Current State of Samaritan Studies (Hexateuch)

Discussion about the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, pseudepigrapha, Philo, Josephus, Talmud, Dead Sea Scrolls, archaeology, etc.
Secret Alias
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Re: Current State of Samaritan Studies (Hexateuch)

Post by Secret Alias »

Have you read any of the works you cited earlier or any of my responses to that point? You have not addressed them but only return to repeating your original point as if nothing those articles I said or anything I have proposed needs any engagement at all.
You said THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE for a point of view. I merely restated that there was evidence, you know there's evidence but - for whatever reason - that you have determined it wasn't persuasive. That's an important distinction. You were overstating the situation.

We have discussed the evidence. In this particular recap I wanted to address your overstatement that there was no evidence for the creation of the Pentateuch and Joshua in the Persian period. The recap doesn't require me to go and address your responses to the evidence. I was merely pointing out that you have a habit of over-stating the emptiness of POVs you don't like.

Again, you said there was no evidence for the Pentateuch being written in the Persian period and I responded. That "there is no evidence" for the Persian period would be odd given that it is a more widely accepted position than your preferred third century BCE theory. This state of affairs would imply that all those who espouse the Persian dating are pathologically motivated, maliciously motivated, acting in a way contradictory to good scholars (i.e. for having developed a model without any actual evidence).

Of course YOU'VE determined by whatever weighting that the third century BCE is the better choice of dating. Fine. There are those see things differently and they UNSURPISINGLY base their assessment ON EVIDENCE. They/we didn't just pick the Persian period out of a hat. As long as we acknowledge that both sides develop their arguments FROM EVIDENCE there is nothing more to say. THERE IS EVIDENCE FOR THE ORIGIN OF THE TETRATEUCH IN THE PERSIAN. Whether or not it is persuasive is an ongoing debate/discussion. The fact that you feel that Persian loanwords, Josephus's testimony and the chronology incorporating a Samaritan text into Judaism aren't persuasive doesn't make it a "non-evidentiary" position.
Russell Gmirkin
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Re: Current State of Samaritan Studies (Hexateuch)

Post by Russell Gmirkin »

Secret Alias wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:56 am I also remind people that we founded this site as a free thinking discussion group. It was not originally designed as a place for scholars to promote their books. Academics are welcomed and encouraged to come here but the forum was not created as an aid for promoting book reading but for a free discussions of ideas related to religion. Again I say, if you or any other scholar want to discuss your ideas feel free to make the arguments at the forum. But FWIW I don't see any efforts to simplify and 'discuss' the idea; only a consistent effort to promote your book...

Any time Grimkin wants to discuss ideas I am open to a discussion if of course he can tolerate engaging with a dumb person...
Great! Here's a terrific opportunity to prove you are actually open to discussion and not just pretending to be! Please respond to each of the following seven simple points of evidence I listed at the start of this thread that point to the Hexateuch as Samaritan+Judean authorship (not Samaritan alone) that were intended to start the discussion going 20 pages ago. No reading of any books required.

Samaritan authorship of the Hexateuch (or major portions thereof) is now quite mainstream, basically “yesterday’s news”.

However, there are also several important indications that Judah played a minor authorial role in creating the Hexateuch.

(1) Why else would Judah be included in the twelve tribes of Israel?
(2) Why else was Judah prominently allotted territory in the book of Joshua?
(3) Why was Caleb, the one positively regarded spy under Moses, and the only adult Israelite who didn’t die in the 40 years wandering, assigned a major chunk of territory in Judah (Josh. 14-15)?
(4) Why else would Gen. 49:10 say “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, not a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come”?
(5) Why else would Deut. 17:14-40 (“the rule of the king”) foreshadow the rise of Solomon, the king of the Jerusalem, temple city and Judah’s capital?
(6) Why does there exist both a wilderness Priestly legislation P which (in my opinion) appears to stem from the Samaritans, and the Holiness Code H (Lev. 17-26) that stems from Jerusalem (based on extensive parallels between H and Ezekiel, which devotes several chapters to Jerusalem)?
(7) As noted above, why else did both Samaritans and Jews accept the Pentateuch as authoritative?

A Samaritan-only composition of the Hexateuch stumbles on these facts, which can only be explained away in a highly arbitrary, ad hoc manner. A viable theory must account for ALL the evidence. I believe a joint Samaritan-Judean composition of the Pentateuch, with the Samaritans having the leading role, economically accounts for all the facts.

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neilgodfrey
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Re: Current State of Samaritan Studies (Hexateuch)

Post by neilgodfrey »

Secret Alias wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:56 am As an aside to the Australian, you've criticized Stephen for being a mere librarian,
I have NEVER criticized Stephen for being a librarian, let alone a "mere" librarian. Never. I challenge you to do a search of the posts and re-read what I wrote in connection sith Stephen. I myself am a "mere librarian". So put that together with what you think I have written and get your facts straight. Learn to comprehend what you read in these comments.


Secret Alias wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:56 amAs a holy warrior against religion, a jihadist for atheism and the destruction of religion it takes about 5 minutes for every discussion to get derailed into some personal insult.
I have said repeatedly I have absolutely no interest in attacking religion and promoting atheism and have said repeatedly such an effort I considered to be pointless because I respect the decisions people make based on their life experiences. I have said that repeatedly to you and you ignore it. That someone who called me an ally of evil and without any interest in truth and even capacity for fairness -- no Huller, I don't stoop to personal insults. Maybe you feel personally upset by some of my points in an argument with you but that's not because I am personally insulting you. (You said I "attacked" you for caring about the Samaritans. I never "attacked" you -- please do re-read what I said: I was attempting to understand on the basis of what you have shared with us here.)

If you want to learn where I stand vis a vis Christianity and atheism, I post once again -- and issue again my invitation for you to read them -- my statements on those issues:

https://vridar.org/2016/12/18/atheism-v ... s-science/

also Tim's explanation: https://vridar.org/2015/07/12/what-is-vridar/
Secret Alias wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 9:56 amUnless of course he came here merely to gain "followers" and "adherents." Sad if that's true.
I seem to recall Gmirkin came here because he was informed that his ideas were being misrepresented and he offered his time to set the record straight.
Secret Alias
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Re: Current State of Samaritan Studies (Hexateuch)

Post by Secret Alias »

Ok. Let's stop the bullshit.

The majority of scholars perhaps 99% accept that the Pentateuch was written before Alexander the Great.

That doesn't mean that the Pentateuch WAS written before Alexander the Great. It just means that unless there is an active conspiracy against Gmirkin's ideas that - even without knowing what the evidence is - there is almost certainly some sort of 'evidence' behind a 'before Alexander the Great' dating of the Pentateuch.

Even if I am an idiot which is entirely possible, the 'before Alexander the Great' dating of the Pentateuch is going to have 'something going for it.'

Gmirkin may be a genius. He may be as superior to the 'ordinary scholar' as an 'ordinary scholar' is from a house pet. But even with all that it has to be acknowledged that there are plausible grounds for 'mistaking' the Pentateuch being created in the Persian period.
Secret Alias
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Re: Current State of Samaritan Studies (Hexateuch)

Post by Secret Alias »

However, there are also several important indications that Judah played a minor authorial role in creating the Hexateuch.

(1) Why else would Judah be included in the twelve tribes of Israel?
(2) Why else was Judah prominently allotted territory in the book of Joshua?
(3) Why was Caleb, the one positively regarded spy under Moses, and the only adult Israelite who didn’t die in the 40 years wandering, assigned a major chunk of territory in Judah (Josh. 14-15)?
(4) Why else would Gen. 49:10 say “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, not a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come”?
(5) Why else would Deut. 17:14-40 (“the rule of the king”) foreshadow the rise of Solomon, the king of the Jerusalem, temple city and Judah’s capital?
(6) Why does there exist both a wilderness Priestly legislation P which (in my opinion) appears to stem from the Samaritans, and the Holiness Code H (Lev. 17-26) that stems from Jerusalem (based on extensive parallels between H and Ezekiel, which devotes several chapters to Jerusalem)?
(7) As noted above, why else did both Samaritans and Jews accept the Pentateuch as authoritative?

A Samaritan-only composition of the Hexateuch stumbles on these facts, which can only be explained away in a highly arbitrary, ad hoc manner. A viable theory must account for ALL the evidence. I believe a joint Samaritan-Judean composition of the Pentateuch, with the Samaritans having the leading role, economically accounts for all the facts.
But these kind of arguments can be used with respect to Adler's research. One would 'expect' that the Torah would be used by all Israelites. Therefore it couldn't just be used by a small percentage of the total population. But this is what he suggests.

Also in the Hasmonean period the conquering Jews imposed the Torah, their Torah, on neighboring people (Idumeans etc). Entirely plausible hypothesis. Besides which Gerizim was a very old cultic center. Christians imposed their Bible on people. Muslims their holy books. The list goes on and on.

I also remind you that Judah has a rather ignominious tale told about him (in contrast to Joseph):
At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah. 2 There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and made love to her; 3 she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er. 4 She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. 5 She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him.

6 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death.

8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.” 9 But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. 10 What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.

11 Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s household.

12 After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.

13 When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,” 14 she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.

15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.”

“And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked.

17 “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said.

“Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked.

18 He said, “What pledge should I give you?”

“Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. 19 After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again.

20 Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. 21 He asked the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?”

“There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here,” they said.

22 So he went back to Judah and said, “I didn’t find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, ‘There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here.’”

23 Then Judah said, “Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”

24 About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.”

Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”

25 As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”

26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again.

27 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 28 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.” 29 But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez.[a] 30 Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out. And he was named Zerah.
And with respect to the allotment to Judah in Joshua. Maybe by the time later books of the Hexateuch were written Judaeans were already gaining authority and power. Who knows.

The point is that Joseph is a superman in the Pentateuch and Judah isn't worthy of walking in his shadow.
Secret Alias
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Re: Current State of Samaritan Studies (Hexateuch)

Post by Secret Alias »

I mean we Jews love whores. It's well documented. Just watch a Woody Allen movie. But the conclusion drawn from Genesis is clear even to apologetic literature:
The twins are born to Judah and Tamar, the product of an incestuous relationship between a father and his daughter-in-law, whom he thinks is a prostitute (another story omitted from kids’ Bibles).
What's Judah going to a prostitute for? What's the reason why Jews wanted to portray themselves as sons of whores, de puta madre? Again the assumption is that a Jewish author was just 'reporting the facts' that he and his countrymen were sons of an incestuous relationship and their forefather was a whoremonger. Really? They're that truthful? Is any one are any peoples THAT honest? I'll go for Samaritan authorship on that one alone.
Secret Alias
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Re: Current State of Samaritan Studies (Hexateuch)

Post by Secret Alias »

The end of the Book of Genesis (a brief summary)

Chapter 37
Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

This is the account of Jacob’s family line.

Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
Oh well. Joseph = the line of Jacob/Israel. What follows?
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate[a] robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Joseph Sold by His Brothers
12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”

“Very well,” he replied.

14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.

When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”

17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”

21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.

23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.

26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.

28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”

31 Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”

33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”

34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.

36 Meanwhile, the Midianites[c] sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.


Joseph isn't the eldest. His story is the conclusion of Genesis except for an interruption where the Jews are identified as a whoremongering incestuous people. Other than that there is no reason for thinking the Pentateuch was written in northern Israel. Absolutely.
Secret Alias
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Re: Current State of Samaritan Studies (Hexateuch)

Post by Secret Alias »

זוֹנָ֑ה. No way of getting around that word.
זוֹנָה • (zoná) f (plural indefinite זוֹנוֹת‎, masculine counterpart זוֹנֶה)

female prostitute (who has sex for pay)
slut
Synonym: שַׁרְמוּטָה‎
(rare, obsolete, disputed) female foodmonger
Not something you use to describe the mother of your own people. I wouldn't let my son call his mother a slut, whore or any of the equivalents let alone write a report for the ages with that terminology. https://books.google.com/books?id=DGZjE ... ar&f=false
Secret Alias
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Re: Current State of Samaritan Studies (Hexateuch)

Post by Secret Alias »

And as for your points:

(1) Why else would Judah be included in the twelve tribes of Israel?

They had some cultural relationship.

(2) Why else was Judah prominently allotted territory in the book of Joshua?

I am not disputing that northern writers regarded Judah as part of the family.

(3) Why was Caleb, the one positively regarded spy under Moses, and the only adult Israelite who didn’t die in the 40 years wandering, assigned a major chunk of territory in Judah (Josh. 14-15)?

We agree that Joshua is the star of the episode. Right? Joshua was of Joseph and Caleb' might mean dog as it does still in Arabic.
1 dog Com. AssOstr.7 : ..]n ʿm klbʾ šmn yhḃ hmw ly ??. TAD C3.26 R227 : לכלביא זי פס[י‏ †. 11QtgJob 15.5=30:1 : מלמהוא עם כלבי ע[ני ٠٠٠‏ [MT: לָשִׁית עִם־כַּלְבֵי צֹאנִי]. TgO Ex22:30 : לְכַלבָא תִרמוֹן יָתֵיה‏ . BR 1236:6(1) : לכל עדר תרין כלבין‏ every flock has two dogs. Lag(285) Matt7:6 : ܠܐ ܬܬܿܠܘܢ ܩܘܕܫܐ ܠܟܠ̈ܒܝܐ܃ ܘܠܐ ܬܿܪܡܘܢ ܡܪܓܠܝܬܐ ܩܘܕܡ ܚܘܙܝܪ̈ܝܐ‏ do not give what is holy to the dogs nor cast pearls before the swine. P Mt15:26 : ܘܲܠܡܲܪܡܵܝܘܼ ܠܟܼܲܠ̈ܒܸܿܐ‏ to throw it to the dogs. BT BB 20a(23) : פסיק לה ושדי לה לכלבי‏ he cuts it off [i.e. the hanging limb of the animal] and throws it to the dogs. GY 180:7 : maṭarta ḏkalbia šihania umšagrania the prison of the rabid and incensed dogs. PJ Ex11:7 : לא יהנזק כלבא בלישניה למנבח למאינשא ועד בעירא‏ the dog will not do any harm with its tongue by barking at man or beast. (a) (also ܟܠܒܐ ܕܓܒܪܐ‏ : the Dog Star: Sirius Syr. Geop 7:17 : ܩܕܡ ܩܠܝܠ ܝܘ̈ܡܬܐ ܕܕܵܢܲܚ ܟܠܒܐ ܕܓܒܪܐ‏ a few days before Sirius rises. GeZA8 24:4 : ܗܢܐ ܡܘܠܕܐ ܕܫܢܬܐ ܕܟܬܝܒ ܒܟܪܘܢܝܩܘܢ܃ ܕܡܫܬܘܕܥܝܢܢ ܠܗ ܡܢ ܕܢܚܐ ܕܟܠܒܐ ܕܓܒܪܐ‏ this 'birth' of the year written in the chronicles, of which we are made aware by the rising of the Dog Star of Orion. (b) the entire 'dog', i.e., Canis Major Syr. GeZA8 27:21 : ܟܘܟܒܐ ܗܿܘ ܢܗܝܪܐ ܕܒܩܪܩܦܬܗ ܕܟܠܒܐ ̈‏ that bright star which is at the head of the 'dog' (Canis Major).

2 base person OfAEg, Gal, Syr. TAD A4.7R.16 : כלביא הנפקו כבלא מן רגלוהי‏ the dogs removed the chains from his feet . VR 177:5(1) : אכ{ו}ל כלבא פסתיה‏ the "dog" ate Yannai's bread.

3 male prostitute JLAtg, PTA, LJLA. TgO Deut23:19 : אֲגַר זָנִיתָא וְחוּלפַן כַלבָא‏ . TN Deut23:19 : אגר דזנו ופרוק כלב‏ . PJ Deut23:19 : אגר מוהבות מטעיתא ופירוג דכלב‏ gift fee of a prostitute and payment for a "dog".
Send thou men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel; of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a prince among them.'

Every tribe had a man. Joshua was again the star. Caleb a lesser star.

(4) Why else would Gen. 49:10 say “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, not a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come”?

Priests need muscle. Muscle is treated like muscle. Brains like brains. But while we're on the subject of chapter 49:
8 “Judah, your brothers will praise you;
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
your father’s sons will bow down to you.
9 You are a lion’s cub, Judah;
you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,[c]
until he to whom it belongs[d] shall come
and the obedience of the nations shall be his.
11 He will tether his donkey to a vine,
his colt to the choicest branch;
he will wash his garments in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes will be darker than wine,
his teeth whiter than milk.[e]


22 “Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine near a spring,
whose branches climb over a wall.[k]
23 With bitterness archers attacked him;
they shot at him with hostility.
24 But his bow remained steady,
his strong arms stayed[l] limber,
because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob,
because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
25 because of your father’s God, who helps you,
because of the Almighty,[m] who blesses you
with blessings of the skies above,
blessings of the deep springs below,
blessings of the breast and womb.
26 Your father’s blessings are greater
than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
than[n] the bounty of the age-old hills.
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among[o] his brothers


I'd say Joseph wins that battle of praise comparison hands down.

(5) Why else would Deut. 17:14-40 (“the rule of the king”) foreshadow the rise of Solomon, the king of the Jerusalem, temple city and Judah’s capital?

Your understanding that Deuteronomy has Solomon in mind is without question a minority opinion.

(6) Why does there exist both a wilderness Priestly legislation P which (in my opinion) appears to stem from the Samaritans, and the Holiness Code H (Lev. 17-26) that stems from Jerusalem (based on extensive parallels between H and Ezekiel, which devotes several chapters to Jerusalem)?

There is no mention of 'Jerusalem' in the Pentateuch.

(7) As noted above, why else did both Samaritans and Jews accept the Pentateuch as authoritative?

According to my understanding the Pentateuch was written while the northerners (Samaritans) were the favorites and imposed on the related people, the Judaeans.
Secret Alias
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Re: Current State of Samaritan Studies (Hexateuch)

Post by Secret Alias »

Another thing I never noticed before is that Joseph gets essentially 2 lots in the spy story:

These are their names:

from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur;

5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;

6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;

7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;

8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;

9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;

10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;

11 from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi;

12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;

13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael;

14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi;

15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.

Clearly then Joshua was from the elite portion (Ephraim). Thanks
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