Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

George and James:

This is getting way off topic, as now you are discussing pagan religions
that were opposed by the teachings of the Bible. Yet there is a kernel of
relevancy in that the stories of the gods were based on actual people,
remembered and worshipped in ancestor worshipping cultures. Many did not
wait until after death to be called gods and be worshipped. Among my
ancestors, that practice lasted late enough to be recorded (with strong
disapproval) by the medieval monks.

As for the stories recorded in Genesis, they record as known places that
were apparently abandoned and forgotten as early as the late bronze age, but
in a way that they expected the readers to know about them. Dan in Abraham’s
day apparently (from the context) was a site along the King’s Highway, not
the place where later the tribe of
Dan settled. Gerar of the Philistines was replaced by the five cities. The
writers of Genesis considered these places and stories as not needing
explanation as they were commonly known in their day, but today we see them
as unknown (and probably unknown as early as the time of Moses) and needing
explanation.

I hadn’t really thought about those events as indicating an early date for
the composition of Genesis, but I now will add them to other indications
that Moses essentially redacted and combined older documents to make
Genesis.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 1:56 AM, James Christian
<jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>wrote:

> George,
>
> these stories are most likely based on actual historical figures. There was
> likely, at some point, a community of rulers associated with Olympus that
> were deified after death. We see this phenomenon in pretty much most
> ancient
> cultures. Pharoah's became gods after death. Caesars were deified after
> death etc.
>
> James Christian
>
> On 14 May 2010 03:09, George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au> wrote:
>
> > The Greeks believed the gods lived on Olympus and that Aphrodite was born
> > beyond some rocks just off the coast of Cyprus. A community will hold to
> > what its leaders, especially storytellers, tell them. Whether it's based
> on
> > fact or not is a different consideration.
> >
> > GEORGE ATHAS
> > Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
> > www.moore.edu.au
> >
>