Monthly Archives: April 2018

Assuming the exodus happened–where and when?

Posted on April 30, 2018 by theoutwardquest

They traveled from Etham, and turned back to Pihahiroth, which is before Baal Zephon: and they encamped before Migdol (Numbers 33:7 WEB). Before I move on to more about the books I have been reading by James Hoffmeier and Robert … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Egypt, Bible | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Gnuse and Hoffmeier-the mystery mountain

Posted on April 24, 2018 by theoutwardquest

Both Robert Karl Gnuse and James Hoffmeier deal with the question of the location of Sinai/Horeb.  Gnuse, in The Elohist,  says that in E the operative phrase is the “mountain of God.”  Horeb, he thinks, has become attached to this … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Israel, Bible, Deuteronomy, Exodus | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Gnuse-situating E after the northern exile

Posted on April 23, 2018 by theoutwardquest

When I last wrote about Robert Karl Gnuse’s book on The Elohist, he had argued that the circles that produced the stories about Elijah and Elisha must have been composed earlier than the Elohist because they tell strange, incredible tales. … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Israel, Bible | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Hoffmeier-geography and reality

Posted on April 13, 2018 by theoutwardquest

One difference between James K. Hoffmeier in Ancient Israel in Sinai and scholars with a minimalist tendency concerns the names of places in the Pentateuch. Minimalists explain the place names in Numbers 33 and elsewhere as reflecting the 6th century … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Israel, Exodus | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Hoffmeier-how we study the Bible and Sinai

Posted on April 12, 2018 by theoutwardquest

In order to show the contrast in ways to approach the narratives in the Pentateuch, I am going to shift from Gnuse’s The Elohist to James Hoffmeier’s Ancient Israel in Sinai for one or two posts before I have to … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Israel | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Gnuse-the road from Carmel to Horeb

Posted on April 11, 2018 by theoutwardquest

In The Elohist, Robert Karl Gnuse presents a distinctive theory that much of the prophetic material—material about Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha—in Samuel and Kings comes from the same northern Israelite circle as does the E material in the Pentateuch. His … Continue reading →

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Gnuse-traces of a separate Elohist document

Posted on April 9, 2018 by theoutwardquest

I am reading Robert Karl Gnuse’s The Elohist, where he defends the existence of a contributory document to the Pentateuch, called the Elohist or E. Some of the critics of E deny the  whole theory about documents. Some of these … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Deuteronomy | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Gnuse-what holds E together

Posted on April 5, 2018 by theoutwardquest

One of the best things about Robert Karl Gnuse’s The Elohist is his survey of the history of the debate about whether there ever was such a document. The Documentary Hypothesis says that the Pentateuch came about from a combination … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Israel, Bible | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Gnuse and Hoffmeier-the Elohist and the Wilderness

Posted on April 4, 2018 by theoutwardquest

Okay, I have gotten Holy Week behind me. I have watched my men’s basketball bracket get destroyed. I have done my taxes. And—oh, yeah—I have become a grandfather again.. So the deck is cleared to do some blogging, except that … Continue reading →

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