Elah Fortress en.wikipedia.org Pottery Shards from Elah Fortress www.telegraph.co.uk Mesha Stele (Moabite Stone) www.bible-history.com en.wikipedia.org Tel Dan Stele en.wikipedia.org Shoshenq I (Shishak or Sesac) en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org Sources Bible: New Revised Standard Version Bart Ehrman: Gods Problem Karen Armstrong: History of God Encyclopedia Britannica Old Testament Lectures Christine Hayes, PhD Talmudic and Judaic Studies Professor of Classical Judaica, Yale University oyc.yale.edu
On May 27, 2010, In Uncategorized, by admin
Elah Fortress en.wikipedia.org Pottery Shards from Elah Fortress www.telegraph.co.uk Mesha Stele (Moabite Stone) www.bible-history.com en.wikipedia.org Tel Dan Stele en.wikipedia.org Shoshenq I (Shishak or Sesac) en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org Sources Bible: New Revised Standard Version Bart Ehrman: Gods Problem Karen Armstrong: History of God Encyclopedia Britannica Old Testament Lectures Christine Hayes, PhD Talmudic and Judaic Studies Professor of [...]
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
@owchywawa
“I recognize that, but they have references to Hebrew stories, which I would argue came from the Hebrews.”
Or vice versa. The Hebrews may have inherited some stories from the Eblaites or their descendants. Or both the Eblaites and Hebrews drew their stories from a common pool of similar stories. Got evidence?
@owchywawa
“I don’t see any reason to believe no people lived there when at least Jerusalem, Jericho, and Et-Tell? existed then.”
Then read the book I previously cited which shows that the Levant was indeed uninhabited during the two centuries prior to the first evidence of any Israeli presence there. The area was abandoned when drought prevailed for those two centuries as a result of a shift in the prevailing winds.
@pirbird14
Ah I see. but I have to disagree on this:
“and thus could be a precursor from which both later diverged”
on the grounds that akkadian was already attested to before Elaitic. I prefer the idea that western and easter split apart, with eblaitic being another branch, closer to eastern.
but I do agree: this language does predate Hebrew by a wide margin, and does not help with the idea of hebrew antiquity.
@pirbird14 Admittedly I have to read more on it
@pirbird14 From what I have read initially they are Akkadian culturally so more likely related to Sumerian, Assyrian though it is apparently North West Semitic in location. The claim it was proto-Canaanite was made by Professor Giovanni Pettinato who later retracted the statement. The Akkadian empire extended up into what is now modern day Syria. Ishtar is part of this culture. Canaanites are apparently referenced in the Ebla tablets, it is not written by them.
@SocialAnathema Thanks. I will have to check that out.
@ItsTheSuperFly
Then what’s she doing in Ebla?
@Albukhshi
@Albukhshi
The article I cited states that the language of the Ebla tablets is related to both eastern-Semitic and western-Semitic, and thus could be a precursor from which both later diverged. At any rate, it certainly predates Hebrew by several “generations” of language evolution and is thus not evidence for an early existence of Hebrew culture.
@pirbird14
Eblaite (the language of Ebla), is not canaanite or Hebrew. its actually an eastern-semetic language. this means its closest relative is Akkadian. I have actually read some eblaitic, as well as Akkadian transcriptions. however, it does have features typical of western semetic (i.e canaanite) features, and the eastern features might have been exaggerated.
@ItsTheSuperFly
That was what I was trying (not so succesfully it seems) to say. You mentioned, there was no evidence of any Jewish conquest of Jericho. I thought I might add something to that. I got that from a great documentary The Jews: A Peoples History(2008). They conclude for whatever reasons that David probably was real. Worth watching
Excellent video SF. I look forward to another enstallment.
@coladict I’m not claiming the OT is 100% actuate. I think the six day thing along with the flood story was probably borrowed from the Sumerians considering that Abraham, if he existed, would have came from the city Ur. Stories such as these were probably regarded history just as much as we regard the conquest of Alexander history today; they wouldn’t have given it a second thought. This doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some historical bases though.
@pirbird14
Actually Ishtar is a female deity and Sumerian/Assyrian. Male counterpart is Marduk. For Canaanite it is Baal/Asherah (hence Asherah Pole references in the bible) but is all has the same base and Mythology
Mummu-Tiamat/Lotan/Leviathan – all the same snake defeated by the head god
what? … fact? seriously?? who knows what is fact?! .. tell me who knows all history and i will ask. the bible is merely a story/historical view of the first few years of the earth. much like the text books taught in school. have i left you with any doubt?
@coladict
Touching on the 6 day thing in part to but to read ahead look up the enuma elish epic
Very thourough presentation. Thanks.
I look forward to your second installment!
But now for more of that Heterodoxism. Thanks for the heads up.
@AuntieDiluvian
It was brutal. You should read some of laws that decide punishment based on your class and the class of the person the crime was performed against.
Again with the Satie! I used to play this entire series, I love them (Gnossiennes???)
@owchywawa the OT also says that the world was created in six days, so right from the start we get an example of how inaccurate it is.
I have no idea what you’re talking about. This biblical stuff is for people with more free time than me. And, oh boy, it’s tough to find people with more free time than me.
“Oh, and? do you have any evidence at all that any of the destructions of Jericho were done by Hebrews? Cause no archaeologist does.”
We have the OT. What more do you expect? I suppose we would expect to find that the city was burned and we do find that. Not really remarkable, but what more can you expect?
“Uninhabited” means “no people lived there”, which is usually what happens when prolonged? drought destroys the basis for agriculture. ”
I don’t see any reason to believe no people lived there when at least Jerusalem, Jericho, and Et-Tell existed then.
“The Ebla tablets were written in paleo-Canaanite”
I recognize that, but they have references to Hebrew stories, which I would argue came from the Hebrews.
@owchywawa
Oh, and do you have any evidence at all that any of the destructions of Jericho were done by Hebrews? Cause no archaeologist does.
@owchywawa
The Ebla tablets were written in paleo-Canaanite, not Hebrew which is a dialect of a newer Canaanite language. The Ebla-ites worshipped Ishtar, not YHWH. You should have a look at “Ebla and the Bible, Whats left (if anything)?”, By Alan Millard.