Category: Mythology
-
Genesis 6 – Disreputable Goings-On!
Whenever we read the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, we should remind ourselves that we’re dealing with ways of thinking very different from our own. The Israelites shared the world view, and the myths, legends and folktales, of their fellow Canaanites (Palestinians), and the wider set of Assyrian (Syrian) and Babylonian (Iraqi) peoples in the ancient near…
-
Cain and Abel (ii) My Brother’s Keeper
In the previous post, we saw how Yahweh’s rejection of Cain’s offering was the trigger for red-hot anger. This bottled-up anger was suddenly and catastrophically poured out on his brother Abel. The Greek Septuagint version of this story adds a detail missing from the Hebrew Bible’s account – that Cain said to his brother, “Let’s…
-
Cain and Abel (i) The Crouching Beast
I’m glad to have studied Biblical Hebrew, though it’s rustier with the passing years. It helps me see things in a different way. At the beginning of Genesis 4, Adam’s wife Eve, having given birth to a son, says something that’s translatable in different ways. The literal reading of the Hebrew is, “I’ve acquired/created (canah)…
-
Two more things Genesis 2/3 doesn’t say …
This is my second post about the 2nd section of Genesis which runs from 2:4b to 3:24, and which manages to be a colourful and entertaining myth while purportedly dealing with matters of life and death. There are many commentators who tell us what this section of Genesis is saying but, by way of difference,…
-
Two things Genesis 2/3 doesn’t say …
The 2nd section of Genesis runs from 2:4b to 3:24. The God who appears here is very different from the 1st section’s remote ‘voice’ which utters commands from afar and, after surveying the results from on high, expresses entire satisfaction with what has thus been achieved. The 2nd section’s God comes down into the thick…
-
Genesis 1 – from a Different Angle
The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament was compiled, over several centuries, using earlier materials, oral and written, from 4 different main sources, the latest one representing the interests of the Israelite priesthood. The 1st section of Genesis comes from this priestly source, and runs from 1:1 to 2:4a. The bible wasn’t divided into chapters until the middle…
-
Who Wrote the 1st 5 Books of the Bible? (ii)
In my previous post, I dealt with the E and J material in the Bible’s 1st 5 books. So how did the process of turning these into a national narrative begin? When the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed, some of its E material was salvaged and used to complement the J material in the…
-
Who Wrote the 1st 5 Books of the Bible? (i)
At one time, the answer to this would have been, Moses, but that can no longer be maintained. These 5 books are traditionally called either the Pentateuch or the “Law”, although laws are only a part, though a substantial one, of what they contain. The Hebrew name is “Torah”, which is broader, and means ‘teaching’…
-
‘Once Upon a Time’ (v) Egypt and the Sun
As I noted in my 1st post on this theme, the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament contains many echoes of far older, interesting and amusing creation myths, flood stories and epic poems which, because used to train scribes, were widely spread in location and time across the ancient near east. The Hebrew writers/editors used a number of…
-
‘Once Upon a Time’ (iv) El and Baal
As I noted in my 1st post on this theme, the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament contains many echoes of far older, interesting and amusing creation myths, flood stories and epic poems which, because used to train scribes, were widely spread in location and time across the ancient near east. The Hebrew writers/editors used a number of…
RAY'S VIEWS ONLINE 