I find it a bit difficult to understand your letter as a legitimate corrective to what I have written. I was interested in presenting the stereotypical, literary complexities of the david traditions and the David figure. In this regard, the disagreements which have been voiced for and against the historicity of any of these traditions were rather secondary. That the name Bytdwd is a reference to Jerusalem is not so obvious that one can not readily find alternative understandings, such as I have offered here in understanding bytdwd as a potential reference to a Yahweh temple. One might also point out that if one considers bytdwd as referring to a patronage kingdom of David, one should also remember that the home of this patronage in biblical heroic literature is primarily Hebron!
It is of course true that the bytdwd inscription is widely understood as a legitimate text, and I too think it as a genuine text, but there are several who understanding aading of the text in different ways is also legitimate.. Consider the reading, for instance of George Athas. It is also true that the objections to the genuineness of the text by several significant scholars, such as Garbini and Lemche have not been addressed, but only dismissed.
Why should I think that Mazar and Garfinkel have affected this discussion in any way?
Dear Jimmy Issa,
I find it a bit difficult to understand your letter as a legitimate corrective to what I have written. I was interested in presenting the stereotypical, literary complexities of the david traditions and the David figure. In this regard, the disagreements which have been voiced for and against the historicity of any of these traditions were rather secondary. That the name Bytdwd is a reference to Jerusalem is not so obvious that one can not readily find alternative understandings, such as I have offered here in understanding bytdwd as a potential reference to a Yahweh temple. One might also point out that if one considers bytdwd as referring to a patronage kingdom of David, one should also remember that the home of this patronage in biblical heroic literature is primarily Hebron!
It is of course true that the bytdwd inscription is widely understood as a legitimate text, and I too think it as a genuine text, but there are several who understanding aading of the text in different ways is also legitimate.. Consider the reading, for instance of George Athas. It is also true that the objections to the genuineness of the text by several significant scholars, such as Garbini and Lemche have not been addressed, but only dismissed.
Why should I think that Mazar and Garfinkel have affected this discussion in any way?
Thomas
Thomas L. Thompson
Professor emeritus, University of Copenhagen