Sunday, November 11, 2018

History vs Torah part 2 2010-08-18

16 comments:

  1. Good Sichah again
    some points of critique
    1.There's disagreement about exact regnal years for some kings but numerous sources confirm a longer Persian period including Manetho and the Babylonian Chronicles all of which are more contemporary than Seder Olam Raba. (Babylonian Chronicles are roughly contemporary and Manetho is 3rd century BCE)
    2.On Egypt as Richard Eliot Friedman even admitted there is good evidence for a smaller scale Exodus of Ivrim from Goshen 11th century BCE (Papyri suddenly stop mentioning apiru i.e ivri settlers in Goshen around then) but this doesn't really help us as Seder Olam Raba dates the exodus a hell of a lot earlier.

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  2. 3.About the guys question on the Amalekim. The only attestation to them is in Tanakh they appear to have been a band of raiders in the Negev who loved to attack the Jews.

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  3. Replies
    1. Your welcome.
      But seriously, the Persian stuff is way more problematic. We're not just talking about one document which has kings setting world records for their reigns. Just about all sources agree on the longer chronology
      https://brewminate.com/sources-for-history-and-epic-in-ancient-iran/

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    2. Not overly impressed. But this passage there caught my eye and is fascinating:

      "Ctesias further recounts that before the death of Cambyses, even prior to the Egyptian campaign, two of Cambyses’ grandees—Bagapatēs and Artasyras—had decided to make Sphendadatēs king, which they then accomplished upon Cambyses’ death:"

      Bagapatēs and Artasyras - Bigsan and Seresh!

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    3. Nice. One you provide a clear basis for the semitizations to bigsan and seresh you have a pretty good ra'ayah for historic reliability of the Megillah.

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    4. Wait! Bigsan and seresh are killed for their scheme in the Megillah they don't succeed.

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    5. I was wondering how long it would take you... :-)

      Who says they only plotted once...?

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    6. They're still killed for their scheme. They can't quite scheme from the grave.(Effectively at least) /s

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    7. Did you read Rav Schwab's essay on the topic of the missing years? If not I can scan it and send it to you.

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    8. Maybe for your next book work on reinterpreting all the evidence so it works. Even Velikovsky could only get it down to 202 years. (a difference of 4 years)

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    9. If you get around to writing it I'd be happy to proof-read it.

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  4. I recently read Rav Schwab's essay on this topic.

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  5. You may find this interesting
    https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/MAGAZINE-timna-mines-support-biblical-tale-of-king-david-s-united-kingdom-1.5466612

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