Dear Rev. Bryant J. Williams III:
You wrote: “Again, when you say "not possible" that Terah lived to be 205
years, then you are applying "modern" definitions to what was possible and
not possible. You are using eisegesis NOT exegesis. Furthermore, the plain
meaning of "shannah" is year. The context also confirms that. The TEXT does
NOT indicate that "shannah" should not be taken otherwise.”
The m-o-d-e-r-n meaning of shanah is a 12-month year. I am not
applying that modern meaning of shanah to the stated ages of people in the
Patriarchal narratives. Rather, I am applying the archaic meaning of shanah
in
that particular context, which signified “head of the year” or “turning of
the year” or “equinox year”, that is, a 6-month period.
We have many mummies from ancient times. No one ever lived close to 205
years in 12-month years. When the text says that Abraham’s father lived 205
shanah, surely that must be using the archaic meaning of shanah, so that
Terah is being stated to have witnessed the first day of 103 years that
began in the fall, and the first day of 102 years that began in the spring,
for
a total of 205 New Years. We know for a fact that Canaan had two harvest
seasons of approximately equal value, one in the fall and one in the spring,
and that a New Year was often observed in both the fall and the spring.
For the benefit of people who may have missed it in an earlier post, let
me cite again a brief portion of what the leading scholar in the world on
cultic calendars in the ancient near east has said on this subject:
Mark E. Cohen, “The Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East” (1993), at
p. 6: “…the cycle between the equinoxes, a period when the sun and the
moon vied with each other for time in the sky. The ancient Hebrews
recognized the significance of this cycle, referring to the equinoxes, the
times
when the year turns, as teqūfat haššānā (Exodus 34:22): ‘You shall
observe the Feast of Weeks, of the first fruits of the wheat harvest; and the
Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year’ (the autumnal equinox) and as
tešūbat haššānā (2 Samuel 11:1): ‘At the turn of the year, the season
when kings go out {to battle}’, (probably referring to the vernal equinox).
The Israelite incorporation of this six-month ‘year’ into its ritual can
further be detected in the duration and timing of the festival of the first
month, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the festival of the seventh
month, the Feast of Ingathering. This concept of a six-month equinox year
appears to have been a major factor in the establishment of the cultic calendar
throughout the Near East.”
Note Prof. Cohen’s references to: (a) “the turn of the year”; (b) “
six-month year”; and (c) “six-month equinox year”. All of those references
are in the context of the “ancient Hebrews”. Accordingly, it makes sense
to ask if that archaic meaning of shanah may be used in particular
situations in the Patriarchal narratives. [The early Hebrew author also knew
the
modern meaning of shanah, and used shanah to mean a period of 12 months
regarding the amount of time the Hebrews spent in Naharim/eastern Syrian and in
Egypt. But each person’s age in the Patriarchal narratives is, by
contrast, always set forth in terms of the archaic meaning of shanah, which is
a
6-month period.]
Outside of the Patriarchal narratives, shanah has the archaic meaning of a
6-month period in the rest of the Bible on only about 3 occasions or so.
But in the Patriarchal narratives, that archaic meaning of shanah is always
used in setting forth all persons’ ages.
I respectfully disagree with your assertion that “the plain meaning of ‘
shannah’ is year. The context also confirms that. The TEXT does NOT indicate
that ‘shannah’ should not be taken otherwise.”
(1) Exodus 34: 22 and II Samuel 11: 1 testify that shanah could have its
archaic meaning of a 6-month period in the Bible. The Patriarchal
narratives are older than Exodus or II Samuel, so the Patriarchal narratives
are a
likely candidate for a word having an archaic meaning.
(2) The context of Terah’s age being stated to be 205 shanah virtually
requires that shanah be given its archaic meaning, as no human being could
live to age 205 years in 12-month years! There is no reason why YHWH would
have granted Terah a miraculously long life. [Abraham did not even return
to Naharim in eastern Syria for his father’s funeral, even though both
Ishmael and Esau, along with Isaac and Jacob, came back for their father’s
funeral. That delicately suggests that there was a major rift between Abraham
and his father, thus confirming that YHWH is not going to allow Terah to
have a miraculously long lifespan.]
Rev. Bryant J. Williams III, it’s y-o-u , not me, who is the one who is
applying the modern definition of shanah to these passages in the truly
ancient Patriarchal narratives concerning people’s stated ages. By contrast,
I
am the one who is trying to go with what the Hebrew author originally
intended his audience to understand as to these ages being stated in terms of
shanah. When the text says that Terah lived to age 205 shanah, that’s the
archaic meaning of shanah, which is a 6-month period, so that Terah is
thereby portrayed as realistically living to age 102½ in 12-month years.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
