OldtestA Essay Research Paper The Old TestamentThe

Oldtest(A) Essay, Research Paper

The Old TestamentThe Old Testament is a compilation, and like every compilation it has awide variety of contributors who, in turn, have their individualinfluence upon the final work. It is no surprise, then, that there existcertain parallels between the Enuma Elish, the cosmogony of theBabylonians, and the Book of Genesis, the first part of the Pentateuchsection of the Bible. In fact, arguments may be made that other NearEastern texts, particularly Sumerian, have had their influences inBiblical texts. The extent of this ‘borrowing’, as it were, is notlimited to the Bible; the Enuma Elish has its own roots in Sumerianmythology, predating the Enuma Elish by nearly a thousand years. Asuperficial examination of this evidence would erroneously lead one tobelieve that the Bible is somewhat a collection of older mythologyre-written specifically for the Semites. In fact, what develops is thatthe writers have addressed each myth as a separate issue, and what thewriters say is that their God surpasses every other. Each myth or textthat has a counterpart in the Bible only serves to further an importantidea among the Hebrews: there is but one God, and He is omnipotent,omniscient, and other-worldly; He is not of this world, but outside it,apart from it. The idea of a monotheistic religion is first evinced inrecorded history with Judaism, and it is vital to see that instead ofbeing an example of plagiarism, the Book of Genesis is a meticulouslycomposed document that will set apart the Hebrew God from the othersbefore, and after. To get a clear picture of the way the Book of Genesis may have beenformed (because we can only guess with some degree of certainty), we mustplace in somewhere in time, and then define the cultures in that time. The influences, possible and probable, must be illustrated, and then wemay draw our conclusions.If we trace back to the first appearance of the Bible in written form, inits earliest translation, we arrive at 444 B.C.. Two texts, components ofthe Pentateuch referred to as ‘J’ and ‘E’ texts, can be traced to around650 B.C. Note that ‘J’ refers to Yahweh (YHVH) texts, characterized bythe use of the word ‘Yahweh’ or ‘Lord’ in accounts; ‘E’ refers to Elohisttexts, which use, naturally, ‘Elohim’ in its references to God.1 But 650B.C. isn’t our oldest reference to the ‘J’ and ‘E’ texts; they can betraced, along with the other three strands of the Pentateuch, to at least1000 B.C. Our first compilation of these strands existed in 650 B.C.. Wemust therefore begin our search further back in time.We can begin with the father of the Hebrew people, Abraham. We can deducewhen he lived, and find that he lived around 1900 B.C. in ancientMesopotamia2. If we examine his world and its culture, we may find thereasons behind certain references in Genesis, and the mythologies theyresemble.The First Babylonian Dynasty had begun around 1950 B.C. and would lastwell into the late 16th century B.C.. The Babylonians had just conquereda land previously under the control of the Assyrians, and before that,the Summering. Abraham had lived during a time of great prosperity and aremarkably advanced culture. He was initially believed to have come fromthe city of Ur, as given in the Bible as “…the Ur of Chaldees”. Earliertranslations read, however, simply “…Land of the Chaldees”; later, itwas deduced that Abraham had come from a city called Haran3. In any case,he lived in a thriving and prosperous world. Homes were comfortable, evenluxurious. Copies of hymns were found next to mathematical tabletsdetailing formulae for extracting square and cube roots.4 The level ofsophistication 4000 years ago is remarkable. We can also deduce that itwas a relatively stable and peaceful society; its art is characterized bythe absence of any warlike activity, paintings or sculptures.5We also have evidence of an Israelite tribe, the Benjamites, inBabylonian texts. The Benjamites were nomads on the frontier of itsboundaries, and certainly came in contact with Babylonian ideas- culture,religion, ethics. The early tribes of Israel were nomadic, “taking withthem the early traditions, and in varying latitudes have modified it”6according to external influences. The message remained constant, but thecontext would subtly change. In addition to the Benjamites inMesopotamia, there were tribes of Israel in Egypt during the EgyptianMiddle Kingdom period7, which certainly exposed these people to Egyptianculture as well as Babylonian culture as a result of trade between thetwo kingdoms. Having placed Abraham and certain early Semites in thistime, we can now examine the culture they would have known.The Babylonian Dynasty had as one of its first leaders a man known asHammurabi. In addition to being the world’s first known lawgiver, heinstalled a national god for his people named Marduk 8. Marduk’s story isrelated in the Enuma Elish:It begins with two primordial creatures, Apsu and Tiamat. They havechildren, who are gods. These children became too noisy and disruptive toApsu, who wished to kill them. One of these gods, Ea, kills Apsu first. Tiamat becomes enraged, and increasingly threatening towards Ea and theremaining gods for killing her mate. One by one, the gods seek to quietTiamat, but each fails. However, one god, Marduk, agrees to stop Tiamat,but only if he is granted sole dominion over all other gods. They agree,and Marduk battles Tiamat, killing her and creating the world from hercorpse. In add