Hi Uri! I think you might have slightly caricatured the arguments of Young, Rezetko, and Ehrensvärd. The logic of their argument is quite sound. What this means in not that Gen 49, Exod 15 and Qohelet were written at the same time. Rather, on purely linguistic concerns, they MIGHT have been. Their claim is that it's hard to date a book on purely linguistic evidence when that evidence is purely Hebrew. There are other non-linguistic factors that we can use, and these would probably distinguish different milieus for the texts you mention. However, linguistics of Hebrew alone can't do that. Otherwise, on purely linguistic evidence, Exod 15 and the Habakkuk Pesher from Qumran are contemporaneous. We know that can't be the case on the basis of other factors.
Their argument commends itself for its sound reasoning, and I recommend the two volumes to Hebraists. GEORGE ATHAS Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia) www.moore.edu.au _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
