Re: [asa] Adam and the Fall

Hi Dick:
I have already said that I accept that there are literary links between
Genesis and the ANE literature. I will now sharpen that to say that I
accept that there are close literary links between the names of Adam
and his descendants with their cognates in the ANE literature and
inscriptions. I also accept that many ANE inscriptions and much of the
ANE literature has links with ANE history. But why does that imply
that Adam has to be historical? Are you saying that none of ANE
literature is legendary or mythological?
Don

Dick Fischer wrote:
> Hi Don:
>
> If you watched an ant colony for an hour you might be able to jot down a
> few observations. How many more observations and even insights might
> you glean from a years worth of observations? Similarities found in the
> biblical account with ANE literature is only one aspect of it. I can
> give you just a few examples of things I learned from having devoted
> over a quarter century to digging up relevant evidence:
>
> The first mention of Adam (or Atum) comes from carvings in pyramids
> located in Egypt dated to 2400 BC which predates the Pentateuch. He was
> "created" out of the waters of chaos and one of his sons was named
> "Seth." Coincidental? In the mindset of ancient Egypt and over the
> centuries it is only a short step from being created to being a creator.
> Hymns to Atum honored him as such and one who accompanied the people,
> their pharaoh, and their land from birth to death to rebirth. In a
> similar vein to the Adapa legend, Atum would sail his boat across the
> sky and priests would sing hymns. Even a hearkening to Genesis 1 can be
> seen in the following hymn to Atum:
>
> There were no heavens and no earth,
> There was no dry land and there were no reptiles
> in the land .
>
> The first two names on the Sumerian King List are Semitic (Adamic)
> names, not Sumerian. Thus Eridu, the first city in southern
> Mesopotamia, was settled by Akkadians (or Adamites) and Ubaidans, though
> who got there first is debatable. The pottery found at Eridu
> corroborates the SKL.
>
> The city Cain built was called Enoch in the Semitic tongue and "Unug" by
> the Sumerians. It was located north of the Euphrates and up the same
> canal that watered Eridu the home of Adapa, or Adamu (Adam in Hebrew).
>
> When Eridu was "smitten with weapons" after the second king, Alalgar,
> kingship was transferred to a Sumerian city, Badtabira. This was the
> first war in recorded history and was between Akkadians (Adamites) and
> Sumerians. There is evidence the Adamic line then moved to Erech
> (Sumerian Uruk) located virtually across the street from the city of
> Enoch. This closeness in proximity explains the similarities in the
> names of Cain's sons with Seth's sons. Also the pottery found at Eridu
> and at Uruk at the same level shows no Sumerian occupation, although
> after the flood these cities were resettled by Sumerians who survived
> the flood having lived further east outside the primary flood zone.
> Thus the pottery, the SKL, the flood legends, even the layers of
> "water-laid" clay found in the cities all agree.
>
> Even the names of Adam's grandsons, Enoch and Enosh, corroborates the
> Genesis ties with ANE history. The En- prefix indicates kingship or
> lordship in Akkadian and Sumerian. That's why the Akkadian Ea (Yah in
> Hebrew) is the Sumerian Enki, meaning "lord of the earth."
>
> The Akkadian name Adamu perpetuated down through generations. Excavated
> graveyards carried his name. An Assyrian king was named Adamu, as was a
> Canaanite governor. The Sumerians called a list of captured slaves the
> "Adambi." The legend of Adapa (or Adamu) was found in various Semitic
> languages all over the region although the Sumerians, who were
> unrelated, ignored Semitic patriarchs unless they were kings. And the
> last four kings on the SKL parallel the Genesis patriarchs.
>
> The "trinity" of Gods the Akkadians worshipped parallels the Trinity we
> worship today. Even the Sumerians adopted the Akkadian gods. When
> Sumerians depicted Enki, or Enlil on cylinder seals they are dressed in
> Akkadian attire. The Akkadian ilu, their father-god, we see as El in
> Hebrew. Enlil, the third in Akkadian god hierarchy, translates lord of
> the air, breath or spirit.
>
> The flood is recorded in the SKL and various Akkadian legends. The only
> Sumerian version of the flood is simply a translation from the Akkadian
> version. The Sumerian hero-king, Gilgamesh is depicted in twelve
> tablets. The eleven written in Sumerian say nothing of any biblical
> patriarchs or biblical events. The only tablet that includes the flood
> story was an Akkadian (Semitic) invention. Thus it was the Semites who
> perpetuated the flood story because it was their story. It was the
> destruction of their people.
>
> The ziggurats were built originally as a means to survive floods. The
> shape of the base of each ziggurat will tell whether they were Akkadian
> or Sumerian and each one corresponds to the location of each race.
> Sennacherib boosts about destroying Babylon and scattering all the
> bricks (which included the infamous tower) in the canal. The tower was
> rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar and his father and described centuries later
> by Herodotus.
>
> These are just a few examples of what you can see if you bother to look.
> In essence, you could almost completely piece together the entire
> Genesis 2-11 narrative with the mass of extra-biblical evidence from the
> Near East, including the line of patriarchs: Adam, Enoch, Methusaleh,
> Lamech, and Noah, and Josephus covers them from Shem to Abraham. Even
> Berossus refers to Abraham: "In the tenth generation after the flood
> there was a man among the Chaldeans who was just, great and
> knowledgeable about heavenly phenomena."
>
> Now when someone doesn't bother to look and simply pronounces this part
> of biblical history unhistorical, it galls me, quite frankly. Better
> they just profess ignorance if they have no curiosity or willingness to
> check out the facts. It's like the Iranian president declaring the
> holocaust didn't happen. I can remember seeing newsreel footage of the
> camp at Buchenwald when the Yanks arrived. All Ahmadinejad has to do is
> look at the movie!
>
> Dick Fischer, GPA president
> Genesis Proclaimed Association
> "Finding Harmony in Bible, Science and History"
> www.genesisproclaimed.org <http://www.genesisproclaimed.org/>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Don Nield [mailto:d.nield@auckland.ac.nz]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 5:49 PM
> To: Dick Fischer
> Cc: ASA
> Subject: Re: [asa] Adam and the Fall
>
> I would like to ask Dick a simple question: exactly what would Denis
> have gained if he had read your book? I accept that you establish in
> detail a strong literary link between Genesis and ANE literature. I also
>
> accept that a good deal of ANE literature deals with historical matters.
>
> But why is that a valid argument for the historicity of the Adam of
> Genesis? Should one not distinguish between the different genres
> constituting literature?
> Don
>
> Dick Fischer wrote:
>
>> Ian wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> But I am convinced that Denis has something substantive to say to us
>>>
> as
>
>>>
>>>
>> we struggle to faithfully respond to God's revelations of himself
>> through the book of God's word and the book of God's works.<
>>
>> Denis may have something substantive to say but this isn't it. Having
>> myself established a basis to legitimize the historicity of this man
>>
> we
>
>> call Adam today that the Akkadians called "Adamu" and who had
>>
> namesakes
>
>> for centuries after he lived, I can say with confidence that there is
>>
> a
>
>> high degree of likelihood there was just such a man, and I can say
>> without hesitation that Denis is totally out to lunch on this issue.
>> And having nothing to contribute he should simply vocalize the same.
>>
> On
>
>> the subject of history, my organization, Genesis Proclaimed
>>
> Association
>
>> had a booth at a recent Faculty Commons Leadership conference in
>> Arlington, VA. Denis was there and came up to my booth and introduced
>> himself. My book, Historical Genesis from Adam to Abraham was
>>
> available
>
>> at a discount price. He didn't buy it. So how can he deliberately
>> avoid exposure to the evidence and then make public pronouncements
>>
> that
>
>> such evidence doesn't exist? Heck, I would have given him the book.
>>
>> Dick Fischer, GPA president
>> Genesis Proclaimed Association
>> "Finding Harmony in Bible, Science and History"
>> www.genesisproclaimed.org <http://www.genesisproclaimed.org/>
>>
>>
>>

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Received on Wed Nov 12 23:38:07 2008