Think Wink.

I have been reading a blog that has been summarizing some articles on dating the OT using Biblical Hebrew (BH). I have already linked to one summary on the use of Aramaisms to date BH and the OT books. The main thrust of that aritcle is that usually, Aramaisms indicated a late date but that is not necessarily true. Exodus has Aramaisms that actually seem to show that the book is older. In this article, Eskhult demonstrates that from loanwords, one can get an idea of the date of the book. Bibical Hebrew will use Egyptian terms, or Akkadian terms, or Perisan terms (as examples). These terms seem to fit the political age that the text indicates. Persian terms occur heavily in books like Daniel, Esther, Ezra-Nehemiah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. But there are no Persian words in the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). I find this facinating and wish I had the $$$ to get these journals to read these articles. I find them facinating. I hope you enjoy reading this summary. Eskhult, Mats, “The Importance of Loanwords for Dating Biblical Hebrew Texts.” Pages 8-23 in Biblical Hebrew: Studies in Chronology and Typology Edited by Ian Young. London: T&T Clark, 2003.

(It is very important that one reads the following post to get an understanding of BH–Typology and Chronology)

If I dated a superhero/comic book character…

More on North/South Hebrew Dialects

A Good Mix