01_VanSeters_copiaaaa_01_25 28/04/15 11:15 Pagina 4 4 JOHN VAN SETERS 1. Hosea and Amos, the Patriarchs and Exodus In the field of biblical scholarship it has long been recognized that the traditions of the patriarchs and the story of the sojourn from Egypt were originally two quite separate bodies of origin traditions, al- though when and how they came together is still a matter of vigorous debate. In Hosea there is reference to the stories of Jacob and Esau and the divine encounter at Bethel (Hos 12,3-4) and Jacob’s sojourn in Aram (v. 12). In Amos the patriarch Isaac is mentioned merely as a parallel term for Israel (Amos 7,9) 8. In contrast to these patriarchal traditions of origin, Hosea suggests a quite distinct form of Israelite origin in Egypt (Hos 11,1). And Amos parallels the migration of the Israelites from Egypt with the Philistines from Caphtor (Crete?), and the Syrians from Kir (Amos 9,7), all of them distinctive migration traditions of origin 9. Furthermore, there is no indication in Hosea and Amos that the term Israel also includes Judah, so that the origin in and migration from Egypt was an entirely northern tradition during this period. In a similar fashion the origin of the Ammonites and Moabites as sons of Lot (Gen 19,30-38), and Esau (Edom) as the son of Isaac (Gen 25,19-34) all reflect the idea that the ancestors were firmly established in the regions in which their offspring were lo- cated. These ancestral traditions are quite different from those re- flected in Deuteronomy 2–3, which present the nations of Moab, Edom and Ammon as all gaining their land by means of invasion and displacement of the indigenous population, similar to Israel’s inva- sion of its future homeland. This distinction in the two types of tra- dition, the migration of an ancestor to a new land versus a large group migration and military invasion, would also seem to be reflected in the account of Judah’s permanent settlement as an ancestor in the south separate from his brothers, i.e. the Israelites (Genesis 38), and not part of the Egyptian sojourn, exodus and conquest tradition. 2. The Prophet Ezekiel, the Yahwist and Deuteronomy Furthermore, as late as the time of Ezekiel, the prophet makes quite clear that YHWH revealed himself for the first time to the 8 The alternate form of the spelling of Isaac (with f in place of c) may in- dicate that both Israel and Judah had their own versions of the Isaac tradition. 9 See also Amos 2,10; 3,1.