Mutilation of Foreign Names by Bible Writers

Abstract

"One way in which the biblical text can be checked for its accuracy is to compare the form in which it has preserved the names of foreign personages with the forms in which those names have been preserved in extra-biblical sources. For example, the names of some half dozen Assyrian kings appear in the biblical text, and-given known phonetic shifts between ancient Semitic languages-these appear to have been preserved in the biblical text quite accurately. The 1984 season of excavation by the Andrews University archaeological expedition to Tell el-'Umeiri in Jordan has, however, discovered a seal impression containing the name of an Ammonite king, Baalis, in sufficiently different form from its occurrence in Jer 40: 14 to pose a problem that requires investigation"