James Christian:
1. In response to my statement that “No university scholars view the
Hebrews as originating in Ur”, you wrote: “Could you please define the term
'university scholars' and explain to me how exactly you consider that term to
scale in ladder of values
when compared with primary data which is what I intended to discuss?”
The following scholars, among many others, state that according to secular
history, the Hebrews and pre-Hebrews were indigenous to Canaan, not to
Mesopotamia. Ann E. Killebrew, “Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An
Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, and Early Israel 1300 – 1100
B.C.E.” (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005); W. G. Dever, “
Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?” (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 2003); Lawrence E. Stager, "Forging an Identity: The Emergence of
Ancient Israel", in “The Oxford History of the Biblical World” (ed. M.D.
Coogan; New York: Oxford University Press, 1998); Israel Finkelstein, “The
Archaeology of the Israelite Settlement” (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration
Society, 1985).
I myself do not know of a single reputable modern historian who asserts
that the Hebrews originated in Ur.
Indeed, one of the classic attacks on the historicity of the Patriarchal
narratives is that the Patriarchal narratives set forth a myth that the
Hebrews were originally indigenous to Ur. But that’s not an accurate reading of
the text. The rest of this section of my original post shows that the text
of the Patriarchal narratives does not present the Hebrews as being
indigenous to Ur.
2. One of the key, controversial issues in evaluating the meaning of
Genesis 11: 28 is the meaning of the word MWLDT. I presume you realize that
Gordon Wenham is one of the leading, most respected scholarly commentators on
Genesis.
I do not know what you mean when you say: “In the world according
to you could you please define 'leading commentator' and why you would expect
that to mean anything to me? I want data!”
The “data” is the considered opinion of leading scholar Gordon Wenham, our
own fine Prof. Yigal Levin, and BDB, that MWLDT in Biblical Hebrew means “
kindred”, not “birth” or “birth place”.
This is the b-Hebrew list. The
specific meaning of Biblical Hebrew words is important here.
If we pay close
attention to what the text of the Patriarchal narratives actually says, we
will find that it closely tracks the well-documented secular history of the
Late Bronze Age.
In response to my statement that “Genesis 11: 28 says that Haran died in
the presence of his father, at the place where Haran’s kindred/MWLDT were, in
Ur of the Kasdim…”, you wrote: “This reading doesn't make any sense. Of
course he was with them. The context already said that.”
You have missed the main point of what the text is talking about. Every
firstborn son in the Patriarchal narratives gets the shaft, and rightly so.
In the first few verses of the Patriarchal narratives, we get our first taste
of this ubiquitous theme. Haran, who is the firstborn son of Terakh,
suffers the ignominy of not even surviving his own father. Moreover, both of
Haran’s brothers and Haran’s son were there to witness Haran’s unfortunate
untimely death. When you say “of course he was with them”, that shows that
you do not understand the point that the author is making here.
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