Awkward13: Only in Genesis

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Jim Stinehart
Posts: 352
Joined: Sat Sep 28, 2013 11:33 am

Awkward13: Only in Genesis

Post by Jim Stinehart »

Awkward13: Only in Genesis

In my other recent thread, we have seen that, when viewed from the standpoint of defective spelling, the names “Potiphar”, “Potipherah” and “Pharaoh” make perfect sense in the context of Year 13 [of Akhenaten’s troubled 17-year reign]. Is the number 13 a key clue to the historical time period of the Patriarchal Age? We start by noting that prior to the common era, the only literature in which the number 13 is awkward is the Patriarchal narratives.

The reason for that is because Year 13 was unbelievably awkward, both to the first Hebrews and to pharaoh Akhenaten. Regarding the tent-dwelling first Hebrews, Year 13 was when the best princeling in Canaan in the Amarna Letters, the Amorite Milkilu [Patriarchal nickname “Mamre”], with whom the first Hebrews were in confederate relationship [Genesis 14: 13], died and awkwardly was succeeded by his evil firstborn son, Yapaxu [the “iniquity of the Amorites” at Genesis 15: 16]. Up north in Syria, Year 13 was when a Hittite king, who had seized the throne by the dastardly expedient of murdering his own older brother named “Tidal”, was invited by the king of Ugarit into Syria; the next year this mighty Hittite king [Biblical “Tidal”] conquered west-central Syria [Genesis 14: 1-14], ending the Hurrians’ 300-year reign there, and potentially threatening Canaan itself. In Egypt, Year 13 was when Akhenaten’s 13-year-old #2 daughter awkwardly died trying to bear her sonless father a son/grandson as heir. Akhenaten’s wife Queen Nefertiti mysteriously disappears that same year, and Akhenaten was still in the same awkward situation that each Patriarch was for many years -- a middle-aged man who himself was a younger son but who for years had no male heir.

Fully consistent with how awkward Year 13 was historically, textually the Patriarchal narratives consistently portray the number 13 as being awkward.

A. Ishmael and Awkward 13

Ishmael, who awkwardly is Abraham’s firstborn son and who awkwardly is left out of the Covenant, lives an awkward life, which is characterized by the awkward number 13.

1. Awkwardly Born an Awkward 13 Years After Year 30. Abraham sires Ishmael at age 86 archaic shanah. Genesis 16: 16. The archaic meaning of shanah was the turn of the year, namely the fall and spring equinoxes, which occur every 6 months, roughly coinciding with the harvest season that Canaan has every 6 months. The early Hebrew author of the Patriarchal narratives knew and used both the archaic, and the later, meaning of shanah. By American counting, Abraham was un-doubled age 43 in regular 12-month years when he awkwardly sired Ishmael. [Each stated age in the text (as opposed to periods of years) simply needs to be un-doubled to convert it into regular 12-month years.] Thus unlucky Ishmael is awkwardly born an awkward 13 regular years after Year 30 [with the number 30 being a good round number; for example, after 30 years a grand sed festival year would be held for a long-reigning pharaoh like Akhenaten’s father].

2. Awkwardly Circumcised at Awkward Age 13. The painful operation of circumcision will do Ishmael no good, as he will soon be exiled by his own father, Abraham, and will be left out of the Covenant. That painful operation is awkwardly done when Ishmael is age 13 archaic shanah [Genesis 17: 25]. [Ishmael is un-doubled age 6½ years in regular 12-month years when he is circumcised.]

3. Awkwardly Exiled an Awkward 13 Years After Year 40. Ishmael is exiled shortly after Isaac is weaned. Isaac was born when Abraham was age 50 regular years [age 100 archaic shanah, per Genesis 21: 5]. It can be presumed that Isaac was weaned at age 3 in regular 12-month years, meaning that Ishmael was awkwardly exiled in Year 53. That’s an awkward 13 regular years after Abraham made the Covenant with YHWH in Year 40. [Per #B-1 below, it turns out that each of Ishmael and Joseph is age 10 in regular 12-month years when he is separated from his father.]

B. 13 Is Awkward in Egypt

1. Per the mathematical calculations in #3 below, we know that (i) Joseph was born in Year 120 [that is, 120 regular 12-month years after Abraham’s birth]; and (ii) Joseph became Pharaoh’s vizier in Year 135 [when Joseph was un-doubled age 15 in regular 12-month years: 135 – 120 = 15].

(a) Joseph Awkwardly Jailed in Egypt at Awkward Age 13. The text tells us that Joseph was in an Egyptian jail for two years [being two 12-month Egyptian years, with Egypt only having one harvest season every 12 months], immediately before becoming Pharaoh’s vizier. Genesis 41: 1. That means that Joseph was awkward age 13 in regular 12-month years when he awkwardly landed in that Egyptian jail. [135 – 2 = 133. 133 – 120 = 13.]

(b) Joseph Awkwardly Becomes Servant in Egypt in Awkward Year 13 Tenfold. Joseph could not have acted as a precocious steward for his Egyptian master prior to age 10 years. So it is implied that Joseph is awkwardly sold by his jealous older half-brothers to traders from Midtani/MDYN, and awkwardly becomes a servant in Egypt, in awkward Year 13 tenfold, that is, Year 130. [120 + 10 = 130.] [Joseph works for his Egyptian master for three years, Years 130, 131 and 132, at ages 10 – 12; Joseph is in jail for two years, Years 133 and 134, at ages 13 – 14; and Joseph then becomes Pharaoh’s vizier in Year 135 at age 15, all in regular 12-month years.]

2. Jacob Awkwardly Leads Hebrews O-u-t of Beloved Canaan at Awkward Age 13 Tenfold. Though it was the right thing to do, nevertheless it is obviously very awkward when Jacob/Israel finds himself forced to lead all the Hebrews o-u-t of beloved Canaan into Egypt. Jacob is a suitably awkward age at that time: age 13 tenfold archaic shanah [Genesis 47: 9 -- age 130 shanah]. [Jacob is a realistic un-doubled age 65 in regular 12-month years.]

3. Awkward First Year of Famine Is Awkward 13 Years After Awkward Year 13 Tenfold. The first year of the 7 terrible years of famine [with those famine years forcing Jacob to leave Canaan] is clearly an awkward event. As we will now see, it is portrayed as occurring an awkward 13 years after the 13-tenfold-year anniversary of Abraham’s birth [with all years in this case being regular 12-month years]. 13 plus 130 = 143, that is, Year 143.

Before getting to the mathematical proof of that, however, let’s first note how beautifully all the numbers are working here. [Joseph at Age 15 Predicts That Next Normal Harvest Year Will Be 15 Years Hence in Year 15 Tenfold.] The 7 years of famine are Years 143 – 149. [That’s 7 full years, counting all of Year 143 and all of Year 149. These are 12-month regular years, counting from Abraham’s birth.] The 7 years of feast are Years 136 – 142. Joseph predicts those 7 + 7 years one year in advance, in Year 135, as he says that the ne-x-t year will be the first of 7 years of feast, to be followed by 7 years of famine. Genesis 41: 29-30. Joseph is age 30 archaic shanah in Year 135 when he makes that famous prediction [Genesis 41: 46], being un-doubled age 15 in regular 12-month years. So at age 15 regular years, Joseph predicts that the next regular harvest year will not occur for 15 regular years [after the intervening 7 years of feast and 7 years of famine, which of course must be regular years, as there was only one harvest per 12 months in Egypt], which will be Year 15 tenfold [Year 150]! Is that neat or what? All the numbers in the Patriarchal narratives work perfectly on all levels.

But now to the mathematical proof that it indeed is Year 135 [135 regular 12-month years after Abraham’s birth] when Joseph is age 15 regular years and makes that famous prediction. If it is Year 135 when Joseph is age 15 regular years, that means that Joseph was born in Year 120. [135 – 15 = 120.] We know that Joseph’s father, Jacob, was born in Year 80: (i) Jacob’s father Isaac was born when Abraham was age 50 regular years [age 100 archaic shanah, per Genesis 21: 5]; and (ii) Isaac in turn was age 30 regular years when he sired Jacob [age 60 archaic shanah, per Genesis 25: 26]. So Jacob was born in Year 80 [50 + 30 = 80]. With Joseph being born in Year 120, that means that Jacob was age 40 regular years when he sired Joseph. [120 – 80 = 40.]

Now consider that Jacob comes to Egypt after the first 2 years of the 7 famine years had transpired. Genesis 45: 6. So Jacob leads all the Hebrews into Egypt early in Year 145 [with the first famine year having been Year 143, being awkward 13 plus awkward 13-tenfold]. As noted in #2 above, Jacob is awkward age 13 tenfold archaic shanah when he arrives in Egypt, being age 65 in regular 12-month years. Joseph having been age 15 in regular 12-month years the year before the first feast year, it is now 10 years later: 1 year before the 7 feast years start, plus 7 feast years, plus the first 2 of what will be 7 famine years: 1 + 7 + 2 =10. So Joseph is age 25 in regular 12-month years when his father Jacob arrives in Egypt: 15 + 10 = 25. The mathematics is perfect, as Jacob is 40 years older than Joseph when Jacob arrives in Egypt in Year 145: 65 – 25 = 40.

Thus based purely on mathematics, we can compute that the awkward first famine year is portrayed as occurring 13 awkward regular years after the awkward 13-tenfold regular year anniversary of Abraham’s birth, in Year 143. [13 + 130 = 143.]

All of the foregoing is fully consistent with what we are discovering in the linguistic analysis on my other recent thread: each non-Hebrew name in the Patriarchal narratives makes perfect sense, on the basis of defective spelling, in the historical context of awkward Year 13.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
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