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 rather than the 12th or 13th. They claim this shows that the Pentateuch and its sources arose centuries after the events they purport to describe.
Hoffmeier refutes this with strong evidence.
A good deal of this debate has to do with the mention of cities of Ramses and Pithom in Exodus 1:11 and Numbers 33:5. The late-date people say that dropping the Pi prefix (house of) for Ramses points to a late date. But a writer who did actually write a poem about it centuries later used the name, Zoan (Psalm 78:12). And the sixth century prophet Ezekiel included the Pi when he mentioned Bubastis (Ezekiel…
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James' Ramblings 