Tuesday, January 14, Primeval Story

Transcription

1 1. Primeval Story

2 Need for Sherlock Holmes Deductions allowable in court?

3 Deductions can get you into trouble...

4 Gen In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form and empty. And darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters. 2 4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5 and every shrub of the field was not yet on the earth, and every plant of the field had not yet sprung up. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground. How many creation accounts? Yahwist fascinated by primeval period Growth of David s dynasty inspired interest in stories with global significance P added versions of creation & flood Elohist not present at all...

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6 Priestly source concerned with ritual, Sabbath, food laws 7-day structure Gen. 1 - liturgy? Used in Temple worship?

7 Creation Ex-Nihilo?.CrE)fhf t)'w: t)' MyhiOl)v tpexeram; MyhiOl) vxaw%rw: MwOht; K7#$exow: w%hobwf w%hot htfy:hf CrE)fhfw: deep water (t hom) = Akkadian tiamat Ocean goddess of Enuma Elish Sea monster - Yamm Marduk subdues villain of primeval chaos From chaos to cosmos McCurley: 1983/ Batto: 1992

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9 MdF)f h#&e(jna MyhiOl)v rme)oy,wa Let us make the earth creature in our image ground = adamah / Adam = Man The royal we the divine council both male and female? Gen. 1:27; 5:2.Mtf)o )rfb@f hbfq"n:w% rkfzf wot)o Mleceb@; woml;cab@; MdF)fhf-t)e MyhiOl)v )rfb;y,iwa w%br:w% w%rp@; MyhiOl)v Mhelf rme)oy,wa MyhiOl)v Mtf)o K7rEbfy:wA M)fr:b@fhi MwOyb@; MdF)f Mmf#$;-t)e )rfq;y,iwa Mtf)o K7rEbfy:wA M)frFb@; hbfq"n:w% rkfzf Image of God isn t something we have but something we do!

10 Toledot formulas ( generations ) attributed to P - Priestly source used to organized large blocks 2 4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5 and every shrub of the field was not yet on the earth, and every plant of the field had not yet sprung up. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground.

11 Older Yawhist story follows younger Priestly one from comprehensive world picture to intimate tale of earliest humans Eden - Sumerian Edin - Mesopotamian steppes Babylonian edinu = plain, desert Enki & Ninhursag (gods) - garden Dilmun enjoyed goodness as long as near tree of life - Pritchard: 1969

12 Insights: Naked - crafty = erom / arum Original sin? vs. Yetzer tov / yetzer ra Serpent satan = dragon e.g. Lotan (Leviathan)/ Apsu (water) Forbidden fruit = pomegranate, date, fig?

13 Primeval sin : Morality: acting on own judgment Knowledge: pride - to know what God knows Sexuality: knowing oneself & others - no return to original innocence Was Eve a heroine? Where was Adam?

14 Cain & Abel Shepherd god Dumuzi fights farmer god Enkimdu over goddess Inanna. Dumuzi wins favor conflict between shepherds & farmers

15 MyhiOl)v wot)o w%n%ney)'w: MyhiOl)vhf-t)e K7wOnxj Gen. 5:24 - Enoch walked with God & God took him post-biblical folklore Methuselah years...

16 Sons of God 6:1-4 r#$e)j My#$inF Mhelf w%xq;y,iwa hn%fh' tbo+o MdF)fhf MyhiOl)vhf-yn"b; w%)r:y,iwa Mhelf w%dl;yfw: MdF)fhf MyhiOl)vhf yn'b w%)obyf r#$e)j Nk'-yr"xj)a Mgaw: Mh'hf CrE)fbf w%yhf y#$'n:)a MlfwO(m' r#$e)j maybe offspring of Cain; interbreeding lines of Cain & Seth? errant members of divine council?

17 The Flood No evidence... Gilgamesh epic - plagiarism? "Those woodpeckers will have to go..." Noah parallels Adam both told be fruitful & multiply re-creation both implicated in wrongdoing

18 Source analysis J - no building of Ark; flood from rain (40 days), receding in 7-day periods; animals in 7s (clean) & 2s (unclean) P - flood supernatural (windows of heaven); 150 days, 220 days to recede; 1 pair of each species; Noah makes no sacrifice Literary wholeness?; symmetry?; unitary composition? Wenham: 1978

19 Ham s indiscretion Gen. 9:20 And Noah the husbandman began, and planted a vineyard. 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. Ham committed incest with Noah s wife? Ham acquired Noah s mojo by seeing him naked? 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done unto him. 25 And he said: Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26 And he said: Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be their servant. 27 God enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be their servant. Curse on Ham s son hard to justify gives Israel religious warrant to dispose of Canaanites

20 Tower of Babel Ziggurat = mountain peak gods lived in mountains Zeus - Olympus Baal - Mt. Saphon YHW - Sinai

21 Noah s drunkenness brought out worst in Ham evident in monstrous city & tower project Focus narrows to line of Shem from that line Abram chosen & Israel to follow...

22 So let it be researched Go to the stacks, Holmes! iphone

23 So let it be done!