time a "special language learned for official and religious duties," this would actually be an argument that the pronunciation of biblical Hebrew became, as it were, "frozen in time," and handed down through the next generations or official scribes largely intact.

 

Finally, notice that all of the concession you've made in the last couple of posts take you very far from your original unnuanced assertion that "you can't trust the Masoretic points."

 

By the way, I'm still waiting for that Waltke-O'Connor documentation and the evidence for the "strike" in baseball coming from a different root.

 

Blessings,

 

Jerry

 

Jerry Shepherd

Taylor Seminary

Edmonton, Alberta

jshepherd53 AT gmail.com