101 Myths of the Bible: How Ancient Scribes Invented Biblical History

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TIMETABLE OF BIBLICAL HISTORY

(All dates are B.C. and based on the King James Version of the Bible.)

Creation

4004, Sunday, Oct. 23 (Per Bishop Ussher)

3960 (Per Martin Luther)

3761 (Per Jewish Tradition)

Noah’s flood

2348-2105 (Range of possible starting dates)

Patriarchal Era

c. 2000-1500

Exodus from Egypt

1548-1315 (Implied by Genesis 15:13)

1497 (Implied by 1 Kings 6:1)

1315 (Per author’s analysis in The Bible Myth)

1270-1250 (Majority of biblical scholars)

Entry into Canaan

Forty years after the Exodus

Rule of Judges

Ends c. 1081 (Implied by 1 and 2 Kings)

Ends c. 1020 (Majority view of scholars)

King Saul

1081 (Implied by 1 and 2 Kings)

c.1020 (Majority view of scholars)

King David

1061 (Implied by 1 and 2 Kings)

c. 1000 (Majority view of scholars)

King Solomon

1021 (Implied by 1 and 2 Kings)

c. 960 (Majority view of scholars)

Jerusalem Temple completed

Eleventh year of King Solomon

Judah and Israel split into separate kingdoms

At King Solomon’s death, after forty years on throne

J source document

Probably written between about 960 and 722, but before E, P, and D

E source document

Probably written between about 960 and 722, after J but before P, and D

Israel destroyed by Assyrians

722

P source document

Probably written between 722 and 640, after J and E but before D

King Josiah finds Law of Moses.

622

D source document

Probably written between 622 and 609, after J, E, and P

Daniel brought to Babylon

605

Judah conquered by Chaldaeans of Babylon

587

Babylonian Exile

587-539

King Cyrus of Persia conquers Babylon and frees the Babylonian Jews

539

Esther saves Persian Jews

c. 475

Ezra leaves Babylon and re-introduces the Law of Moses in Jerusalem

458

Books of Chronicles, Nehemiah, and Ezra

458 or shortly thereafter—probably written by Ezra or his followers

PART ONE

Myths of the Beginning

Myths of the Beginning

AN OVERVIEW

The first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, tell the history of the world from the time of Creation to just after the great flood. Within its narrative we find the stories of the seven days of Creation, Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, the repopulating of the world, and the founding of the first nations. Because these stories so clearly conflict with conventional scientific wisdom, they are the most controversial portions among those who argue about the accuracy of the Bible.

Structurally, Genesis 1–11 presents a fascinating insight into how the Bible evolved from a collection of polytheistic myths and legends from various cultures into a mostly coherent monotheistic account of Israelite history. At its core are two separate biblical source documents, P and J, each presenting contradictory accounts of events and very different points of view about deity. Unbeknownst to the biblical editors who tried to integrate the two sources into a single seamless narrative, the P and J accounts of Creation and the flood originally developed independently of each other from two separate Egyptian mythological traditions.

J’s roots go back to the teachings in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis, known as On in the Bible. Heliopolis was one of Egypt’s oldest and most influential religious centers, and the Bible presents a close relationship between that city and Israel. Joseph, heir to the covenant between God and Jacob, was married to the daughter of the chief priest of Heliopolis, and his half-Egyptian son, Ephraim, educated in the Heliopolitan traditions, was appointed by Jacob to be Joseph’s heir. Also, Heliopolis, at a time not much before Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, was the center of a monotheistic religious cult that challenged traditional Egyptian religious beliefs and stirred up much passion and political turmoil.

P, on the other hand, adopted the Creation philosophy associated with the Egyptian city of Thebes, the political and religious capitol of Egypt during the time Israel resided in that country. The Theban viewpoint, however, was itself an attempt to integrate conflicting Egyptian traditions from other major Egyptian cult centers with that of its own local religious beliefs, including that of Heliopolis.

For the most part, Egyptians shared certain common ideas about Creation. In the beginning, they believed, there was a universal flood known as the Nun or Nu. Through some sort of initiatory act by a single Creator deity, a flaming primeval mountain emerged out of the Nun and on this mountain the process of Creation moved forward. The chief difference among the main cult centers concerned who was the deity responsible for the first acts and how did the Creation process begin. The four most important cult centers were in Heliopolis, Hermopolis, Memphis, and Thebes, and each city associated its own local chief deity with the first acts of Creation.

In Heliopolis, the first deity was Atum, a solar deity who was either the primeval mountain itself or appeared on the mountain in the form of a flaming serpent. Atum, who appeared to be a male with some female characteristics, gave birth by himself to a son and a daughter, Shu and Tefnut, who represented air and moisture, who, in turn, gave birth to their own son and daughter, Geb and Nut, who signified Earth and Heaven. These four children, in the Heliopolitan tradition, corresponded to the basic elements of the universe. Geb and Nut had four children of their own, Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys, and collectively these first nine deities (counting Atum) were known as the Ennead (i.e., group of nine).

In the city of Memphis, which served as the first capitol of Egypt for almost one thousand years (c. 3100 B.C.—2100 B.C.), the chief deity was Ptah, a crafts god. The Memphites, who were close neighbors of Heliopolis, claimed that it was Ptah, through the spoken word, who summoned forth Atum from the Nun. In all other respects, the Memphites generally adopted the Heliopolitan traditions.

In the very ancient city of Hermopolis a slightly different tradition prevailed. The priests there believed that in the beginning, eight gods, four male and four female, emerged out of the Nun and collectively gave birth to the solar deity Re, who initially appeared as a child floating on a lotus. Re then proceeded to initiate the process of Creation, including the creation of the Heliopolitan Ennead. In one of those strange concepts that often emerge in mythic tradition, Re was both the child of and creator of these first eight gods.

These eight Hermopolitan gods were known as the Ogdoad (i.e., group of eight) and the four sets of males and females represented what the priests considered to be the four basic elements of the primeval universe. The deities and their associations were Nun and Naunet, the universal flood; Huh and Hauhet, space or infinity; Kuk and Kauket, darkness; and Amen and Amenet, the invisibility of the winds.

Thebes was a late arrival on the political scene, coming to power at about 2040 B.C. Its local deity was Amen, but because of the way the other three traditions had already become entrenched in Egyptian thought, the Theban priests devised the idea that each of the other Creator deities was just another form of Amen. So, according to the Theban theology, Amen first appeared in the form of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad, then appeared in the form of the Memphite Ptah, then in the form of Heliopolitan Atum, and then in the form of Re, who by this time had become the most important solar deity in Egypt. This succession of forms necessitated some variations from the Creation myths associated with these deities, but the fit was good enough to enable Thebes to promote Amen as the chief deity and not alienate the other religious cults.

From these collections of Egyptian myths and traditions, which Israel not only learned in Egypt, but which were current, influential, and well-known throughout Canaan after Israel established itself there, Hebrews produced a new theology. Because Israel was monotheistic and the Egyptian myths were polytheistic, the Hebrew scribes had to rework the stories to reflect their own religious viewpoint, and it is in the results that we see some of the great genius of the Hebrew authors.

In essence, the Hebrews engaged in a form of reverse-engineering to fashion a coherent cosmogony. Although polytheistic, the Egyptian myths were very philosophical and scientific. They attempted to define the physical nature of the universe and how it evolved and transformed into its present condition. In studying their natural surroundings, they observed two major factors that controlled their world, the annual flooding of the Nile that fertilized the land and the movements of the sun, both daily and annually. The annual correspondence between the Nile flood and the solar year linked the two events in a harmonious relationship, with both cycles suggesting birth, resurrection, and everlastingness. The many deities associated with different aspects of Creation in the different cult centers symbolized aspects of the natural order.

The Hebrew philosophers looked at the Egyptian deities and identified what aspect of nature a particular god or goddess represented. Then, taking the order in which these deities appeared, the early Hebrew scribes separated the deity from the phenomena represented by the deity, and described the same sequence of natural events solely in terms of natural phenomena. Where the Egyptians, for example, had Atum appear as a flaming serpent on a mountain emerging out of the Nun, the Hebrews simply talked about light appearing while a firmament arose out of a primeval flood. But different Hebrew writers emphasized different Egyptian traditions, and conflicting histories of Creation developed.

This, however, was only part of the story. After Israel moved into Canaan, Hebrew writers were exposed to new traditions from Babylon, the other great influence in the Near East. In 587 B.C., the remnants of the Hebrew kingdom were captured by the Babylonians and the educated elite were forcibly removed to the homeland of their captors, where they became immersed in the local culture. Because of the great respect for Babylonian wisdom, the Hebrews found it necessary to further refine their earlier ideas, which by this time had become divorced from the original Egyptian roots.

The most difficult problem concerned the flood stories. Originally, the biblical flood story was a Creation myth based on Hermopolitan traditions about the Ogdoad, eight gods—four males and four females—emerging out of the primeval ocean. It preceded the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. In Babylon, however, the Hebrews encountered a new worldwide flood myth that occurred in the tenth generation of humanity rather than at the beginning of time. In an attempt to synchronize their own history with that of the learned Babylonians, the Hebrews moved the flood story from the beginning of Creation to the tenth generation of biblical humanity, and modified the story somewhat in order to correlate better with the local version.

Subsequently, biblical scribes integrated all the Hebrew traditions and produced one of the first great works of historical writing. Still, despite their careful efforts at trying to weave a seamless tapestry of history, the results were not flawless. Traces of the original polytheism escaped the sharp eye of the redactors and remain embedded in the text. Not all contradictions could easily be eliminated and many have been preserved. As the Hebrews lost contact with their Egyptian roots, they could no longer explain away some of the contradictory material in the earlier sources, and, over time, oral traditions supplemented the written texts. These influenced later beliefs and editing practices, leading to other distortions.

In Part I of this book, Myths of the Beginning, we will work our way through the biblical stories, showing the initial Egyptian myths that underlie the biblical accounts and how, from time to time, Babylonian myths were grafted on to earlier texts or replaced portions of the original stories.

Genesis begins with two separate and contradictory stories about Creation. The first, in Genesis 1–2:3 and attributed to the priestly source P, presents the familiar account of the seven days of Creation, in which the process unfolds in an orderly and structured sequence of events from the formation of heaven and earth to the production of vegetation, animal life, and humanity. Contrary to popular belief, the first Creation story makes no mention of Adam and Eve being created in the image of God. The only reference to humanity is to an entity created on the sixth day that is described as both male and female, and it is this collective entity, male and female, that is created in God’s image.

The second account, in Genesis 2 and attributed to the Yahwist source J, serves as an introduction to the story of Adam and Eve and their children. This version of Creation is less complete than the priestly version.

The two stories differ in many details. Each provides a different order of Creation and different explanations as to how things came about. Perhaps the most significant difference deals with the question of morality. The first Creation features no talk about moral principles. The second, which serves as an introduction to the stories of Adam and Eve and their children Cain and Abel, deals primarily with issues of moral concern. In it, we have commandments by God about proper behavior, tales of sin, murder, and punishment, and something known as the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The second Creation story introduces some of the central moral principles of Western Civilization, such as original sin, moral accountability for one’s actions, being our brother’s keeper, and the role of marriage.

In addition, the two versions present different images of the deity. The P source portrays an all-powerful disembodied spirit who can summon forth elements of the universe with a word, wink, or snap of the fingers. The deity in J has corporal form, likes to putter around in the garden, bake animal crackers, sculpt little figurines, go for strolls, and oversee the help as they take care of the house, like a dilettante managing the country estate.

Theologians concerned with moral teachings and the need for biblical consistency simply ignore the differences and treat the two stories as part of the same cycle, the earlier story presenting the cosmic picture and the later one presenting the human dimension. Scholars, on the other hand, willing to acknowledge contradictions simply accept that the two stories have different origins and that subsequent editors attempted to integrate the two separate accounts into a single narrative. Overlooked is that both sources originate from separate Egyptian traditions.

The P Creation story flows from images in the Theban Creation myth. It unfolds with the same sequence of events in the same order. The description of the primeval world before the act of Creation corresponds precisely with the characteristics of the Ogdoad, the first form of Amen in the Theban myth. The story proceeds with the spoken word of Ptah and the first light of Atum. A mountain emerges out of the primeval flood, heaven and earth are separated, the waters of the Nile are gathered together and vegetation appears.

The process concludes on the sixth day with the creation of an entity labeled in Genesis 5 as the Adam, created in the image of god. On the seventh day, God rested. But, as we review the text, we see that the redactors made some cut and paste errors in transcribing the P text and that the Adam was actually created on the seventh day and God rested on the eighth day, assuming he rested at all.

The second Creation story, the J account, begins with the odd introduction that the story is about the children of heaven and earth, clearly a reference to pagan deities. The details of the story show that the events take place on the second day of Creation and the story derives from the Heliopolitan Creation myth, with Atum emerging out of the Nun. In that myth, heaven and earth are the Egyptian deities Geb and Nut, and the biblical authors replaced them with Adam and Eve. There are numerous parallels between the myths about Geb and Nut and their biblical counterparts. Confusion between the Adam in the P story and Adam and Eve in the J story led to the erroneous idea that Adam and Eve were the first humans and that they were created in God’s image on the sixth