The original judaism- pure Mesopotamian myth
The original Hebrew opens with: "in the beginning, god created the sky and land" (heaven and earth is a mistranslation).
Yahweh places a barrier between the land and the sky, perceived as an ocean, in order to stop the water from falling. I should mention that the word "sky"-"shamaaim" in Hebrew, literally means – "water above".
Yahweh continues to plant trees and grass, but only later creates the sun, moon and all stars of the universe. It is obvious that the ancient peoples had no concept of astronomy, and thought that stars were just "pretty shiny things" that could indeed be created AFTER plants.
The biblical creation myth is a Bronze Age attempt to answer questions about the universe using existing tools of the time. More importantly, the creation myth, Noah's ark, the tower of Babylon and the garden of Eden - are actually compilations of borrowed bits from the ancient legends of the peoples living in Bronze Age Mesopotamia:
Notably the Enûma Eliš creation story, Epic of Gilgamesh, Akkadian epic of Atra-Hasis, the Sumerian "Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta", and others .
The stories described in genesis are really Sumerian and Babylonian myths, which have been slightly altered, meshed together, and attributed to the hebrew god- Yahweh.
Yahweh:
From what we know, Yahweh started out as one of many gods in the Canaanite pantheon of gods, headed by the god "El", also known as 'Elyon'.
Elyon makes a direct appearance in the bible, in Genesis 14. There, Abrhamam assists a priest of the god Elyon – " And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine; and he was priest of God Elion."
It should be mentioned that Elion is often mistranslated in English to "most high", blurring the fact that Elion was the name of the head of the Canaanite pantheon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elyon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_(god)
It seems that the earliest transcript we have of the bible, also viewes Yahweh as one of many under Elyon. The dead sea scrolls version of Deuteronomy 32, known as the oldest version of the text, says the following:
"When Elion gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, He set the borders of the peoples according to the number of his god children."
Psalms 82 also depicts Yahweh as one of many in the Canaanite pantheon:
"God (yahweh) standeth in the congregation of El; in the midst of the (other) Gods, He judgeth…. (God says): Ye are all gods, and all of you are sons of Elion."
Yahweh was the territorial god of the Israelites, equal among others in Mesopotamia. Genesis 31: Lavan and Jacob sign a pact in witness of the "God of Abraham and god of Nehor." – thus Jaboc views Yahweh as a territorial god, and recognizes the authority of other gods.
Of course, as a territorial god, Yahweh has his own privileges amongst the jewish people:
"Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin, And he that blasphemeth the name of Yahweh, he shall surely be put to death."(Leviticus 24) – the bible recognizes other gods, and makes a differentiation in sinfulness when cursing Yahweh or other gods.
Inscriptions found in Kuntillet Ajrud - north-eastern Sainai, dating to the ninth century BC, depict Yahweh as a half calf, half human deity, along with his WIFE- Ashera. Relevant Wikipedia article with sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuntillet_Ajrud
It is known that the ancient Hebrews worshipped many gods, as the Old Testament itself frequently says. The greater part of the Old Testament narrative deals with the people of Israel following other gods, and being punished for it. On one occasion, the Israelites are accused of worshipping the god Baal, culminating in the execution of 400 baal prophets by the prophet Eliyahu. (kings 1:18)
More importantly, the depiction of Yahweh found in Kuntillet Ajrud, as a half calf deity, has led scholars, such as Israeli Professors Avigdor Shanaan and Yair Zakovitz, to the conclusion that a theological division existed between the kingdom of Judea- which viewed Yahweh as a figureless deity, and the kingdom of Israel, which viewed him as a calf deity. It appears that among other reasons, the tearing of the kingdom occurred around this theological question.
Clues to this are found in kings 1: chapter 12, when Yerobaam, king of Israel, places a statue of a calf in his temple and declares that this is the god of Israel who led them out of Egypt.
It is also suggested the whole "golden calf in the desert" story was actually invented by the composers of the bible, who viewed Yahweh as a figureless deity, in order to make it clear to all that Yahweh was NOT the half bull god, as claimed by king yerobaam, and the inscription in kuntilat ajrud. It can also be noted that having lived 200 years in Egypt, the Israelites must have been exposed to the practice of Bull worshipping (the Egyptian god Ephis), which was apparently wide spread- as discovered in the excavations at the Egyptian city of Mof.
The jews living in Egypt were apparently accustomed to worshipping many gods, as is derived from when Moses asks Yahweh "what is your name?" when first speaking with him. (Exodus 3) Later, Moses fights Pharos's priests, who invoke the power of their gods and turn staffs into alligators. Other gods are most definitely real, and powerful.
Even the ten commandments recognize the existence of other gods – " you shall have no other gods before me." Not- "there are no other gods"- but rather, I am number one, fitting a jealous territorial god.
Yahweh is described as god who when desiring- wears human form. He creates man in his own image, he takes human form and fights with Jacob (Genesis 32), appears in human form to Joshua in Jericho (Joshua 5). Moses saw god as a burning bush, but when he went up to mount Sinai with the elders of the Hebrew people, they reportedly saw god in the flesh:
" and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under His feet the like of a paved work of sapphire stone, and the like of the very heaven for clearness." (Exodus 24).
Also, Yahweh walks through Jewish barracks in order to watch over them, but is severely disgusted by uncovered feces (Deuteronomy 23).
Yahweh also seems very similar to the gods of ancient Greece in that he argues with humans as among equals (as he does with Abraham bargaining for Sodom, or with moses bargaining for the lives of the jews who built the golden calf), and even fears them as equals (god fears the tower of Babylon, and fears Adam eating from the tree of life- lest he become like him.)
Yahweh demands sacrifice. He wants menstruating women to slaughter two doves each month, he wants regular sacrifices on holidays and other important personal events. He even demands human sacrifice. Yahweh stops Abraham at the last minute, but doesn't intervene when Yiftah sacrifices his daughter (judges 11: 40-34). Yahweh even had a house – the temple at Jerusalem, which was his physical home on earth.
Another aspect of Yahweh's original Judaism was the absolute lack of an afterlife, heaven, hell, or Satan. Scores are settled here and now, and in case they aren't, the punishment passes to your kids. Hence the phrase – Sins of the father. The biblical narrative describes the "pact" between the people of Israel and God as – "land for servitude". The jews will keep god's 613 commandments (such as the Sabbath, kosher foods, annihilation of certain peoples, infant genital mutilation, etc…), and in return insure their independence in the land of Israel. Thus, the ultimate punishment the jews can and do suffer in the bible is- loss of independence.
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Comment by Adam Weber on December 23, 2010 at 10:05pm -
Thankyou. This looks like a very fascinating thing to discuss.
First of all you have zero credible sources to back up any of your claims.
From what we know, Yahweh started out as one of many gods in the Canaanite pantheon of gods, headed by the god 'Elion'. Pieces of pottery found in Israel depict Yahweh as a half calf, half
human deity, along with his WIFE- asheraI would very much so like a credible source for this and the estimated date for these pieces of pottery.
Later god plants trees and grass, but only later creates the sun, moon and all stars of the universe. It is obvious that the ancient peoples had no concept of astronomy,
and thought that stars were just "pretty
shiny things" that could
indeed be created AFTER plants.No no no. You are reading this with 21st century Christian eyes. Genesis is not talking about the physical creation of the planet, but God giving a purpose for the Earth, plants, animals and humans.
John H. Walton explains it well, I advise you do some more research on Genesis.
http://biologos.org/blog/science-scripture-and-the-creation-narrative/
http://www.wheaton.edu/physics/research/symposia/conferences03/Sci_Sym.swf
More importantly, the Genesis story is actually compilation of borrowed bits from the ancient legends of the peoples living in
Bronze Age Mesopotamia,
Notably the Enûma Eliš creation story, Epic of
Gilgamesh, Akkadian epic of
Atra-Hasis and others.There are some similiarities but there are some big differences. For example, to my knowledge, the Summerians and Egyptians believe that their god or gods were
created. However in Judaism God was never created, but has been assumed to be
around for all eternity.It is known that the ancient Hebrews worshipped many gods.
Sources?
This was Judaism for around 1000 years, until Yahweh suddenly got a sharp personality makeover. Yahweh is taken out of the pantheon of gods, and declared the only god- of the whole world, no
longer the territorial god of the Hebrews.Nope. Try again.
It should also be noted that nowhere in the bible is there a WORD about the afterlife, heaven, hell, or Satan.Satan is mentioned in Job and in 1 Chronicles 21. The devil in Hebrew simply means the ‘adversary’ that means that God could be Satan (adversary) to Jacob. The
devil appears to be mentioned in Leviticus, with the scape goat. Afterlife for
Hebrews was ‘sheol’ what happened in sheol was a mystery. However, in Daniel 12
an afterlife, heaven or hell is mentioned. Scholars believe that the idea of an
afterlife was created/inspired around 150bc. In one was to read Acts, Paul get
into a lively debate with the saducees as they do not believe in any sought of
afterlife.However, I do believe you are right. The ideas of Satan, heaven and hell have evolved.
infant genital mutilation
Really?
The first, Christianity, was headed by a Jewish rabbi called Yeshua, who believed he was the messiah who would drive the Romans out of Israel. Modern day Christians should note that messiah
in Judaism does not mean pacifist savior, but
rather angry military leader who
kicks ass and builds a theocracy. Yeshua walked
around Israel preaching that
jews should return to the laws of moses,
testifying that he did not come to
change a word of scripture. Yeshua's main theme
was end of days prophesies –
which he said would come about within his
lifetime- fitting a self proclaimed
messiah hoping to rid Judea of the Romans and
bring about end times.Within His lifetime? I would love some verses from the Bible saying so.
Yes and No. Just because people think that a someone has to act x because they are y does not mean they actually act like that. A black person may really hate hip hop. You are tying to use a stereotype to attempt to prove your point that Jesus was
ruthless. Perhaps you should read the gospels again?Rabbi Yeshua probably tried to incite rebellion
Are you going off hearsay?
Yeshua himself testifies, in what modern day historians recognize as the few bits of the new testament that are not later forgeries and add-ons, that his mission is to cause strife, not
peace. He instructs the disciples to buy swords
and tells them to stay clear of
gentiles, as their mission is for Jews alone.Names of these ‘historians’ would be great.
Christianity gets really interesting after yeshua's death, when his followers refused to acknowledge he was dead, and began to say that he's coming back.
This phenomenon is present even in modern day
Judaism, in the chabad movement-
devout jews in every way, who refuse to
acknowledge that their beloved rabbi is
dead, and have declared him a messiah who will
have a second coming.Please watch this video by N.T. Wright: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0Dc01HVlaM
while in practice, preaching a religion that was so far from yeshua it can only
be called "Paulism".Nope. Not at all. There has been a lot of work done on the ‘New Perspective of Paul’ it puts Paul back into being a Jew, instead of a 16th century Christian.
Rabbi yeshua was reinvented as Jesus Christ, the son of god,
born of a virgin, in accordance with popular pagan
myths. Yahwe became the
white bearded Zeus, and a long line of saints,
holidays, all pagan- were
borrowed and incorporated into the new religion –
JUST AS JUDAISM DID WITH THE
MESOPOTAMIAN LEGENDS IN ITS EARLY DAYS.Nope. Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians both believe Jesus was the ‘Son of God’ the book of John was written very early, before such a split was recognisable.
until jewish Christianity was annihilated.
You should read ‘The lost history of Christianity’ by Philip Jenkins it may open your eyes to a whole new Christianity, as it did for me.
I, myself, am a Jewish Christian. I worship on Sabbath and rest from sunset to sunset, I follow the kosher or halal, I do not believe in a pagan hell and many
other things. I understand what you mean and that is why I believe Christians
should try to have their theology as similar to that of the early disciples.This is not really ‘evolution’ of religion, but is more so about how religion changes depending on the culture and people.
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Comment by Jennifer Ulean Breedlove on December 23, 2010 at 11:29pm -
great post! thanks for the leg work, may I use this in the future for sending people over to?? I am a bit lazy took almost a week to formally introduce myself.:)
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Comment by Wassabi on December 24, 2010 at 1:46pm -
Hi Adam, thanks for the lenghty reply.
Your response made me realize that perhaps trying to address too many topics at once isn't a good idea. you rightfully asked for sources, and adding them on both ancient judaism, jesus and rabbilical judaism would make my post just a bit too long.
i will rewrite my post and split it into three or four- and will adress each sub-topic with the deserving depth.
i would like to note two things. you accused me of seeing genesis through 21-centur christian eyes. i am an ex jew, and israeli, so chrsitianity does not apply. i have read many many attempts by differnt religious scientists who ascribe genesis to the big bang, or measure the "days" of creation differently.
non of these theories hold- becuase the're all based on cherry picking the verses of genesis.
the only approach answering the entire story, is the one viewing the text as a literal bronze age attempt to explain things. especially in light of the great similarities between genesis and the other mesopotamian myths.
I have the texts, and would be happy to list the similar points.
finally, I most certainly view cutting into an infants flesh with a knife, and removing parts of his genitals- without mediacl cause- as mutilation, and child abuse.
good day.
and Jennifer- feel free. i will add all sources needed.
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Comment by Wassabi on December 24, 2010 at 7:48pm
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regarding satan:when speaking to christians i often run into a serious problem of mistranslations. this is evident in the examples you gave for satan.chronicles 1 is far from being the only place in the bible where the word is mentioned. the hebrew text actually uses the word "satan" in differnt variations some 11 times.however, a "satan", is an enemy. nothing more. "sitna" means animosity, "divrei sitna" means speaking ill of someone.it is a figure of speech. nothing more.genesis 26:21Numbers 22:22samuel 1:29:4samuel 2: 19:23kings 1 5:18kings 1 11:14ezra 4:6zachariah 3:1chronicles 1 21:1psalms 71:13and finally Job - where satan again appears in the biblical hebrew meaning of bad blood/enemy/adversary- someone who had bad intentions towards job, perhaps an angel. absolutely no relation to the christian devil, lord of the underworld.
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Comment by Wassabi on December 24, 2010 at 7:55pm
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as for an afterlife,
Daniel is a very late book- written around 600 BC, in babylon - not even written in hebrew, but rather in aramaic. if anything, it would streanghten the claim that the religion changed as a result of foreign influences.
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Comment by DeSwiss on December 24, 2010 at 10:50pm -
Excellent!
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Comment by Wassabi on December 25, 2010 at 3:48pm
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to hope -
there's no doubt that biblical judaism is far closer to islam than to christianity. The god of the bible gets a personality makeover in the NT, but seems to revert to his old mean self in the koran.
Another similarity point is that while christianity does not have its own legal system, and maticulous structure of the day for the believer- judaism has the "Halaha", a set of rules supposedly given by god which regulates just about anything, and islam has its similar "Shariaa".
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Comment by Wassabi on December 25, 2010 at 3:55pm
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to Fred Werther,
Most jews, even completely secular ones, will not say the literal name of god - "Yehova", or Yahweh, as he's known in english.
Thus, a word, "elohim", was invented, which means "god".
however, the reverence doesn't stop there. the letters making up the name "Yehova" are also considered sacred themselves, so many religious jews will substitute the letter "h" in Elohim, for a "k" - Elokim.
Yahweh and Elohim are the same dude.
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Comment by Heather Spoonheim on March 28, 2011 at 6:30am -
Wow, thanks so much for the posting, Wassabi. I wouldn't mind seeing some citations when you get the time, although I have already read plenty of your assertions elsewhere; I would just like more solid ammo when dealing with Christian apologists/revisionists. They spend so much time dancing circles around the multiple references to Aherah and the Genesis 6 reference to 'sons of god'. It's refreshing to see another atheist diving head first into the mythology and its origins.
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