Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

Chris Watts:

 

You wrote:  “So to sum up you are placing Abraham and Isaac and Jacob from around 1500 - 1300 BC and therefore Moses about 900 - 800 BC.”

 

No.

 

Let me first set forth some exact dates for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and then I will answer your question more generally.

 

1.  Abraham’s Dates.  Genesis 14: 4 refers to “Year 13”, and Genesis 14: 5 refers to “the fourteenth year”.  I see that as dating Abraham to Years 13-14 of Akhenaten’s 17-year reign in the mid-14^th century BCE.  The “four kings against five” at Genesis 14: 1-11 reflects the military conflict that played out in central Syria in or about Year 14 [with the exact date being disputed by historians;  mainstream historian John Darnell sees Year 14 as being the key date, but a plurality of historians see the Great Syrian War as occurring several years earlier, probably in Year 12, with this Year 14 sequence then being a quashing of a subsequent rebellion against the new Hittite empire in Syria].  Four rulers, led by a king with a bona fide Hittite name [Suppiluliuma historically, “Tidal” as his nasty Patriarchal nickname, where Suppiluliuma had historically seized the Hittite throne by the dastardly expedient of murdering his own older brother named “Tidal”], utterly destroyed five Hurrian city-states in central Syria, which potentially threatened the future viability of Canaan as well:  “four kings against five”.

 

2.  Isaac’s Dates.  Isaac deals with Abimelek of Sur regarding contested access to valuable water wells.  Chapter 26 of Genesis.  Abimelek of Sur mentions that very issue on 8 occasions in the Amarna Letters [with the issue of contested access to valuable water wells never being mentioned in any other Amarna Letters].  The last such letter refers to Akhenaten’s oldest daughter, “Mayata”, as being the leading lady of Egypt, which is often taken as dating that letter to Years 13-14.  I see that as dating Isaac to Years 13-14 of Akhenaten’s 17-year reign in the mid-14^th century BCE.

 

3.  Jacob’s Dates.  Two of Jacob’s sons, on behalf of this early monotheistic leader but without his prior approval, assassinate the ruler of Shechem on a very irregular basis.  Chapter 34 of Genesis.  If the Amarna Letter of Labaya [the ruler of Shechem] that has an Egyptian hieratic exact date is read as being “Year 12” [which is one mainstream view, though other scholars read the damaged date as being “Year 32”, long before the Amarna Age], then historically in the following year, the ruler of Shechem was assassinated on a very irregular basis on behalf of, but without the prior approval of, an early monotheistic leader [Akhenaten] in Year 13.  I see that as dating Jacob to Years 13-14 of Akhenaten’s 17-year reign in the mid-14^th century BCE.

 

*       *       *

 

I see the Hebrews as coming together as a distinct people, and the religion of Judaism as being born, in Year 14, in large part as a reaction against the terrible troubles the first tent-dwelling Hebrews experienced during Akhenaten’s tumultuous, troubled reign of 17 years.  The immediate concern of the first Hebrews in Years 13-14 was Yapaxu [with the exact dates again being subject to a split of opinion among scholars, based largely on whether Labaya’s letter with a hieratic date is dated to Year 12 or Year 32], who like each Patriarch’s successor had a native west Semitic-speaking father, and a mother whose mother was an ethnic Hurrian.  Alas, Yapaxu’s father, the Amorite princeling Milk-i-Ilu just west of Jerusalem, failed to realize that his firstborn son should get the shaft and properly so.  The fine Amorite princeling ruler Milk-i-Ilu [whose Patriarchal nickname at Genesis 14: 13 is "Mamre the Amorite"], to the first Hebrews’ consternation, did not pick as his successor his pro-tent dweller younger son but rather picked Yapaxu as his favorite, firstborn son, whereas each Patriarch by contrast is portrayed as making the right decision to bypass his firstborn son and choose instead a younger son as his successor:  (i) younger son Isaac is properly picked by Abraham over firstborn son Ishmael;  (ii) younger son Jacob is properly picked by Isaac over firstborn son Esau;  and (iii) younger son Judah is properly picked by Jacob over firstborn son Reuben.

 

In my opinion, the Patriarchal narratives are always talking about the traumatic, life-threatening events of Years 13-14, which almost saw the tent-dwelling Hebrews being kicked out of their beloved valley near Jerusalem, but which instead ended up with the Hebrews, against all odds, coming together as a distinct people in south-central Canaan with a distinct, world-class religion.

 

University scholars say that the Patriarchal narratives are late as a written text, and non-historical as to the details of the historical birth of Judaism.  I say, on the contrary, that the Patriarchal narratives were recorded in cuneiform writing by a scribe retained by the first Hebrew, who composed most of the Patriarchal narratives in Years 13-14 while the above traumatic events were unfolding, and which were reduced to cuneiform writing [by a scribe] a year or so after Akhenaten’s death in Year 17.  Thus in my view, the Patriarchal narratives are extremely early as a written text, and have  p-i-n-p-o-i-n-t  historical accuracy in describing the world of south-central Canaan in Years 13-14, which I see as the timing of the historical birth of both Judaism and the Hebrews as a distinct people.  Linguistic features such as (a) the use of xireq compaginis, (b) dozens of Hurrian names with accurate Late Bronze Age spellings, and (c) Biblical Egyptian names that make sense if and only if they are coming from a text recorded in cuneiform in the Late Bronze Age [with the inevitable confusion of gutturals and certain sibilants that is the distinctive feature of cuneiform writing], support the foregoing historical analysis of the Patriarchal narratives.

 

I have nothing of interest to say about Moses, who I do not view as being relevant to the composition of, or recording in writing of, the Patriarchal narratives.

 

Jim Stinehart

Evanston, Illinois