At this point you may be wondering what an atheist is doing, trying to show how secular history and the book of Esther have many points of agreement. Do I believe the events in this story are literally true and historically accurate? Not at all. However, I do think the book of Esther is one of the most clever pieces of historical fiction in the bible. The person writing this knew their subject well. They seem to be extremely familiar with the Persians and their customs. They are also familiar enough with the Hebrew language to make a fascinating variety of puns and other word games, and familiar enough with the canonical Hebrew history to borrow from it while doing their own world building. I think the author knew exactly what he was doing and had a lot of fun doing it. For these reasons, I find Esther one of the most fascinating books in the bible.
Time for some more historical context. Though Mordecai and Esther were considered Jews in exile. They were also third generation Persian Jews, born in Persia. They most likely would have never left the general area they were born and raised in. They might not have wanted to.They most likely would have absorbed a great deal of Persian culture. Before they were born, according to the bible, up to 50,000 Jews had returned to Israel with permission from Cyrus and Darius, Xerxes' grandfather and father. The "second temple" had been built by 516 BCE, probably also before Esther would have been born. The quotation marks are there because there is no clear evidence of the existence of the first temple, supposedly built by Solomon.
The bible depicts the return of the Jews to their home land as happening in four general waves. The third (458 BCE) and fourth (445 BCE) waves happened after the time period of the story of Esther. I would not be surprised if the author of Esther was among the third or fourth wave of immigrant Persian Jews, possibly leaving with Nehemiah, who was supposed to have been a royal cupbearer to the then current king of Persia, Artaxerxes, the son of king Xerxes of the book of Esther. All we really know is the author has a working knowledge of Persian culture and familiarity with the supposed history of the Jewish monarchy recorded in Samuel and Chronicles. He could also have been familiar with Herodotus's works, which would put the book closer to 400 BCE.
Herodotus was born about 486 BCE and wrote his Histories somewhere about 430 BCE, after he had traveled extensively. Strangely, or not, Herodotus does not mention the Jews/ Hebrews/ Israelites at all. In his Histories Volume II, book VII:89, Herotus does mention people from the region of Syria, including those who lived in Palestine. That would have included the area we know as Israel. It has long been my contention that the Israelites/ Jews never were as major a name in the area as the bible makes them out to be. All that area was considered part of the first Persian empire for a while. In fact the Jews may never have been autonomously self governing again, if they ever were.
Many of the people who immigrated to the Palestinian area from various parts of the empire may have ethnically originated from there, but they may not have been religiously united until after the generations of living elsewhere. This seems to be the case in the bible books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and others. The people had to be told what they were to believe. Also, it is possible that a great deal of the Hebrew scriptures were compiled in an attempt to create a unified monotheistic cult of Yahweh that didn't actually exist pre-exile. There were Egyptian Jews with their own yahweh temple in Elephantine, as late as 411 BCE, who seem to have no knowledge of the torah or much of the claimed Jewish pre-exile history. They were also polytheistic.
It is taking me longer than usual to write these posts because of all the research and cross checking. Even so, it is quite possible some of my claims are erroneous. You are free to check anything that sound off to you.
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Thursday, September 12, 2019
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Mark part twenty three
We are at Mark 13:5. Jesus is going to give a speech about the signs that will happen when the temple is about to be destroyed. It is probably a retroactive prophecy. Here are the various signs:
1. People who are not Jesus claiming to be Jesus or the messiah/christ.
2. Wars and rumors of wars.
3. Earthquakes and famines.
4. Flogging of the disciples of Jesus. (That's who Jesus is talking to, and he says "you." It would be wrong to say this applies to future christians in general.)
5. Arrests of disciples of Jesus after they preach the gospel to all nations and their appearance before governors and kings.
6. Betrayal by family members.
7. Hatred of the disciples because of Jesus. (Again, he says "you.")
When they see the "abomination that causes desolation standing where it does not belong" they must escape Jerusalem, not stopping for anything. (There is no consensus as to what abomination of desolation means.) It will be a time of great distress and not safe for the weak. However, that turmoil will not last long, "for the sake of the elect." Here, the elect could be Jews, who traditionally considered themselves Yahweh's elect, or Jesus's disciples. It is not clear here specifically who the elect are. However, if this was written after Paul wrote and preached, it may be referring to Paul's teaching in Romans chapter 11. There, the elect are a "remnant chosen by grace," not Jews, but gentiles.
The disciples are to be aware of the possibility of false christs and false prophets who will try to perform signs and miracles to deceive them. After the distress (the 70CE fall of Jerusalem?), "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken." Jesus is quoting a passage from Isaiah 13:10. Its context is a supposed prophecy against Babylon, which in the symbolism of the New Testament book of Revelation, is equated with Rome. However, Mark seems to be equating it with Jerusalem/Israel. If one was living in Rome at the time, it might also be an apt description of the 79CE eruption of Vesuvius. That would make the original date of Mark even later.
The earliest Biblical symbolism of sun, moon and stars, is in Genesis, where Joseph dreams about the sun, moon, and stars bowing down to him. The sun and moon represented his parents. The stars represented his brothers. The sun= Jacob= Israel= the Jewish nation. The sun is also a universal symbol for a king or divine ruler. The moon represents his consort. The stars/constellations/heavenly bodies are the divine children. Notice that there are twelve zodiac constellations and twelve tribes of Israel. There are also twelve disciples. This may not be a coincidence. All of this is my speculation.
In verse 26, the author makes Jesus say that at "that time men will see the son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory." This never happened, unless we are missing a record of it. The son of man is supposed to send his angels to gather his elect. Either this is metaphor for something like apostles teaching to the gentiles or it is meant to be literal. In that case, it didn't happen.
Jesus goes on to say that the above signs will let the disciples know when the destruction of the temple will occur. Then he says "this generation will not pass away until all this things have happened." That seems quite straightforward to me. That generation has passed away, so these things must have already happened right? Jesus continues on to say neither the angels nor the son know the exact time of these coming events, only the father (god). Clearly then, Jesus is not god.
1. People who are not Jesus claiming to be Jesus or the messiah/christ.
2. Wars and rumors of wars.
3. Earthquakes and famines.
4. Flogging of the disciples of Jesus. (That's who Jesus is talking to, and he says "you." It would be wrong to say this applies to future christians in general.)
5. Arrests of disciples of Jesus after they preach the gospel to all nations and their appearance before governors and kings.
6. Betrayal by family members.
7. Hatred of the disciples because of Jesus. (Again, he says "you.")
When they see the "abomination that causes desolation standing where it does not belong" they must escape Jerusalem, not stopping for anything. (There is no consensus as to what abomination of desolation means.) It will be a time of great distress and not safe for the weak. However, that turmoil will not last long, "for the sake of the elect." Here, the elect could be Jews, who traditionally considered themselves Yahweh's elect, or Jesus's disciples. It is not clear here specifically who the elect are. However, if this was written after Paul wrote and preached, it may be referring to Paul's teaching in Romans chapter 11. There, the elect are a "remnant chosen by grace," not Jews, but gentiles.
The disciples are to be aware of the possibility of false christs and false prophets who will try to perform signs and miracles to deceive them. After the distress (the 70CE fall of Jerusalem?), "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken." Jesus is quoting a passage from Isaiah 13:10. Its context is a supposed prophecy against Babylon, which in the symbolism of the New Testament book of Revelation, is equated with Rome. However, Mark seems to be equating it with Jerusalem/Israel. If one was living in Rome at the time, it might also be an apt description of the 79CE eruption of Vesuvius. That would make the original date of Mark even later.
The earliest Biblical symbolism of sun, moon and stars, is in Genesis, where Joseph dreams about the sun, moon, and stars bowing down to him. The sun and moon represented his parents. The stars represented his brothers. The sun= Jacob= Israel= the Jewish nation. The sun is also a universal symbol for a king or divine ruler. The moon represents his consort. The stars/constellations/heavenly bodies are the divine children. Notice that there are twelve zodiac constellations and twelve tribes of Israel. There are also twelve disciples. This may not be a coincidence. All of this is my speculation.
In verse 26, the author makes Jesus say that at "that time men will see the son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory." This never happened, unless we are missing a record of it. The son of man is supposed to send his angels to gather his elect. Either this is metaphor for something like apostles teaching to the gentiles or it is meant to be literal. In that case, it didn't happen.
Jesus goes on to say that the above signs will let the disciples know when the destruction of the temple will occur. Then he says "this generation will not pass away until all this things have happened." That seems quite straightforward to me. That generation has passed away, so these things must have already happened right? Jesus continues on to say neither the angels nor the son know the exact time of these coming events, only the father (god). Clearly then, Jesus is not god.
Friday, August 11, 2017
Shepherds part 8
In paragraph 9 of Mr. Alcorn's article Shepherd's Status, we read "In the course of 400 years, the Egyptians prejudiced the Israelite's attitude toward shepherding." Again, there are no sources to back this up and no reasons to believe it is true.
In paragraph 10, we see a statement that shepherding in Palestine decreased after the Israelites occupied the land and settled down. Again, no sources to back this up. Not surprisingly, Mr. Alcorn seems unaware of the current scholarship, supported by archaeology, that shows the Israelites probably originated and developed from within the Canaanite people. They were Canaanites to begin with.
Mr. Alcorn continues to make statement after statement of dubious historicity, with no sources given. In paragraph 12, this claim is made: "In the days of the prophets, sheep herders symbolized judgement and social isolation. (Zephaniah 2:6)." I don't think Mr. Alcorn read the context of that passage in Zephaniah very well. The shepherds represented Yahweh's people, the remnant of the house of Judah. They were supposed to show god's loving care for his chosen ones.
We are given Dr. Joachim Jeremias as a source for the statement that shepherds were "despised in everyday life." We are not told in which of Dr. Jeremias's writings we would find this, or where he got his information.
Paragraph 13 says, "Shepherding had not just lost its widespread appeal; it eventually forfeited its social acceptability. Some shepherds earned their poor reputations, but others became victims of a cruel sterotype. (Sources ??) The religious leaders maligned the shepherd's good name; rabbis banned the pasturing of goats and sheep in Israel, except on desert plains." We will see there is a small kernel of truth in the last statement when we examine the Mishnah's statements about shepherds. But it is not the whole truth.
The article goes on to say, "The Mishnah, Judaism's written record of the oral laws, also reflects this prejudice, referring to shepherds in belittling terms. One passage describes them as 'incompetent'; another says no one should ever feel obligated to rescue a shepherd who has fallen into a pit. Mr Alcorn does not tell us where in the mishnah we can find these statements. My guess is he didn't actually check to see if they are there.
If you read the Wikipedia article on the Mishnah you will see that it is a collection of documents about oral traditions and laws, supposedly passed down from through the ages. They were written and edited by rabbis, combined with other documents written and edited by rabbis. Some of the documents are comentaries on the Mishnah. All together, the collection is called the Talmud, and there are two versions of that. Think of the whole thing as a kind of law library reference encyclopedia.
In the next post I will attempt to uncover just what we can find about shepherds in these documents.
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Introduction to the book of Jonah
Read about the book of Jonah here.
Read about the character Jonah in religion, tradition, and literature here.
Both articles have lots of interesting information. I almost feel like I don't need to cover the story myself. I will anyway, to see if anything particular strikes my attention.
Some facts to consider: The character Jonah is supposed to have lived in the 700's BCE. The story of Jonah is not likely to have been written before the 5th century BCE, after the Jews returned from exile in Persia. No manuscripts of Jonah older than that exist. That is a gap of a few hundred years. The author is unknown. The book does not claim to be divine, inspired, or the word of a god or gods. There is no extrabiblical evidence that the events depicted therein actually happened and no reason to believe that they did.
In the Bible, outside of the book of Jonah, Jonah is found in 2 Kings 14:25. One sentence mentions that Jonah was a prophet of Yahweh. He was the son of Amitai (which means truth) and he was from Gath Hepher. Jonah had told Jeroboam II, who was king of Samaria/Israel at the time, that Yahweh wanted him to restore the boundaries of Israel, and he did. I'm assuming this had to do with physical fortifications and protecting the land from invaders. This one passage is used to date the existance of Jonah.
Jereboam II definitely existed, according to archaeological evidence, and his reign was characterized by wealth and luxury, promoting trade with Egypt and Assyria. His kingdom had as many as 350,000 inhabitants. However, not much good is said about him in the bible. 2nd Kings says he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. This "evil " was in the nature of the sins of the first Jereboam, found in 1 Kings 12: building sanctuaries for Yahweh and representing him with golden calves, to which sacrifices were offered. The book of Amos condemns Jeroboam II and prophesies he will die by the sword. It appears to have been a figurative sword.
One thing to remember is that the Israelite tribes (or the Yahweh worshippers) in Canaan were divided into two competing kingdoms. The kingdom in the north was Israel/Samaria. The kingdom in the south was Judah. They each worshipped the same god, but Judah claimed sole possession of Yahweh's authorized temple, which also would have meant his presence, and his favor. The people of the northern kingdom would have had to travel inconvenient distances in order to worship Yahweh.
Because I do not believe Yahweh ever existed, I conclude that this religious competition was purely a bid for power over people and territory. Judah claimed ownership of the high ground, Israel ignored that claim and worshipped Yahweh their own way. This was the reason for the condemnation. Let us remember that it is usually the victors, or at least those left at the end, who get to write the histories. These stories were probably written by those who sided with the lower kingdom, and show their prejudices. The upper kingdom was eventually conquered and its former citizens disappeared into historical oblivion. The lower kingdom was later conquered but was kept alive in a somewhat cohesive culture while exiled. After the return of the Jews to Judah is when much of the Old Testament was written or redacted. The former Israelite territory in the north became known as Samaria and its remaining inhabitants Samaritans, who were despised by the Jews, not least because they did not worship Yahweh in Jerusalem. Some things never change.
In spite of the condemnation of this Jeroboam as evil in the sight of Yahweh, 2 Kings admits that Jereboam achieved some great things for his people the Israelites.
Read about the character Jonah in religion, tradition, and literature here.
Both articles have lots of interesting information. I almost feel like I don't need to cover the story myself. I will anyway, to see if anything particular strikes my attention.
Some facts to consider: The character Jonah is supposed to have lived in the 700's BCE. The story of Jonah is not likely to have been written before the 5th century BCE, after the Jews returned from exile in Persia. No manuscripts of Jonah older than that exist. That is a gap of a few hundred years. The author is unknown. The book does not claim to be divine, inspired, or the word of a god or gods. There is no extrabiblical evidence that the events depicted therein actually happened and no reason to believe that they did.
In the Bible, outside of the book of Jonah, Jonah is found in 2 Kings 14:25. One sentence mentions that Jonah was a prophet of Yahweh. He was the son of Amitai (which means truth) and he was from Gath Hepher. Jonah had told Jeroboam II, who was king of Samaria/Israel at the time, that Yahweh wanted him to restore the boundaries of Israel, and he did. I'm assuming this had to do with physical fortifications and protecting the land from invaders. This one passage is used to date the existance of Jonah.
Jereboam II definitely existed, according to archaeological evidence, and his reign was characterized by wealth and luxury, promoting trade with Egypt and Assyria. His kingdom had as many as 350,000 inhabitants. However, not much good is said about him in the bible. 2nd Kings says he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. This "evil " was in the nature of the sins of the first Jereboam, found in 1 Kings 12: building sanctuaries for Yahweh and representing him with golden calves, to which sacrifices were offered. The book of Amos condemns Jeroboam II and prophesies he will die by the sword. It appears to have been a figurative sword.
One thing to remember is that the Israelite tribes (or the Yahweh worshippers) in Canaan were divided into two competing kingdoms. The kingdom in the north was Israel/Samaria. The kingdom in the south was Judah. They each worshipped the same god, but Judah claimed sole possession of Yahweh's authorized temple, which also would have meant his presence, and his favor. The people of the northern kingdom would have had to travel inconvenient distances in order to worship Yahweh.
Because I do not believe Yahweh ever existed, I conclude that this religious competition was purely a bid for power over people and territory. Judah claimed ownership of the high ground, Israel ignored that claim and worshipped Yahweh their own way. This was the reason for the condemnation. Let us remember that it is usually the victors, or at least those left at the end, who get to write the histories. These stories were probably written by those who sided with the lower kingdom, and show their prejudices. The upper kingdom was eventually conquered and its former citizens disappeared into historical oblivion. The lower kingdom was later conquered but was kept alive in a somewhat cohesive culture while exiled. After the return of the Jews to Judah is when much of the Old Testament was written or redacted. The former Israelite territory in the north became known as Samaria and its remaining inhabitants Samaritans, who were despised by the Jews, not least because they did not worship Yahweh in Jerusalem. Some things never change.
In spite of the condemnation of this Jeroboam as evil in the sight of Yahweh, 2 Kings admits that Jereboam achieved some great things for his people the Israelites.
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Genesis chapter 32
After reading chapter 32:
*As Jacob travels along, he meets angels. How he knows they are angels and what they do or say is not mentioned.
*Before Jacob gets home, he sends a messenger to his brother Esau telling him that he is coming with lots of livestock and slaves. In other words, he is rich now. The messenger comes back with news that Esau is coming, with four hundred men. Jacob is afraid and divides all the people and possessions into two groups, so one will be left alive if the other is attacked. Then Jacob prays to God for protection from Esau, reminding God of his promise to make Jacob's descendants like the sand of the sea. Gods need reminding now and then.
* Jacob then arranges to give Esau a generous gift of three herds of livestock. He sends each herd ahead separately in the care of a servant (slave). Each servant is instructed what to say when they meet Esau. Jacob's idea is to soften Esau up before they meet face to face, just in case God forgets to help.
* That night, Jacob moves the camp with his family. At one point he is left alone and an unknown man wrestles with Jacob til daybreak, trying to overpower him. The man is not able to get the better of Jacob, so he wrenches Jacob's hip and asks Jacob to let him go. Jacob demands a blessing first., because that's what you do when you have fought with an unknown assailant all night? The stranger asks Jacob's name, then changes it to Isra-el, because midnight attackers can change people's names?
*Jacob asks for the man's name but he refuses to reveal his identity. Then he blesses Jacob. Jacob named the place Peni-el, because he saw God face to face and did not die. Apparently the strange man was God!
*There are many extra biblical attempts to explain this story metaphorically, but we will take it as it appears to be, an actual event. What do we see? A god who is a man with a body. A god who cannot win a wrestling match with a glorified sheep herder. Jacob saw this God. Is it the same God that the New Testament tells us no one has ever seen?
*All the mentions of God in this chapter are versions of the name El, the Canaanite high God, not Yahweh. Remember, when we see the words "the lord" in the text, that is referring to Yahweh. The two God names are often mixed in passages, but not this time.
*Lastly, we are told that Israelites don't eat hip tendons because of this story. All righty then.
*As Jacob travels along, he meets angels. How he knows they are angels and what they do or say is not mentioned.
*Before Jacob gets home, he sends a messenger to his brother Esau telling him that he is coming with lots of livestock and slaves. In other words, he is rich now. The messenger comes back with news that Esau is coming, with four hundred men. Jacob is afraid and divides all the people and possessions into two groups, so one will be left alive if the other is attacked. Then Jacob prays to God for protection from Esau, reminding God of his promise to make Jacob's descendants like the sand of the sea. Gods need reminding now and then.
* Jacob then arranges to give Esau a generous gift of three herds of livestock. He sends each herd ahead separately in the care of a servant (slave). Each servant is instructed what to say when they meet Esau. Jacob's idea is to soften Esau up before they meet face to face, just in case God forgets to help.
* That night, Jacob moves the camp with his family. At one point he is left alone and an unknown man wrestles with Jacob til daybreak, trying to overpower him. The man is not able to get the better of Jacob, so he wrenches Jacob's hip and asks Jacob to let him go. Jacob demands a blessing first., because that's what you do when you have fought with an unknown assailant all night? The stranger asks Jacob's name, then changes it to Isra-el, because midnight attackers can change people's names?
*Jacob asks for the man's name but he refuses to reveal his identity. Then he blesses Jacob. Jacob named the place Peni-el, because he saw God face to face and did not die. Apparently the strange man was God!
*There are many extra biblical attempts to explain this story metaphorically, but we will take it as it appears to be, an actual event. What do we see? A god who is a man with a body. A god who cannot win a wrestling match with a glorified sheep herder. Jacob saw this God. Is it the same God that the New Testament tells us no one has ever seen?
*All the mentions of God in this chapter are versions of the name El, the Canaanite high God, not Yahweh. Remember, when we see the words "the lord" in the text, that is referring to Yahweh. The two God names are often mixed in passages, but not this time.
*Lastly, we are told that Israelites don't eat hip tendons because of this story. All righty then.
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