I may have missed your explanation for how the silver amulets and the Deir Alla inscription verify a pre-Hellenistic date for the Pentateuch? (Original question posted here)The late, great Ada Yardeni wrote (above) that the silver plaques do not prove the existence then of the Pentateuch. (Nor disprove of course.) Oddly, she wrote that "Only a discovery of biblical scrolls or even a fragment of a biblical scroll could serve as such a proof." So writing on parchment or papyrus would count, but not writing on silver? (Or on Deir 'Alla wall?)
---- Silver plaque words: Independently dated ca 600 BCE
---- Same words appear in another work independently dated ca 300 BCE.
---- Should we assume that the document dated 300 BCE MUST have therefore have existed AT OR PRIOR to 600 BCE and that the silver plaque words were copied from it?
----- Or should we assume that the document dated 300 BCE copied the words known and extant since 600 BCE?
---- Which is the simpler of the two explanations?
Similarly, can you explain how the Deir Alla inscription testifies to the existence of the Pentateuch ca 800 BCE, if that is what you are proposing?
Silver amulets and the Deir 'Alla inscription are dated by reference to independent data. What I have proposed is that we should begin by dating the biblical books by the same method -- independent data. From that starting point we can examine whether other studies and analyses should require an earlier dating.
How is the dating of this inscription or the script used in it evidence for the date of composition of any of the OT works?Speaking of paleo-Hebrew, I recall that PR Davies (and Rogerson) proposed redating the Siloam inscription. Can you guess in which direction? Later. Many critiques included
"The Date of the Siloam Inscription: A Rejoinder to Rogerson and Davies," Ronald S. Hendel
The Biblical Archaeologist,
Vol. 59, No. 4 (Dec., 1996), pp. 233-237
Thanks
Statistics: Posted by neilgodfrey — Sat Feb 24, 2024 2:36 pm