I still don’t understand the far reaching consequences of this. What am I missing?
“I still don’t understand the far reaching consequences of this. What am I missing?”
I’m guessing that some Palestian group will claim to be Moabites, and want their land back from Isrial!
Yeah - I don’t know. Other than to support the idea that the names in the Bible aren’t just mythical. For a long time the idea of a King David being the ruler of a large and rich kingdom in this part of the world was regarded as impossible for that day and age (not enough resources, people, etc.) But then they find archaelogical evidence that their were large cities, etc.
I always thought the oral tradition was also room for error. I think there is a difference between oral tradition, and oral transmission.
When a culture only has words (and stories) to keep their facts and their history, they developed ways to keep the facts intact. With the Hebrews they (the Rabbis I suppose, but probably in families as well) would tell the story, until someone called them on a mistake. Then that person would continue the story until they made a mistake.
So it isn’t like telephone where just one person knows the phrase. Lots of people knew the “phrase”, and no doubt there was competition to be the top dog in story-telling, with everyone working hard to get the facts straight.
I suppose some folks had special areas of expertise.
“Okay, okay - I’ll sit down!! You know I always get a little confused after we crossed the Red Sea!”