Category: Hebrew Bible

• Seven Deadly Sins

  The above Facebook post from “Sad Jesus” made me think about the Bible, a book that’s had a considerable influence in shaping Western culture. It’s often claimed in the Bible’s favour that, by and large, it has provided the moral foundation on which this culture rests. Unquestionably, chapters and verses can be quoted in which […]

  calgacus83

  20th Jun 2022

  Christianity, Hebrew Bible, Literature, Mythology, Old Testament, Poetry, Religion

  Bible, Culture, Drama, God, Greek Myths, Jacob & Esau, Jekyll & Hyde, Mount Olympus, Sins, Work of Art

• Somewhere over the Rainbow …

  In Genesis, after the all-encompassing waters of the Flood have at last abated, a memorable image makes its appearance in the clearing skies. “God said .. I will place my rainbow in the clouds .. whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears .. I will remember my promise that never again […]

  calgacus83

  31st May 2022

  Christianity, Hebrew Bible, Literature, Mythology, Old Testament, Poetry, Religion

  Archery, Biblical scholarship, Bows and arrows, God, Marduk, Myth, Rainbows, Storm gods, The Flood

• A Picture or 1000 Words

  The old saying tells us that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament contains thousands of words about God, but it seems to me that it also contains two ‘pictures’ that put all these thousands of words in their proper place, and warn us against understanding them in any crudely literal […]

  calgacus83

  16th May 2022

  Christianity, Hebrew Bible, Literature, Mythology, Old Testament, Philosophy, Religion

  2nd Commandment, God, Jerusalem Temple, Pictures, Spirit, Words, Yahweh

• Genesis and Zeus

  Genesis 1 to 11 makes a fascinating introduction to the Hebrew Bible. Astonishingly, millions regard this as a historical account (i) of the creation of the universe (at 12 noon on Sunday, October 23rd, 4004BC); (ii) of the ‘fabrication’ of the first humans; and (iii) of events eventually leading to the birth of Israel. I […]

  calgacus83

  7th May 2022

  Christianity, Hebrew Bible, Literature, Mythology, Old Testament, Poetry, Religion

  Genesis 1-11, Gods of Olympus, History, Myths & Legends, Nietzsche, Stephen Fry, Symbol & Metaphor, Zeus

• Who Wrote the Bible’s first 5 Books? (ii)

  There are still people who believe the Bible is “inerrant”. This would have astonished those editors for whom inconsistencies and even contradictions were such a non-issue they made little attempt to ‘iron them out’. They clearly didn’t imagine they were writing the ‘infallible word of God’, nor should we. For example, in Exodus 6 (P […]

  calgacus83

  1st May 2022

  Christianity, Hebrew Bible, Literature, Mythology, Old Testament, Poetry, Religion

  Deuteronomy, God, Inerrant, Legend, Moses, Myth, Pentateuch, Priests, Stories

• Who Wrote the Bible’s first 5 Books? (i)

  It was long believed by Jews and Christians alike that the first 5 books (or scrolls) of the Hebrew Bible, (the Pentateuch), had been written by Moses, around the 15th century BCE. In the Middle Ages, however, attention was drawn to Gen.12:6 which says, “the Canaanites were then in the land”, meaning this was no […]

  calgacus83

  27th Apr 2022

  Christianity, Hebrew Bible, Literature, Mythology, Old Testament, Poetry, Religion

  Bible, History, Israel, Moses, Pentateuch, Pharaoh, Ramesses, Stories, Yahweh

• The Tower of Babel – or Babble?

  This story begins by stating that “the whole earth had a common language and a common vocabulary”, which is a splendid example of ‘never let the facts get in the way of a good story’ since we’re told, in the previous chapter, that the nations had been “separated into their lands, every one according to […]

  calgacus83

  24th Apr 2022

  Hebrew Bible, Literature, Mythology, Old Testament, Poetry, Religion

  Bablylon, Genesis, Icacus, Israel, Phaeton, Shelley, Tower of Babel, Yahweh, Ziggurat

• Noah and Biblical Abuse – Slavery

  The Bible pictured above, displayed at the ‘Museum of the Bible’ in Washington D.C., was used to educate slaves. Cut out of it, were passages which might encourage rebellion – “There is no difference between .. slaves and free people .. you are all one in union with Christ Jesus”. (Gal. 3:28). Other passages, not […]

  calgacus83

  20th Apr 2022

  Christianity, Hebrew Bible, Literature, Mythology, Old Testament, Religion

  Africa, Cherry Picking, Exodus, God's Curse, Noah, Prejudice, Slave Plantations, Slavery

• Noah’s Flood

  Five centuries before Israel appeared, along with the tales that form its national epic, a story was told by the Sumerian people in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). The gods created humans to do the heavy work, like digging drainage ditches, harvesting crops, and animal husbandry. They multiplied too rapidly, however, becoming obstreperous, ‘bolshie’ nuisances. “The country […]

  calgacus83

  16th Apr 2022

  Christianity, Current Affairs, Hebrew Bible, Literature, Mythology, Old Testament, Poetry, Religion

  Ark, Bishop J S Spong, Genocide, Gilgamesh, Gods, Nietzsche, Noah, Priests

• Genesis 6 – Who were the Nephilim?

  Following on from the Cain and Abel tale of blood-stained misadventure, here is an even more ambiguous, if not totally obscure, story. It concerns dubious goings-on involving, of all people, the “sons of God”. The phrase בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים (beney haʾelohim) is found only here and in the Book of Job, but occurs outside the Hebrew Bible […]

  calgacus83

  13th Apr 2022

  Hebrew Bible, Literature, Mythology, Old Testament, Poetry, Religion

  Genesis, Genocide, Nephilim, Sons of God, The Flood, Virgin Mary, Yahweh, Zeus