Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: February 27, 2025, 6:37 am

Thread Rating:
  • 1 Vote(s) - 5 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Made in Alexandria: The Origin of the Yahweh Cult
#61
RE: Made in Alexandria: The Origin of the Yahweh Cult
(March 22, 2013 at 10:41 pm)Minimalist Wrote: One does need to do a little archaeological detective work. The Assyrians deported some 20,000 people from "Israel" (somewhere between 10-15% of the population...so much for the "Ten Lost Tribes" horseshit so we do have an indication that there was a history of that kind of thing.

Whatever that might be, I have read the actual inscription and have not found the claims of the believers. Read it yourself. It is in the "P.S." on the 3rd of four sides. Read what is written and no claim beyond what is written.

Quote:Second, the Babylonian chronicles report that they attacked the city and carried off "tribute" without specifying what that tribute might have been but again, as with the Assyrians - and Babylon was a rebellious province of the Assyrian empire - it is not unreasonable to think that the ruling classes would have been relocated.

It is entirely nonsense to INVENT a ruling class being relocated. It says what is says. In a practical sense, NO ONE carried off a ruling class. They did take the male children of the king as hostage. That continued through Attilla when it bit Byzantium in the ass.

As to reasonableness, lets see. The entire ruling class was removed from the city and no one ruled it, collected taxes for tribute, kept down revolt against the Babylonians. Is that reasonable? What is the benefit of doing so? Please recite from arkie finds just what that benefit was.

Quote:Third, we have archaeological findings of Judahite families prospering in the Babylonian Empire before the Persians arrived.

It would be noteworthy NOT to find such evidence. It is foolish to consider evidence of preconceived reality of the Septuagint. However if you have no physical evidence of forced removal do not bother me. For the record naming styles adopted by whomever created the Septuagint can never preclude people in the 2nd c. BC from copying them.

Quote:Fourth, we have the decree of Cyrus the Great indicating that captive nations of the Babylonians - the Judahites were not unique - were to be permitted to return.

READ IT. It does NOT say that. It says, "sacred things [not people] were returned to their places" and nothing more. The Babylonians did in fact take sacred stones to Babylon. If people are BOTH considered sacred (absurd because the believers say they were human rulers) and neuter (they) were returned it clearly refers to the stones.

RTFI, Read The Fine Inscriptions. Screw was believers say about them. Assuming an honest translation, it says what it says and both of us can read what it says and decide for ourselves.

Quote:Fifth, we have archaeological evidence that consistent with the beginning of the Persian period - c 539 BC - a small scale settlement resumed on the site of Jerusalem. Bible horseshit aside, Israel Finkelstein cites the build up area as capable of supporting a population of 400. (The Babylonians had not reused the site which they destroyed instead settling their the governor at nearby Mizpah.)
[/quote]

Consistent with a date is interesting. Please tell me about it. But if it does not demonstrate local literacy I really don't give a rat's ass.

Quote:
Quote:Davies point is that a small band of people was sent back to rule the region, renamed Yehud from where we get the name Jews, and that the whole priest-class prophet of god shit was to give them a rationale to rule for the Persians. Cyrus himself had bigger fish to fry and was in fact killed in battle putting down a revolt in the eastern part of his empire.

To paraphrase Davies....crudely which is what I do best.... Cyrus wanted to avoid a situation where his designated rulers went back and the inhabitants said "who the fuck are you?"

Sort of amusing to put motivation into the head of a 2400 year old person just for the fun of it. Why would he give a rat's ass? why would he not send them with a Persian garrison just like EVERY OTHER place in the new empire? Why the special pleading bibleland is unique? Who would give a rat's ass about a hundred thousand or so peasant farmers around Jerusalem and consider them different? Why the special attention in the first place? Why any attention at all?

[quote So they came complete with this silly doctrine about how they were the rightful rulers who had been promised the land by "god" and were being returned by the great Cyrus to resume their destiny. One imagines that the peasants who had been working for the Babylonian overseers would not really have given two shits about which hand held the whip but might respond better to the illusion of having their own "lost" rulers being restored to them.

Oh, and they brought a whole new god who, as Davies also points out, would have been fairly indistinguishable from the Persian's Ahura Mazada...always a good way to get on the king's good side.

EVERY word of that is arguing for Judaism without the least bit of physical evidence.

Sorry. No interest.

(March 22, 2013 at 10:47 pm)Tonus Wrote:
(March 22, 2013 at 10:41 pm)Minimalist Wrote: To paraphrase Davies....crudely which is what I do best.... Cyrus wanted to avoid a situation where his designated rulers went back and the inhabitants said "who the fuck are you?" So they came complete with this silly doctrine about how they were the rightful rulers who had been promised the land by "god" and were being returned by the great Cyrus to resume their destiny. One imagines that the peasants who had been working for the Babylonian overseers would not really have given two shits about which hand held the whip but might respond better to the illusion of having their own "lost" rulers being restored to them.

That would explain the "prophecy" of Isaiah 44:24-28. You ease our return to our home, we make you divine in our "prophetic" book. Now that's how you exchange political favors!

While it might "explain" something it does not DATE something. It is a worthless exercise.

(March 22, 2013 at 11:12 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Cyrus the Great comes much closer to matching the requirements of a "messiah" than fucking jesus ever did.

So far as we know from real history, the idea of a savior/messiah first appears in the 1st c. AD. If anyone has any PHYSICAL EVIDENCE to the contrary please post it.

I am getting really tired of requesting physical evidence and receiving no response but people continuing to post as though it had been posted.

Nothing new of course. It is what I get on even the best of "fake" atheist sites. Atheism is not limited to anti-christian and anti-muslim. it is primarily anti-judaism.

The Dawkins' website ended its open forum AFTER I made the case that atheism was also anti-judaism. It is nothing unusual.
Reply
#62
RE: Made in Alexandria: The Origin of the Yahweh Cult
If you are expecting to find a single document/artifact which is going to answer all your questions you are in for great disappointment. This is what the theists have tried (and failed) to do with their bible.

Now, I'm getting curious. What evidence do you claim to have....or is all of this little more than an argument from silence....( a silence which exists only if you dismiss everything located thusfar in the ancient world which you find inconvenient?)
Reply
#63
RE: Made in Alexandria: The Origin of the Yahweh Cult
(March 22, 2013 at 9:29 pm)A_Nony_Mouse Wrote: As you are referring to 150-100 BCE I am getting a bit confused. Undecided

Even here https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/displa...to+334+BCE

I am not sure of the source of the confusion. I have been always been talking about Ptolemaic Egypt, Greek Egypt.

As to wikipedia and all encyclopedias they are designed to target high school students. We here a beyond that. For example, most anything related to bibleland is dominated by believers who deny Josephus and Herodotus when it conflicts with their religious tradition. They deny Josephus and Herodotus were even historians. Only what their fellow believers say about bibleland is acceptable.

Considering those points it is clear wikipedia is only suitable for high school level work as what Josephus and Herodotus actually wrote is beyond the high school level. High school level material is to empart the lowest common denominator of cultural and societal beliefs.
[/quote]

Thanks for clearing that up A_Mouse.

My skills in this area are very limited Big Grin
"The Universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." G'Kar-B5
Reply
#64
RE: Made in Alexandria: The Origin of the Yahweh Cult
(March 23, 2013 at 2:13 am)Minimalist Wrote: If you are expecting to find a single document/artifact which is going to answer all your questions you are in for great disappointment. This is what the theists have tried (and failed) to do with their bible.

Now, I'm getting curious. What evidence do you claim to have....or is all of this little more than an argument from silence....( a silence which exists only if you dismiss everything located thusfar in the ancient world which you find inconvenient?)

I claim to have no new physical evidence. I claim to have only what everyone else has. I simply refuse to go beyond the physical evidence.

The very premise in the subject line is when the OT stories first appeared. That time is about the mid 2nd c. BC. Therefore I say the evidence is the stories were created at that time and no physical evidence they were created any earlier or are any older. If there is no evidence of anything older then any assumption that it is older is pure speculation. (You can read book one of Against Apion to show Jews at that time were desperate to be considered an ancient people. That gave them all the reason in the world to insist the stories themselves are of real history instead of historical fiction.

If someone wants to claim the stories are older than the 2nd c. BC then I expect to to see physical evidence such as a new archaeological find that passes the giggle test for non-believers. I have all the literature. I have copies of it all on my website for anyone interested.

While Davies makes a pretty fair shot at it he proceeds with NO physical evidence whatsoever to assign creation to after the return from Babylon. He does this without evidence of any captivity in the first place. He does this with no evidence of a literate culture in the hill country of Palestine until the 3rd c. BC -- he assumes something for which there is no evidence it could exist.

Then he talks about just stories evolving into dogmatic religious literature over time, which implies over centuries but was watching for an explicit statement and noticed none. All of that is fine except I know Josephus in late 1st c. AD did not consider these books and stories to be dogmatic religious literature. Davies does agree with that and explicitly says the same in the 2nd chapter. He shoots himself in the foot with what appears to be no more than an attempt to makes the stories as old as possible. If it did not happen by the 1st c. AD when did it happen?

Once mid 2nd c. BC appearance of these stories is recognized then we have the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucids and in favor of the Ptolemys -- it was definitely not against Greeks in general according to Josephus. The priest that started the revolt not only got refugee status in Egypt but a city was built for him to rule that was a copy of Jerusalem including the temple.

The Ptolemys had previously invented the god Serapis for their own use. That is not evidence they invented this Yahweh cult but it shows they would have no reluctance to do so -- i.e. it is not blasphemous to do so and nothing is too sacred.

Fact: we know the OT appears around the time of the Maccabean revolt. What I say beyond that is speculation and I admit to succumbing to the temptation to spin a good story. But essentially everything in the OT is either neutral or supports rule by priests. The Maccabes declared themselves the priest-king rulers. Is it just coincidence that the Maccabes and stories supporting them appear at the same time?

If this is the case then many other questions related to real history being incorporated into the stories are easy. If the Ptolemys commissioned the stories or high priest that started the revolt did then the very obvious place to have it done, to find the manpower who knew the history of the region, was Alexandria because of the library.
Reply
#65
RE: Made in Alexandria: The Origin of the Yahweh Cult
(March 22, 2013 at 1:00 am)A_Nony_Mouse Wrote: Please confirm you meant the ink was scraped off and destroyed and that this ink was preserved for two centuries before being used for just this one scroll. Desperate or not, please confirm or deny. OR at least clarify what you were intending to post.
Go away. Yes, ink is scraped off and tested apart from the writing material (in this case parchment). You HAVE to test them separately as they have different carbon levels. A parchment scroll lasts a very long time, it is quite reasonable to think that the scribe who had care of it would write over the old ink with new ink.
Quote:If you have clear physical evidence that the books/scrolls of the OT existed prior to the Septuagint PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE present it. I beg you to present it. I have asked you to present it at least twice. But you have presented nothing. Why not?
If YOU have clear physical evidence that the LXX existed - in a complete form of 46 books that is - prior to the Hexapla, then present your evidence. You can't prove it existed before then, can you?
Quote:I have pointed out that the ONLY claim the Septuagint is a translation is a forgery and that there is no other basis for this claim. You simply ignore the FACT that the only reason for your belief is this forgery. And yet you present no evidence independent of this forgery in favor of your belief.
The forgery has nothing to do with proving it is a translation. The forgery only talks about an early translation of the Pentateuch supposedly written in the 2nd century BC. The LXX as we know it contains 46 books, not 5. You can't even produce a *complete* manuscript of the LXX, might I point out to you.
Quote:If I knew what you were saying I would not raise the issue. Therefore consider the question asked again.
You claim to be the authority on the Old Testament text, and yet you don't even know the different ways in which scripture is counted (22 scrolls, 39 books, 46 books, 27 books, 66 books, ...)?????
Quote:If that is all, like Django consider the bible unchained. So do we agree on everything else?

But as to the claim of being chained the reason for being chained arose post Luther. As for chained itself it was done some places where the church could not be secured when unoccupied. It was likely the most valuable item in any church. Its ransom value certainly outweighed the cost of a chain or secure locks on the doors or whatever measures against theft. I do not see what your problem is with valuable items being protected from theft.

Do we agree on everything else? AND do you really expect me to assume your "totally incorrect" referred only to the passing remark on the chaining?
No we don't agree. You seem to have some working knowledge of church history and are being intentionally selective about it.
Quote:How does 1st c. BC (by all but those who do not understand carbon dating and then only on one book) impact the Septuagint which appears mid 2nd c. BC? The Septuagint is at least a century older than any comparable document found near Qumran.
LOL. The Septuagint as we know it appears mid 3rd century AD. By all means, produce me a copy of it older than this if you can.
Quote:[Hoping this will not derail the exchange, i.e. hoping in vain, i.e. against all hope, I point out the Masoretic is an abbreviation of the Qumran. And I point out the Qumran is an abbreviation of the Septuagint. And working from the other direction there is nothing in the Qumran that is not in the Septuagint and nothing in the Masoretic that is not in the Qumran.]
WHAT? So then the Samaritan Pentateuch doesn't count does it? I might add that the discovery of early Samaritan version mss at Qumran means that there is now overwhelming scholarly agreement among textual critics that the SP represents an authentic ancient preservation the same as the MT does.
Quote:So the translators invented the "tetra." So what? The translators would have had the SAME name as a god in the pantheon of the eastern Med. It is first mentioned in one of the Ugarit tablets. If you are assuming other than invention, what is the physical evidence for the assumption?
So then where are the "Hebrew translations" which don't contain it?
Quote:Or the transliteration from Koine Greek into Hebrew. You have exactly two letters from Qumran to suggest Hebrew might have been a real spoken language at any time prior to modern Israel. Otherwise it is exclusively liturgical.
Bullshit. How do you think the Masorites got the vowel points for the text? And just in case you've heard they intentionally used the vowel points of Adonai for the Tetragrammaton - that's wrong, the vowel points are in fact identical to Judah which is a name spelled with one additional letter (I suppose that makes it a pentragrammaton).

Furthermore the Hebrew texts were read aloud. If Hebrew really wasn't a spoken language, then it would be impossible to read the text aloud!!!
For Religion & Health see:[/b][/size] Williams & Sternthal. (2007). Spirituality, religion and health: Evidence and research directions. Med. J. Aust., 186(10), S47-S50. -LINK

The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK


"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
Reply
#66
RE: Made in Alexandria: The Origin of the Yahweh Cult
(March 24, 2013 at 9:25 am)Aractus Wrote:
(March 22, 2013 at 1:00 am)A_Nony_Mouse Wrote: Please confirm you meant the ink was scraped off and destroyed and that this ink was preserved for two centuries before being used for just this one scroll. Desperate or not, please confirm or deny. OR at least clarify what you were intending to post.
Go away.

Have you yet to notice I have nothing but contempt for you and your personal attacks and supercilious posts?

Quote:Yes, ink is scraped off and tested apart from the writing material (in this case parchment). You HAVE to test them separately as they have different carbon levels. A parchment scroll lasts a very long time, it is quite reasonable to think that the scribe who had care of it would write over the old ink with new ink.

To REPEAT, You have given no legitimate age +/- years as ALL carbon dating is expressed. Why do you find this so hard? Why do you present ascientific and even unscientific years in your posts? You make it up. If you had attributed what you posted to someone then I would merely ask why you believed the idiot instead of pointing out you are being disingenuous.

The NEW ink would be less old but it is the dating of the parchment that is the least old in your claim. If that is not correct please restate what you meant to say.

You say tested separately for reason of different carbon levels. When the purpose is solely to obtain the ratio of carbon isotopes what do you mean different levels?

As for being "reasonable to think" upon what evidence is that a reasonable thought? Palimpsests are a dark ages phenomenon.

Why would you ignore the FACT that not a single DSS much less this one has been identified as a palimpsest?

Why is it your argumentation is for an overwriting which appears solely from your imagination and for which there is no physical evidence?

For the record I find it amusing you are claiming the DSS are being defaced by the removal of letters contaminating their contents for all future generations. That would be as in, "We know those idiots back in the 20th c. scraped off letters and words, who knows what else they changed.

Quote:
Quote:If you have clear physical evidence that the books/scrolls of the OT existed prior to the Septuagint PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE present it. I beg you to present it. I have asked you to present it at least twice. But you have presented nothing. Why not?
If YOU have clear physical evidence that the LXX existed - in a complete form of 46 books that is - prior to the Hexapla, then present your evidence. You can't prove it existed before then, can you?

I have made no claim as to the exact form. In fact I note on my website that there were other versions around as Josephus gives a markedly different version of many stories as well as being greatly abbreviated. You are aware that Moses as a Prince of Egypt is from Josephus are you not? And you should be aware that was impossible by the Septuagint version of Exodus.

You are trying to tie me down to something I have not said. Nor does anything I have said depend upon any particular version nor on the number of variations upon each story.

Josephus may know of only 22 books but from his recital of Judean history they are clearly not the Septuagint later used by one of those Christians who rejected education and learning for being sinful and pagan.

Quote:
Quote:I have pointed out that the ONLY claim the Septuagint is a translation is a forgery and that there is no other basis for this claim. You simply ignore the FACT that the only reason for your belief is this forgery. And yet you present no evidence independent of this forgery in favor of your belief.
The forgery has nothing to do with proving it is a translation. The forgery only talks about an early translation of the Pentateuch supposedly written in the 2nd century BC. The LXX as we know it contains 46 books, not 5. You can't even produce a *complete* manuscript of the LXX, might I point out to you.

The only source of claiming it is a translation is the forgery, period. There is no basis for any other claim. Obviously people were rejecting that letter in the late 1st c. AD and Josephus makes a point of citing it. However he does not appear to know it is a forgery although he was not above lying and crying "antisemite" when people refused to believe jewish lies.

But this is to the point I have been trying in vain to get you to answer. What is the physical evidence the OT stories existed in any language prior to the Septuagint? You have not presented any. Why not? If you do not have physical evidence why do you believe it? I have a dozen other questions after that but it is the fundamental question.

Are you going to refuse to address that issue for the fifth time in a row?

Quote:
Quote:If I knew what you were saying I would not raise the issue. Therefore consider the question asked again.
You claim to be the authority on the Old Testament text, and yet you don't even know the different ways in which scripture is counted (22 scrolls, 39 books, 46 books, 27 books, 66 books, ...)?????

I have made no claim to being an authority on the OT text. In fact it is nearly impossible for a non-believer to be an expert beyond noting the inconsistencies and contradictions. Expert knowledge requires consistent subject matter.

Of course we all know the difference between books and scrolls is an accident of translation which is why the technical term for a book is a codex. But if you insist it is Ezra who says twenty FOUR books/scrolls for everyone and 70 reserved to the priests alone. Josephus says 22 but he does not consider the old writings, whatever the original language, to be authoritative.

But on the off chance you are merely trying to divert things based upon a definition of "bible" of the Hebrews it does not to when they were written and by who. 22 or 24, one or a million books, there is no evidence of the existence of any them prior to the mid 2nd c. BC. Nor is there evidence of any literate culture in or around the city-state of Judea which could have created or preserved them until after the arrival of the Greeks.

We know they existed in at least two languages, Greek and some other language most likely either secular Aramaic or liturgical Hebrew in the late 1st c. AD and that is about it. There is no point to Josephus mentioning the letter without at least two languages. In no place is the "from" language named.

I point out there is no reason for a forgery unless fraud is intended. I further point out both the letter and the contents of the Septuagint can be dated to the mid 2nd c. BC. It is immaterial how many "books" are referred to as translated. The point the intent of the fraud can only be to claim the Greek is the translation rather than vice versa. If you have another suggestion as to the object of the fraud if it merely recites fact please tell me.

Quote:
Quote:If that is all, like Django consider the bible unchained. So do we agree on everything else?

But as to the claim of being chained the reason for being chained arose post Luther. As for chained itself it was done some places where the church could not be secured when unoccupied. It was likely the most valuable item in any church. Its ransom value certainly outweighed the cost of a chain or secure locks on the doors or whatever measures against theft. I do not see what your problem is with valuable items being protected from theft.

Do we agree on everything else? AND do you really expect me to assume your "totally incorrect" referred only to the passing remark on the chaining?
No we don't agree. You seem to have some working knowledge of church history and are being intentionally selective about it.

That was certainly unproductive. You clearly cannot honestly declare me both "totally incorrect" and selectively honest at the same time. Again, you have nothing but insult and pejorative without substance. And you really expect the website owners to tell me to stop picking on you?

Quote:
Quote:How does 1st c. BC (by all but those who do not understand carbon dating and then only on one book) impact the Septuagint which appears mid 2nd c. BC? The Septuagint is at least a century older than any comparable document found near Qumran.
LOL. The Septuagint as we know it appears mid 3rd century AD. By all means, produce me a copy of it older than this if you can.

Yes you are trying to get out of the forgery by invoking the copy meme. As you know, there are only two related things, the oldest copy of a document and the oldest mention of a document. As you know NEITHER has any relation to the original contents. Changes in copying and even total fabrication was such a common problem that the closer a copy was to the original the more valuable.

So it was different, so what? Canonical texts did not exist in the time of Josephus and likely did not exist until the Christian sect of Judaism invented it in the 5th c. AD. No question the Book of Enoch disappeared for many centuries. For the Christian sect the Sybillenes fell out of favor. Many of the quotes from "scripture" on the NT are not only from the Greek but also from either invented or non-existent or lost Judean texts.

Although I agree my web pages are not well organized I do make it clear the exact form and contents of the Septuagint is unimportant. The only important point is that there could not have been anything significant to translate into Greek. In fact I go so far as to say nothing at all existed to be translated in most cases. There is a problem with the imprecision of English which we all face.

Quote:
Quote:[Hoping this will not derail the exchange, i.e. hoping in vain, i.e. against all hope, I point out the Masoretic is an abbreviation of the Qumran. And I point out the Qumran is an abbreviation of the Septuagint. And working from the other direction there is nothing in the Qumran that is not in the Septuagint and nothing in the Masoretic that is not in the Qumran.]
WHAT? So then the Samaritan Pentateuch doesn't count does it? I might add that the discovery of early Samaritan version mss at Qumran means that there is now overwhelming scholarly agreement among textual critics that the SP represents an authentic ancient preservation the same as the MT does.

Overwhelming agreement among believing scholars that their theology is correct is not what I would put in the surprising category. No more than I would expect you, a declared Lutheran, to speak anything against your religious beliefs.

Believers refuse to recognize that their position was never originally established. All of their positions are working backwards to confirm things that were never more than the religious beliefs of uneducated dolts.

And as to uneducated dolts not a one of them appears to have the least idea of the rules of logic and what a logical fallacy is. These were formalized in the 6th c. BC and were an essential element of education in those days including all the Platonic schools. As an example, so many of them appeal to authority, just as you do, without knowing an appeal to authority is a logical fallacy and is NEVER acceptable in rational discourse.

In discussions like this one NEVER appeals to authority but rather one presents and defends the evidence and reasoning independent of any and all authority. I have invited you to do that and watched your refusal so many times I can only conclude it is beyond your capabilities and as such have nothing you could possibly contribute to this discussion.

As to the Samaritan texts how they are supposed to be different from the "Hebrew" translation you have not explained. Please show me how they make a difference? All we know is the Romans ended the dictatorial rule of the Judeans over the Samaritans after the Samaritans were forced to adopt Judean Yahweh cult practices in the late 2nd c. BC.

The Samaritans should have been pissed for being forced to mutilate their genitals or die as the Judeans demanded. That the Judeans lost temple taxes and earnings from forced annual visits to Jerusalem certainly explains the reciprocated animosity. Similarly the Judeans hated Herod as a king of a people conquered by Judeans in the late 2nd c. BC ruled as a king.

In light of your fallacious appeal to authority you could have given the reason why a Samaritan version makes a difference but you are obviously incapable of that. You obviously know next to nothing about the subject.

Quote:
Quote:So the translators invented the "tetra." So what? The translators would have had the SAME name as a god in the pantheon of the eastern Med. It is first mentioned in one of the Ugarit tablets. If you are assuming other than invention, what is the physical evidence for the assumption?
So then where are the "Hebrew translations" which don't contain it?

Of course they do. It simply means nothing relevant to this exchange. PLEASE present the relevance, if any, if you are able to do so. I doubt you are. I find it more relevant that the "hebrew" uses Donai as a personal name instead of being just the Greek word for lord as a social title. How could that be without inventing later revisions of things for which there is no evidence of existence to revise?

Quote:
Quote:Or the transliteration from Koine Greek into Hebrew. You have exactly two letters from Qumran to suggest Hebrew might have been a real spoken language at any time prior to modern Israel. Otherwise it is exclusively liturgical.
Bullshit. How do you think the Masorites got the vowel points for the text? And just in case you've heard they intentionally used the vowel points of Adonai for the Tetragrammaton - that's wrong, the vowel points are in fact identical to Judah which is a name spelled with one additional letter (I suppose that makes it a pentragrammaton).

Furthermore the Hebrew texts were read aloud. If Hebrew really wasn't a spoken language, then it would be impossible to read the text aloud!!!

You please tell me how the Masoretic got vowel points without audio recordings to work from? Vowels change most quickly in every language. Consonants change within groups such as frictives and plosives and only very slowly (relative to vowels) switch groups. And you will note "modern Hebrew" supposedly derived from the Masoretic includes throat-clearing glottals.

As to spoken aloud no one knows when that tradition began. Certainly there is no peasant participation in old or new bible times unless you invent it as none is recorded. Believers of course invent it. Believers also pretend rabbis are other than out of work priests who reinvented themselves after the Romans kicked the shit out of them in 76.

As for inventing a pronunciation that is what the Masoretic is all about. I have to ask how you came to believe eastern European and Spanish Jews came to have exactly the same vowel pronunciation until modern times when we learned they did not. So which is the correct vowel pronunciation? Slavic or Romance? And which Slavic and which Romance language pronunciation IS the correct Masoretic?
Reply
#67
RE: Made in Alexandria: The Origin of the Yahweh Cult
I Heart your knowledge A_Nony_Mouse. Between you and Min I am one contented Kitteh Tiger
"The Universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." G'Kar-B5
Reply
#68
RE: Made in Alexandria: The Origin of the Yahweh Cult
(March 25, 2013 at 10:08 am)KichigaiNeko Wrote: I Heart your knowledge A_Nony_Mouse. Between you and Min I am one contented Kitteh Tiger

Arigato Domo-san

or is it Ari Gato Blanco the Mexican-Israeli? I'm always getting them confused.
Reply
#69
RE: Made in Alexandria: The Origin of the Yahweh Cult
Quote:I simply refuse to go beyond the physical evidence.

Okay - so you are not willing to do any detective work. I understand. It's your right.
Reply
#70
RE: Made in Alexandria: The Origin of the Yahweh Cult
(March 26, 2013 at 1:16 am)Minimalist Wrote:
Quote:I simply refuse to go beyond the physical evidence.

Okay - so you are not willing to do any detective work. I understand. It's your right.

I did not make myself clear in your terms. Detective work in this case is the search for physical evidence. One then develops a theory to explain the physical evidence.

As there is no physical evidence of the Septuagint/OT stories prior to the mid 2nd c. BC there is no possible theory to address an earlier existence. One can guess, hypothesize, speculate, accept religious tradition of an earlier existence but there cannot be a theory as there is no physical evidence to explain.

Therefore a theory of origin for these stories cannot deal with any date significantly older than the mid 2nd c. BC for the absence of physical evidence.

Now if your or anyone's detective work should uncover physical evidence prior to that timeframe then a new theory is warranted and perhaps necessitated.

I, myself, have been looking for decades for additional physical evidence and found none. I have been involved in public discussion of of OT origins and the people described in it since bulletin boards came into existence. I started usenet discussions on these topics in 1995. Not only have I searched for additional physical evidence I have had scores of believers both Christian and Jewish presenting their physical evidence.

After wading through all the argumentation and actual investigation of what is claimed to be physical evidence about three years ago I came to the conclusion there was nothing of interest prior to the above timeframe.

If you know of something I have missed please tell me. But argumentation is not evidence. ALL argumentation is either contrary to the older "evidence" an extrapolation beyond it, and usually fails to satisfy related issues requiring special pleadings.

For example the existence of something older than the Septuagint in bibleland requires the existence of a scribal culture but there is no sign of one. Thus one has to make a special pleading for bibleland that it had an entirely different scribal culture than every other civilization. Why the special pleading? To argue the religious conclusion that the stories were written and preserved there.

There is absolutely NO excuse to search for and interpret everything to support something that is nothing more than a religious tradition to begin with. And in this case the tradition has its origin in a known forgery. In essence that is no different than "discovering" evidence of the Noatic flood or a 6000 year old earth.
Reply



Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Origin of April Fools? Goosebump 2 880 April 2, 2023 at 3:41 am
Last Post: zebo-the-fat
  Allah/Yahweh/Jesus are like....... Brian37 10 3437 April 23, 2017 at 7:34 am
Last Post: Brian37
  Cult of Alice dyresand 2 1308 April 14, 2015 at 8:47 pm
Last Post: Minimalist



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)