by
Damien F. Mackey
Anchor points of
revision from Abram (Abraham) to David and Solomon.
My brief response
to a would-be revisionist.
….
You have acted wisely, I
think, in keeping a close eye on Dr. John Osgood for the
correct archaeology from Abram (Abraham) through to the Judges.
For example:
- Abram at Late Chalcolithic, with all of its other archaeological correspondences.
- MBI as nomadic (Exodus) Israelite over Canaanite EBA III.
That one is, I believe, absolutely fundamental to any
biblico-historical revision.
- Shechem MB IIC for the city level of Abimelech.
- Allowance for a reign of king Saul of less than 40 years.
I also like Joseph as Ptahhotep, which others (I, myself) have
suggested.
Though I have never been able to do anything relevant with Ptahhotep's
presumed pharaoh, Djedkare Isesi (5th dynasty).
I don't think that you have either.
I, too, have Moses in the 6th Dynasty. {But I have followed
Courville (not in his details, though) in making the Old and Middle kingdoms
partly contemporaneous}.
Thus, I would say, you have some very good anchor points
for securing a competent revision.
Some negatives for mine:
You have followed Courville in identifying the "Jabin" of
the Mari letters (Zimri-Lim) with the Jabin of Hazor of the era of the Judges,
thereby missing out on all of the marvellous syncretisms between Zimri-Lim and
Hammurabi, on the one hand, and kings David and Solomon, on the other.
There were more than one king Jabin of Hazor, it appears – the name,
“Jabin”, seems to have been a generic name for various rulers at Hazor. See
e.g. my article:
Two Kings, “Jabin”, are better than one
And you, having Abraham in the 4th dynasty, cannot (as also the case with
Dr. Courville) make the important identification of Imhotep (3rd dynasty) with
the biblical Joseph that so many others (myself included) have favoured.
Damien.
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