Uzi Silber: 1. You wrote: “If Ba'al was widely used in Eretz Yisrael, then it wouldn't be surprising if a name such as Asher, a masculinized form of Ashera, Baal's consort, might be too.” It’s all a question of dating. My assertion is that the Patriarchal narratives were composed in, and accurately reflect, the troubled times of the mid-14th century BCE. Abdi-Ashirta, whose name honors the pagan goddess Asherah, is one of the most high profile princelings in the Amarna Letters. His successor, Aziru, the Amorite ruler of Amurru in northern Lebanon, iniquitously sold out the Amorite state of Amurru to the dreaded Hittites in or about Year 14. That was the historical “iniquity of the Amorites”, because giving northern Lebanon on a silver platter to the expansionist-minded Hittites under their great military leader Suppiluliuma [Biblical “Tidal” at Genesis 14: 1] potentially threatened the Hebrews’ beloved Canaan. There’s no way that a Hebrew composition in that time period would honor the pagan goddess Asherah. By sharp contrast, when you get to the state of Israel in the 1st millennium BCE, anything goes in that pluralistic society. My point is that the Patriarchal narratives are truly ancient, and date all the long way back to the Amarna Age, to an era when the first Hebrews would never have considered using the name of a goddess [Asherah] who was honored by an iniquitous Amorite.
2. You wrote: “You think Terah Haran and Nahor are indigenous to Canaan? I agree they werent from southern Mesopotamia (a later gloss)….” There’s no “later gloss”. Molodet appears 9 times in the Patriarchal narratives and always has the identical meaning: “one’s father’s descendants” . That’s the logical interpretation of Genesis 11: 28, which accurately tells us that Haran died in the presence of his father and in the presence of his father’s descendants [molodet] in Ur of the Kassite-country-people. 3. You wrote: “…but more likely from NE Syria, around, well, the Haran area.” If that were the case, why are Terah, Haran, Nahor and Abram west Semitic names? Why is Haran portrayed as dying in Ur? Why does old Terah leave Ur and try to make it to Canaan, getting stuck en route in Harran? The nomenclature “Naharim” and “Paddan Aram” is redolent of the 14th century BCE, and indicates that the Hebrew author well knew who the primary ethnic group was in eastern Syria/northern Mesopotamia during the Patriarchal Age, at the time when the Kassites ruled southern Mesopotamia. The names in the received text support my view that there was a single early Hebrew author of the Patriarchal narratives, who lived way back in the 14th century BCE, and who knew exactly what he was talking about when he reports the first Hebrews as living in the troubled times of the mid-14th century BCE. In my opinion, the Hebrews are accurately portrayed in the Patriarchal narratives as being indigenous to Canaan, hence all those west Semitic/Canaanite names. Jim Stinehart Evanston, Illinois _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
