Ed wrote:
> How you define the term, "historical basis," is what I
was
> questioning. Shared names in tales that appear in mythologies
of one
> small relatively homogeneous region of the world where culture was
shared
> a mere thousand years ago, does not prove that the Bible's versions
of the
> tales of Adam and Eve, Noah and Babel, are necessarily superior to
(nor
> any less doubtful and questionable "historically" than)
the versions from
> Egypt and Sumer which you cite.
It is hard to separate the history from the mythology in Sumerian and
Accadian legends. I admit that. There is enough evidence to
support the
idea that Adapa (Adam, quite possibly) lived in the fishing village of
Eridu
and was highly regarded as a superior intellect and an important person.
But the tellers of legends in those days freely embellished their history
with gods and goddesses and tales of daring do. I don't think
Adapa, or
Adam either, "broke the wing of the south wind," or was called
to heaven to
report to god or God. Here the story teller freely embellished
because
that's what they did in those days.
Taking the stories with a grain of salt is justified. Discounting
them
altogether is uncalled for.
Let me give you another example. Hezekiah describes his wars
against
Assyria and names the Assyrian king, Sennacherib. (See 2 Kings
18-19).
Note that in the last verse Sennacherib dwelt at Ninevah. When
M.E.L.
Mallowan excavated Ninevah he unearthed the library of king Ashurbanipal
(668-626 BC). His grandfather was Sennacherib, who had been king of
Assyria. Guess what? A tablet was found at Ninevah,
attributed to
Sennacherib who described his wars against the Israelites and named
Hezekiah
by name.
Now the description of the wars and their outcome vary between the Bible
description and the king's version, which could be just the difference
between points of view - the victor versus the vanquished. Okay -
the
Revolutionary War is described differently in American history books
versus
British history books. Any surprise at that?
But what I now can rely upon from the Bible and from archaeological
discovery is that Hezekiah was a real human being who waged war against a
real Assyrian king.
And that's all I am saying about Adam. It looks like such a person
existed
and was the father of the Adamites/Semites/Israelites/Jews. Beyond
that you
are free to speculate.
> What do you mean by an "historical" "tower of
Babel" incident? I believe
> Paul Seely, another ASAer, was working on a paper on that topic, or
had
> one published in the Westminster Review not long ago. See also
Walton's
> NIV APPLICATION COMMENTARY on Genesis, found at any major
Evangelical
> bookstore to read what he has to say about the Tower of Babel
story.
> There is no linguistic evidence that all of the world's languages
began in
> Babylon.
Agreed. I concur wholeheartedly. In fact, this is a quote
from me:
"When my daughter was three years old, already she understood a
biblical
truth that has escaped the attention of many Bible commentators.
That might
sound like a bragging parent, but consider: "Thou hast hid these
things from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes" (Matt.
11:25).
What could a child of three possibly know that grown-up authorities on
the
Bible would not know? She knew Genesis 10 comes before Genesis
11. Now, I
admit I kept it simple by just asking her to count to 20, and truth to
tell,
she sometimes got confused after 15, but rarely did she make a mistake
between 1 and 12. My guess is that my daughter is not too
unusual. Most
grade school children, and even high school students too, could list the
chapters of any book of the Bible in correct chronological order if they
just counted in the normal manner.
A condition we might call biblical dyslexia does not appear to set in
until
seminary school. It is here and in Christian colleges all over
America that
human rationality suppresses what we learned and trusted as
youngsters. The
overpowering tendency has been to put Genesis 11 ahead of Genesis 10 so
that
everyone can get their tongues confused at Babel before they dispersed
and
took off for distant lands. This is a mistake that has heaped
confusion on
top of confusion needlessly.
Here again, the Bible has it right and the commentators have it
wrong. The
dispersion of Noah's sons with their children and flocks in Genesis 10
comes
before the confusion at Babel in Genesis 11 primarily because the
post-flood
dispersion happened at an earlier point in history than the tower of
Babel
incident. It doesn't get any simpler than that."
> The world's languages appear to have evolved naturally, just
as
> Old English grew to differ from Middle English and that grew to
differ
> from modern English. Or as Latin evolved into various European
languages.
> The process of the evolution of language has been examined,
especially so
> since the written languages arose, and not found to require
supernatural
> initiative.
You're preaching to the choir, Bro.
Dick Fischer -
Genesis Proclaimed Association
Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
www.genesisproclaimed.org
Received on Fri Nov 12 11:25:51 2004