In this lesson, David Capoccia discusses some prominent creation and flood myths from ancient Egypt and Mespotamia. David Capoccia leads an investigation into the similarities and differences of these myths in relation to the Bible’s true account and he also answers the following question: could the Israelites have borrowed from the myths of the cultures around them for the records of Genesis?
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just last week last week we talked about how archaeologists decide how old something is before archaeologists can date any objects that they find they first have to figure out the chronological sequence of the different sections of soil that they’re digging through what’s that process called that’s right stratigraphy the analysis of the different sections of soil or the strata of soil is called stratigraphy before they can date anything they have to figure out the sequence of the different layers of soil then archaeologists use two kinds of dating relative dating and absolute dating what’s relative dating yeah Eric yeah essentially it’s cross-referencing relative dating is cross-referencing they look for objects that are similar to or that there’s more information about this type of object in the general body of archaeological knowledge have we found objects like this before were there any clues to the dates of that object then we can date this object relatively what is one of the possible pitfalls of using relative dating what might get you off course that’s very good bill if you use something as a cross-reference but you’ve wrongly interpreted that Source or it’s a false Source it’s fake then your date’s going to be wrong and if you use that new date to cross-reference other objects then you’re going to create a system of wrong dates your whole system could be off if you wrongly interpret across reference what’s a modern example of this flawed kind of relative dating it’s resulted in what that we talked about last week chronology of Egypt that’s right or the pyramids it’ll say certain things happen in the history of Egypt but that’s based off of wrong use of relative dating and of course it contradicts the Bible the other type of dating is absolute dating what’s absolute dating really okay so that’s an example of it but what is it absolute dating is when you use a physical property of the object to date it you use some sort of scientific analysis based off of a physical property of the object like Roy mentioned like carbon dating as an example of absolute dating but why is absolute dating not actually absolute because it’s very interpretive the math and the results involved in absolute dating are very open to interpretation and dependent on your assumptions now I shared all this with you last week regarding dating and Archeology not to make you say well I guess we can’t trust any of the dates that archaeologists say I don’t want you to think that but I do want you to Simply see in your mind whenever you see a date asserted by an archaeologist there’s a big asterisk next to it anything determined by archeology or any historical science is ultimately unsure it’s ultimately uncertain but as Christians we have something that is certain we have the scriptures we have the Bible we have God’s word we know that we can trust the Bible so as we deal with archeology and these other historical claims that are ultimately uncertain we’re always going to bring them in line with the Bible because the Bible is certain we can build our understanding of history off of the Bible ultimately not archeology or historical analysis it’s like we talked about when the answer is Bible curriculum if we want to understand the world and its history rightly we must use the Bible like a set of glasses all our conclusions about history or about anything they must keep the truth of the Bible in mind so if we want to be a wise archaeological date setter if we want to come up with good dates of archaeological objects and structures we’re going to use the Bible as part of our interpretation that is the point that I wanted to make to you last week we also talked briefly last week about one Babylonian creation myth we’ll review about that a little bit later but any questions about dating in archeology okay as we get moving in today’s class I do have another handout for you so if you didn’t get a handout please see Danny in the back he has more of those this is for the kids but also for the adults so you can use this to help you as a as we go through today’s information We Begin our survey of biblical archeology now in earnest we start with the Old Testament there’s actually more archaeological finds related to the Old Testament than the New Testament that might surprise you we might think that because the old Old Testament happened longer ago we’re less likely to find pieces of information from that time than the New Testament but it’s actually the opposite why is that why do you think yeah Ron right that’s very good Rob the Old Testament simply contains more it’s a longer period of time it’s also well I guess it’s about the same area or maybe you could even argue the new testament’s a little bit bigger geographically because it’s the whole Mediterranean but it’s certainly a much longer period of time the Old Testament covers from about 4000 BC to about 400 BC with the prophet Malachi so that’s 3 600 years the New Testament by contrast only covers about 100 years 3 BC to about 95 A.D so you’re a much larger search area of time so you’re going to have more objects to look at so that’s part of the reason why we find more in the Old Testament in the New Testament there’s another reason though yeah that’s a that’s a good Insight that some of the things in the New Testament some of those cities and those places they were they continued on they never were totally destroyed they were continued to be inhabited in the Middle Ages and so forth and so we’re not going to find the ruins buried in the dirt and preserved I think that’s part of it but there’s a difference between that there’s another difference between the Old Testament and New Testament times and that is when it comes to the documents that they used when it comes to their writing that they used Old Testament the Old Testament time period used a lot more permanent forms of writing versus the New Testament many ancient artifacts that included writing Were Made of Stone or clay which lasts a long time we have all sorts of clay and stone tablets tablets and monuments and they survived for hundreds and thousands of years and New Testament times technological advances cause people to use more perishable materials for writing they are much more frequently using Papyrus or animal skins as their writing it was more convenient but those types of writing tend not to last unless they’re carefully preserved that’s another reason we find more artifacts in the Old Testament than the New Testament therefore as we proceed in our survey in this class we’re going to be spending more time on the Old Testament than the New Testament but we started the most ancient era of time Creation in the flood there’s actually despite all I just said despite all those things I just said to you about the Old Testament there are very few archaeological remains from Creation in the flood that would be from about 4000 BC to about 2350 BC why do you think that is for this specific period of time we’ve almost nothing yeah Steve yes it all comes down to the flood it is the oldest period of time so we might expect that some things didn’t survive just because they were really old but really it’s because of the flood but we cannot say with absolute certainty what happened during the flood we’ve talked about some models related to the flood we do know according to the Scriptures it was a global cataclysm it appears to reshaped the face of the Earth the ground itself was upheaved and laid down again all over the world whatever human-made structures or objects that existed during that time were likely pulverized they were completely destroyed in the flood wiped away giving us no record of humans in that time but it doesn’t mean that there’s no archaeological information from this period because while the physical remains of mankind do not survive the memory of those events has been passed down to man and to cultures all over the world as we’ve already seen in part in our answers Bible curriculum indeed many cultures have ancient stories regarding creation the flood and even the confusion of languages at Babel these memories are not perfect they’ve been altered to suit the beliefs and purposes of various arising peoples but they nonetheless give witness to the truthfulness of the details recorded in the Bible about these events about creation in the flood so that’s what I want to explore with you today I want to explore these creation and flood memories and as we do so I hope that the three purposes of biblical archeology will stand out to you we’re going to see direct confirmation of some biblical details related in these myths in these stories from these other nations we’ll also see plenty of context as to what Israel’s neighbors believed about the beginning of the world well also because we see this context that should help prevent our misunderstanding the Bible’s relationship to these myths as I said to you before some claim that the Bible borrowed stories about creation in the flood from their neighbors when we see the context when we actually look at it ourselves that’ll help prevent that misunderstanding that’ll correct so Lord willing today we’re going to look at four pieces of archeology and then we’re going to answer the question of did the Bible borrow let’s pray before we go further oh great God you are above all gods you are the Creator you are the judge you are the preserver of the world I pray that this time would be edifying help me to explain well help them help the people who are listening to you able to pay attention and understand Jesus name amen all right we begin again with creation last week we read parts of One Creation account the anuma Alish and you see that on your worksheet listed there it was a Babylonian creation myth written about 700 BC in cuneiform though archaeologists estimate the tale was first composed from about 1800 to 1600 BC which would be if that’s correct before the Bible because the first five books of the Bible would be written around 1490 to 1450 that’s when Israel set out from Egypt and that’s when Moses would have written the pentateuch so this could be earlier than even the Bible and what were some similarities between the Bible’s account of creation and the account presented in the enuma leash that we talked about last week what was one similarity yes Steve yeah there’s a part that talks about the separation of waters and a firm boundary after the creation process really gets going in the enuma Elish Marduk separates some Waters above and Waters below and he says put a guard up there in the above water so that they don’t exceed their position that’s similar to the Bible God did make a firm distinction between the waters above and the waters below what was another similarity we also see that the beginning of the story starts with water that says the waters were mingling together at the very beginning probably fresh water and salt water and the Earth is there at the beginning the Earth and Heavens are there at the beginning but they’re incomplete they are begotten by or begotten by two of the Gods but they’re not fully formed yet so that is a little similar to where the Bible says God created the heavens and the Earth First creative act and then it was formless and void but what were some differences what were some differences in the two accounts yeah that’s the most obvious one right there’s a ton of gods in the enuma leash but there’s one God in the Bible what’s another difference first creative act in the Bible is creation of well the heavens and the Earth but after that what is it let there be light right and there was light but the first creative act in the enuma leash is the gods the gods are made so if we accept if we don’t count the creation of the heavens and the Earth which would technically be the first creative act the first thing that happens in either of these narratives is light on one hand and the gods the Lesser Gods on the other hand how is the earth created in the anuma leash or how is it fully finished yeah Khalif I think the best of God took the body of the Korean isolated the great of God yeah that’s right so if you remember the whole universe is created out of violence there’s this bloodbath going or this is a feud going on between the Lesser gods and time at who’s this one Dragoness goddess thing and she wants revenge in the gods wants to kill them all but marduk’s like no I’ll save all of you lesser gods and he kills her splits her body in half and basically creates the Earth in the heavens out of her body so it’s all about blood and violence even man is created out of the Blood and Bone of the Gods the Bible does none of that just have God speaking there’s no violence there’s no killing there’s no death so some pretty profound differences I think we’ve mentioned most of the big ones oh why are humans made in the anonymous serve the gods and how are they going to serve the Gods one of the things that Marty specifically mentions because the gods are complaining about this we need some shrines we need some temples we need sacrifices so that’s another difference man is created for the gods to provide the sacrifices and the temples but in the Bible man is created to rule the Earth and to have fellowship with God God didn’t need anything from man he was just going to show himself generous to man anyway so a number of those differences you can note them on your sheet because they’ll be a little bit important for what we’re talking about later on so that’s one creation myth that’s a Babylonian creation myth it’s similar to some other creation myth that you can also read about I’ll mention them a little bit later but let’s hear a creation myth from a different culture this time let’s head to Egypt this myth I want to share with you is called the memphite theology the memphite theology it comes from a hieroglyphic writing inscribed into the Shabaka Stone uh you can’t really see it there because of the glare but there’s this big old stone it’s got hieroglyphics on one side it’s got a whole bunch of lines going out from the center kind of like the sun but it was first found in the ruins of Memphis ancient city of Memphis in 1805 by George John Earl of Spencer a Brit the stone currently resides in the British museum in London on the stone a pharaoh named Shabaka claims to have found a deteriorating piece of Papyrus that contains an important ancient religious text he therefore had the text inscribed into this Stone so that it could be preserved now not all the hieroglyphics on the stone are still readable the Shabaka Stone was apparently later used later repurposed as a millstone so some of the hieroglyphics got destroyed grinding is not good for preserving inscriptions what survives however is a basic presentation of the Egyptian view of creation also of Theology of rule really ultimately the Egyptian world view the ancient Egyptian world view archaeologists date the inscription on the stone to around 700 BC but they estimate the story was composed much earlier perhaps around 1300 BC the text has four sections first part talks about how the Pharaoh found the original text and then decided to put it on the stone second part talks about how Upper and Lower Egypt were United due to the actions of some of the Gods the fourth section talks about the city of Memphis and its relationship to the gods but the third section is the one I want to talk to you about because it has to do with creation third section is all about the God of Memphis yes that’s actually how you pronounce it I looked it up Pata Memphis served as the ancient Egyptian capital at least for a time of the of the Egyptian Kingdom and Pata would be the god of Memphis actually Memphis literally means House of Pata so this God and this city are very closely connected let’s read an excerpt from this third section of the memphi Theology and then ask some questions about it there took shape in the heart there took shape on the tongue the form of a tomb that’s the god of creation for the very great one is Pata who gave life to all the gods and their cause that is their Spirits through this heart and through this tongue in which Horus god of the war and Sky had taken shape as Pata and which Thoth god of wisdom had taken shape as baton thus heart and tongue rule over all the limbs in accordance with the teaching that it is in everybody and it is in every mouth of all gods all men all cattle all creeping things whatever lives thinking whatever it wishes and commanding whatever it wishes sight hearing breathing they report to the heart and it makes every understanding come forth acid the tongue it repeats what the heart has devised thus all the gods were born and his a need that is the set of nine Chief Gods was completed for every word of the god came about through what the heart devised and the tongue commanded okay that was really easy to understand wasn’t it just kidding yes this does sound a little bit trippy at first but actually there’s a fascinating argument here being made on behalf of Pata the argument is based off of an analogy between parts of the body according to this text which parts of the body are the most important the heart and the tongue right why that’s right they rule over all the limbs whatever the heart devises it causes the other limbs to do and the tongue repeats what the heart devises so the heart and the tongue are the most important parts of the body now which God here is associated with the heart and the tongue he is the heart and tongue of the Gods the other gods then because they obey and report to the heart and the tongue just like the limbs of the body report to the heart and the tongue they report to Pata so follow the argument even though there are other gods like a tomb who are responsible for various parts of creation or who rule parts of the creation after it was created the one who was and really is doing everything is whom it’s Pata because he’s the heart the rest of the gods are the limbs they do whatever he devises he will something and the gods bring it to pass he even willed for the gods to exist therefore the author can rightly say in the first paragraph that a tomb Horus and Thoth they take shape as Bata because they’re really just extensions of him he’s the chief God he is their heart does this seem a little complicated according to one interpretation of this text it actually may be devilishly ingenious because you see like Marduk God of Babylon Bata was not always chief of the Egyptian Pantheon he was not always the most supreme god of Egypt and if you’re a pharaoh who wants to move the capital to Memphis and he want the god of Memphis to become the chief God but you don’t want to cause a religious upheaval among the priests and worshipers of the previous Supreme deity what do you do you have to somehow make the god that they worship the same as the god that you want them to worship the Memphis theology accomplishes this by saying when you worship a tomb or Horus you’re really worshiping Pata because Pata is the chief God and the other gods are just extensions of him see that little subtle shift there you can also say anything that you give credit to your God for really belongs to Pata because Pata is the heart and the other gods are just the limbs batas the really Bata really accomplishes everything he created everything and he sustains everything now let’s read one more section of the memphite theology you’ll see how this fits together with what we just said thus it is said of Batar he who made all and created the gods and he is tatanin the mound of creation who gave birth to the gods and from whom everything came forth Foods Provisions Divine offerings All Good Things thus it is recognized and understood that he is the mightiest of the Gods thus Pata was satisfied after he had made all things and all Divine words at this point we can talk about some of the similarities and differences between this and Genesis what are some of the similarities yeah Magda yeah we see that in the Bible as well God looked at what he had made and behold it was very good and he rested from all his Works God was satisfied with what he had made in the same way that Pata said to be satisfied with what he made what’s another similarity yeah Eric all right so we have not just creation a part of the universe but Pata creates everything ultimately and that is also similar to the god of the Bible that the true God God creates everything that was created any other similarities there’s at least one more the mode of creation how does Pata create if he’s the heart he just he just wills it or he speaks it which is the same way that the Bible talks about God creating or similar to the way the Bible talks about God creating God said let there be light and there was light whether that was spoken audibly or whether it was just said in the mind of God it was just his will it came to be God wills it and it happens in the same way Pata doesn’t create by actually fashioning anything he just wills it or speaks it that’s similar to the Bible but what are some differences what are some differences between this account and the account in Genesis that’s right we have other gods here and again we have that’s the first thing that baton does we have many gods and the First Act of Creation is Bata willing other gods to come forth what else is different this is the whole creation account by the way according to memphite theology we are missing yes we don’t have um well I guess it’s assumed here but we don’t have the specifics of how men were created in fact we don’t have the specifics of how anything was created we just know generally yeah baton did it you just kind of wheeled it forward but in the Bible we get the sequence he made this he ordained it to do this he made this and this is how I made it especially specifically when talking about men so we don’t see a creation sequence here there’s no other description of how creation actually happened so those are some pretty big differences there are other ancient near Eastern myths that are related to Creation we don’t have time to discuss but if you like you can look them up on your own these include the atrahasis Epic and the story of adapa and the erudu Genesis these are all Mesopotamian texts and if you do read them you’ll notice that they sound very similar to the one that we read earlier the enuma Elish so these would all been the creation Legends of Israel’s neighbors by the way that’s Pata always portrayed as a mummy holding something now when speaking of the myths of Israel’s early Neighbors one story that we must discuss is the Epic of Gilgamesh this one you’ve probably heard of I may even read part of it high school or if you’re not yet in high school you probably will read part of it if you go to a public school Gilgamesh epic is an epic Mesopotamian poem that Chronicles the Feats of King Gilgamesh and it has a number of surviving copies it was actually very popular we find it all over the Middle East it has been called the first great piece of literature it is one of the most ancient ones that we have discovered the earliest tablets of this poem have been dated to around 1 800 BC so again this is an old document though more standard versions of the story were found later around 1 300 BC or 1000 BC so it’s a story that was ancient and it was continued for a long time let me give you a plot summary of the Gilgamesh epic Gilgamesh Begins the story as a mighty and lustful Tyrant ruling the city of uric the people cry out to the gods to send someone to rescue them from gilgamesh’s oppression and the gods create a half-man half beast named enkidoo and he’s going to help the people ankidu and Gilgamesh fight the Gilgamesh wins and the two become friends for the sake of glory ankidu and Gilgamesh go together to slay the guardian this Fierce guardian of a nearby Forest humbaba they kill him and then later they kill the bull of Heaven whom Ishtar the Goddess of Love and War sent against Uric because Gilgamesh had spurned her advances as punishment for killing the bull the gods cause ankidu to get sick and die what’s traumatizes Gilgamesh and he becomes very afraid of his own death he then searches for eternal life journeying to the land of the Gods to meet with apnapashtem I hope I say his name right it’s really hard to say a napish team Survivor he was the Survivor of a previous great flood on the earth who had been granted immortality even though Gilgamesh eats with utnapishtem Gilgamesh hears that there is actually no way for man to gain eternal life and so Gilgamesh returns home depressed the story ends with gilgamesh’s death and the Declaration that gilgamesh’s great name will last forever now I’ve given you the summary there are two parts of the text I want to show you first on his way back home from utnapish Team Gilgamesh obtains a special plant let’s read about this plant together this is from section 6 of the Gilgamesh Epic said to ushinabi the ferryman or shinabi is a companion he meets in Journeys with come here and see this marvelous plant by its virtue a man may win back all his former strength I will take it to Ulrich of the strong walls there I will give it to the old man to eat its name shall be the old men are young again and At Last I shall eat it myself and have back all my lost youth so Gilgamesh Returns the gate through which he had come gilgubeshan urshanabi went together they traveled their 20 leagues and then they broke their fast after 30 leagues they stopped for the night okay so what does this plant do that Gilgamesh has it doesn’t make you immortal but makes you young again yeah it’s a plan that makes you young again something like the Fountain of Youth not quite immortality but something like it a very valuable find a valuable prize but let’s read what happens next Gilgamesh saw a well of cool water and he went down and bathed but deep in the pool there was lying a serpent and the serpent sensed the sweetness of the flower it rose out of the water and snatched it away and immediately it sloft its skin and returned to the well and gilgamer sat down and wept the tears ran down his face and he took the hands of her shinabi oh urshanabi it wasn’t for this that I toiled with my hands is it for this I have wrung out my heart’s blood for myself I have gained nothing not I but the Beast of the Earth has Joy of it now already the stream has carried it 20 leagues back to the channels where I found it I found a sign and now I have lost it let us leave The Boat Boat on the bank and go so this snake steals takes away from Gilgamesh the plant that would give him youth again now give him Eternal youth or something like it what does this sound like sounds a little bit like fall right the fall the fall with the serpent in the garden because through a plant really there in the Bible a tree man lost eternal life and he was barred from the Tree of Life he no longer had access to youth or to immortality there again many differences between this account and the count of the fall in the Bible it’s a flower versus a tree of life it’s a deceiving serpent rather than a stealing serpent there’s sin in the Bible there’s no sin here of Gilgamesh but this loss of man’s immortality it’s a detail that shows up in more than one ancient text it shows up here in the Gilgamesh epic but also shows up in the story of adapa where a man based on the advice of one of the Gods unwittingly denies himself in mortality out of ignorance or something like deception man loses immortality it’s that memory and memory has remained so that’s one part of the Epic I wanted to show you but there’s a more famous part the other part that I want to show you too or show you and it’s the account of the flood there are a number of parts of this account I want to show you he’s a survivor of the flood he’s talking with Gilgamesh in section five let’s read a little bit of what he says this is an apish team in those days the world teamed people multiplied the world bellowed like a wild bull and the great God was aroused by the clamor and Leo heard the clamor and he said to the Gods in Council the Uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by a reason of the Babel so the gods agreed to exterminate mankind and will did this but Ayah god of water and crafts because of his oath warned me in a dream he whispered their words to my house of reeds read house read house wall own wall Harkin Reed house wall reflect oh man of shurupak son of ubara tutu tear down your house and build a boat abandon possessions and look for Life despise worldly goods and save your soul alive tear down your house I say and build a boat these are the measurements of the bark as you shall build her let her beam equal her length let her deck be roofed like the Vault that covers the abyss then take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures okay according to this part of the account who sends the flood on the Earth it was it no it doesn’t send a flood I hear a Whispers can someone raise your hand tell me yeah and Lil together with the other gods Enloe gets annoyed he says guys let’s do this and they say okay we will but why are they going to kill mankind they’re too noisy and gods can’t sleep so loud out there Kill Them All well at novice team is told after EA one of the other gods warns at napish Team he’s told me the same things that Noah is told in Genesis build a boat build it with specific dimensions and take into take into it all kinds of living creatures there follows in the text a description of the building and not Bush team makes the boat a square really a cube something like a cube it’s 140 cubits on each side the boat has seven decks and it’s covered with pitch inside and out the napish team takes on board the boat his gold his family his kin and wild and tame beasts and some craftsmen bring them all on the boat then the flood comes let’s look at the description of the flood when the first light of dawn with the first light of dawn a black cloud came from the Horizon it thundered within where adad lord of the storm was riding in front over Hill and plane shulat and Hanish Heralds of the storm LED on then the gods of the Abyss rose up nergal pulled out the dams of the nether Waters the nurture the warlord threw down the dikes and the Seven judges of Hell the unanaki raised their torches lighting the land with their livid flame a stupor of Despair went up to heaven when the gods of the storm turned daylight to darkness when he smashed the land like a cup one whole day The Tempest raged Gathering Fury as it went it poured over the people like the tides of battle a man could not see his brother nor the people be seen from Heaven even the gods were terrified at the flood they fled to the highest Heaven the firmament of on they crouched against the walls cowering like curves then Ishtar the sweet voice Queen of Heaven cried out like a woman in Cheval alas the days are the days of old are turned to dust because I commanded evil why did I command this evil in the counsel of all the gods I commanded Wars to destroy the people but are they not my people for I brought them forth now like the spawn of fish they float in the ocean the great gods of heaven and of Hell wept they covered their mouths okay according to these two paragraphs from where did the Waters of the flood come yeah Eric that’s right above and below right we have the storm and the rain coming upon mankind but also nether Waters they’re breaking up of dams and dikes so water is also coming from Below and when this Deluge comes upon men how do the gods react they’re afraid and what else they’re definitely scared they’re afraid they’re scared what else they are sad they regret what they did they even call it evil Ishtar refers to her wish to destroy mankind as evil if the gods are doing evil then what does that make man in the flood he is just a victim he’s an innocent victim those cruel gods they sent a flood on us they did Evil to us the flood lasts for seven days covers the earth on the seventh day the flood begins to subside an office team notices a mountain in the distance the boat runs a ground on the mountain and stays there for seven more days then we read the following when the seventh day dawned I loosed a dove and let her go she flew away but finding a resting place she returned then I loosed a swallow and she flew away but finding a resting place she returned I lost a raven she saw that the waters had retreated she ate she flew around she caught and she did not come back then I threw everything open to the Four Winds I made a sacrifice and poured out a libation on the Mountaintop seven and again seven cauldrons I set up on their stands I heaped up wood and cane and Cedar and Myrtle when the gods smelled the sweet saver they gathered like flies over the sacrifice then at last Ishtar also came she lifted her necklace with the jewels of Heaven that once Anew had made to please her oh you God’s ear present by the lapis lazuli around my neck I shall remember these days as I remember the jewels of my throat these last days I shall not forget let all the gods gather around the sacrifice except and Lil he shall not approach this offering for without reflection he brought the flood he consigned my people to destruction okay again we see some probably notice some striking parallels to Genesis here what are some of the parallels yeah Eric that’s right the sending out of the birds to see if it land is dry in fact two of the same bird types are mentioned Dove Raven I don’t know how swallow got in there but he did we’ve got the Dove and the Raven what else is similar yeah this guy does too yeah Noah it’s when he comes down to the Anarchy officer sacrifice and we see a napish team doing the same thing a sacrifice at the end of the flood to please the Gods what else is similar Eric yep landing on the mountain they run a ground on the mountain that’s similar what else notice that there’s a declaration from Ishtar here the Declaration of remembrance I’ll remember this and there’s no promise associated with that that no promise of a rainbow or problems not to flood the Earth again but there is a promise of remembrance that is similar to what we also see in the Bible God says I’m gonna remember you Noah I’m gonna remember the Covenant that I make with you those are similar but what are the differences what are some differences between these accounts right the flood is a lot shorter in this one it’s basically 14 days what else both dimensions are different we have something that’s like a square the bird sequence is different the outcome is also altered for the birds that he sent out there’s no Olive Branch here the gods swarm around the sacrifice like flies which I think is a really gross image no rainbow no promise to protect the world from a future Global flood and in this account there’s a denunciation of the one who sent the flood and Lil he’s not allowed to come near the sacrifice because he did Evil and commanding a flood that’s very different from what the Bible says other Mesopotamian flood myths record similar stories the gods and these other stories they become upset about the noise that humanity is making they send plagues they send the flood a God intervenes to save one man in his family who gets in a boat After the flood comes the gods are sorry that they sent the destruction and you can read more about those myths and those two texts I mentioned already epic and eredogenesis oh if you’re wondering how an office team became Immortal it’s because the gods felt bad about what they did oh we’ve kind of made a mistake here to make up for it you and your wife can be immortal there’s one other source that has to do with the flood that I want to show you today there’s a noticeable change in the scriptures according to the scriptures After the flood when it comes to mankind it’s obvious whenever we look at the genealogies what is the big change in man after the flood say that again George that’s right the length of their days their life spans it changes it decreases especially as the further away you get from the flood the lifespans get lower and lower we some we find something fascinating related to this in the Sumerian king list Sumerian king list this is another document that has multiple copies about seven copies of this list have been found by archaeologists the oldest of the copies is dated around 2000 BC while the earliest is dated around 165 BC so again this is a long preserved document as we’ll see in a moment it sounds a little bit like the history of moneto that We examined last week it lists Sumerian dynasties and how long they ruled part of this list contains names of rulers that appear in other historical documents but part of this list also seems mythological let’s take a look at two sections here’s the first one some tricky names here but I’ll do my best after the kingship descended from Heaven the kingship wasn’t air Duke and airduke alulene became king he would look for 28 800 years elalajara ruled for 36 000 years two kings they ruled for 64 800 years then air Duke found the kingship was taken to bad tabira and bad tabira and moon Luana ruled for 43 200 years ruled for 28 800 years the muzi the shepherd ruled for 36 000 years three kings they ruled for 108 000 years then bad to be Rafael and the kingship was taken to Lyric and lyric and zapad Zid Anna ruled for 28 800 years one king who ruled for 28 800 years then lyric fell and the kingship was taken to zimbur and zimber and mendarana became king he ruled for 21 000 years one king he ruled for 21 000 years and Zimbra fell and the kingship was taken to kurapak in kurapak Obara tutu became king he ruled for 18 600 years one king hebrewed for 18 600 years in five cities eight Kings the rule for 24 241 200 years then the flood swept over okay this chronology obviously does not fit with the Bible 240 000 years I don’t think so but notice the mention of a flood it says then the flood swept over and now listen to what comes next in the text After the flood had swept over and the kingship had to send in from Heaven the kingship was in Kish I believe it’s pronounced Kish and Kish juicer became king who ruled for 1 200 years ruled for 960 years lisma ruled for 607 years and Tara honorable for 420 years three months three and a half days Bob removed for 300 years under 840 years so the obvious striking similarity between this and the Bible is the decrease in the lifespans immediately after the flood life stands begin to decrease After the flood now again there are a ton of details here that don’t line up with the Bible but there is a true memory here it’s a true detail here this idea of lifespan’s decreasing after a flood that is true and it is just as the Bible says now speaking of flood archeology you might be surprised that I haven’t yet mentioned Noah’s Ark the rest of human civilization may have been swept away in the flood but the ark survived it was lodged on top of a mountain maybe the ark feel out there could the ark still exist it’s theoretically possible the ark if the ark were high enough on a mountain and surrounded by the right conditions so that the wood didn’t deteriorate it could still be out there you know what that means cue the Indiana Jones music lots of people have therefore searched for the ark around modern Mount Ararat a number of people have claimed to have seen the ark on the mountain partially covered by snow or a glacier or they’ve claimed to have found wood from The Ark on Mount Ararat but so far the ark has not been found in fact if you go to the Answers in Genesis website and look up Noah’s Ark found you’ll find easily a dozen articles from the last 20 years dealing with claims that the ark has been found by some person or another in Turkey each time however the cler the claim turns out to be false or unverifiable can’t tell if it’s true or not of course that doesn’t stop people from doing it if you want to get International attention as an archaeologist there’s probably no better way to do that than to claim you found the ark or pieces of Noah’s Ark if the ark really does exist it will be very difficult to find why well a number of reasons many have searched for the Ark on Mount Ararat but it’s a big old mountain it’s not easy to get to it’s not very safe and it’s very large it’s a big search area however my Mount Ararat might be the wrong Mountain to look look at in the first place according to Dr Jason Snelling from Answers in Genesis Mount arabat appears to be a mountain formed by volcanic activity after the flood which is problematic for flood discoveries for two reasons one it means that the mountain probably didn’t exist for the ark to land on at the end of the flood and two if it did exist it would have been very dangerous it would have been very dangerous as it was an active volcano and if no one company were not killed by the volcano subsequent volcanic activity would likely have destroyed any evidence of the Ark lava would have poured over the ark burning it and when the cooled whatever pieces of the Ark were incinerated would be buried under volcanic rock furthermore Genesis 8 4 says it doesn’t say that the ark landed on Mount Ararat but on the Mountains of Ararat meaning the r could have landed anywhere in the mountain chain in which aravat was apart what does that mean for archeology it means all the challenges I just mentioned get multiplied a thousand full that is a huge dangerous inaccessible search area if the ark does exist it will be very very hard to find now I admit it would be cool though if we found it it’d be an awesome direct confirmation of scripture maybe someday our technology will advance enough so that we can thoroughly and safely search the mountain chain of Ararat and even find the ark but as you know and it’s worth remembering even if the ark is found people will still not believe the Bible is true why not I mean isn’t that such an obvious confirmation of the Bible it’s sin right it’s the heart of man remember Jesus’s words in Luke 16 31.
he’s talking there about the rich man and Lazarus rich man in hell he’s the rich man is speaking to Abraham he asks Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to go tell his brothers don’t go to hell repent turn to the Lord but Abraham says back if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets that is the scriptures they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead even if we find the ark people will not be persuaded now perhaps today’s class has made you feel a little bit nervous you’re seeing some of the similarities between the Bible’s accounts of creation and bibles accounts of the flood and the accounts of these other ancient cultures and you’re wondering could it really be true what they say did the Bible borrow its origin stories from its neighbors did the Israelites simply repackage Sumerian and Egyptian myths and slap monotheism on top of it is that possible it is the claim of many today but we can confidently say no Moses and the Israelites did not do that why can we say that why can’t we confidently say the Bible did not borrow from the midst of its neighbors yeah well there’s that first of all the Bible is God’s word and it’s true we know that we’ve come to know that we don’t need archeology to show us that if you’re a Christian you’ve encountered the reality of God in the Bible the Bible proves itself the Bible says that if and therefore if the Bible says that’s the way something happened that’s the way it really happened the Bible is right the Bible cannot borrow if the Bible is really that way which it is the Bible proves itself you encounter reality when you read the Bible so there’s that but why else yeah Rob yeah that’s a little bit of what we’re attached to the truth that we just mentioned but to repeat your comment Rob because we know the Bible is true and we see these other things in these other accounts like polytheism we know they’re untrue obviously we’re not going to assume that the Bible borrowed from them but I think you’re getting to another point that needs to be made is that yes there are similarities between the Bible and these other accounts but there also are a ton of differences if you’ve been tracking on your handout today you should have noticed there’s a lot of differences between the details of the Bible and the details of these other accounts we have one God verse many gods first creation of light versus first creation of the Gods the serpent disease with sin versus the serpent steals away a special plant there’s so many differences between these accounts people often over emphasize the similarities and don’t pay attention to the differences and it’s not even just the little details their fundamental differences in world view evident between the Bible and these other accounts this is particularly obvious when it comes to Babylonian stories but also applies in some ways with the Egyptian creation myth how do the Sumerian myth betray the Gods what kind of beings are they what the fickle yeah how else can we describe them Magda they’re capable of evil they’ve done it according to these myths they’re needy they’re cranky they make mistakes they’re Limited in power can the Bible be any more different than that and we have all those things with the Babylonian Gods but the Bible asserts one God with total sufficiency total righteousness and Total Control I think we understand you about to say something yeah that’s another great observation these Gods show Fear they become afraid also how did the Sumerian myths betray man the gods are cranky evil mistaking what’s man he’s a victim I mean he’s not perfect but he’s a victim poor poor man immortality was taken away from him by chance and by deception the flood was brought on by gods who wanted more sleep oh poor man how does the bible portray man particularly after the fall responsible and very evil remember the flood they’re a description of man there evil from his youth his thoughts are constantly evil that’s such a difference in a world view moreover the direction of the two Origin accounts in terms of how time moves it’s totally different in the Bible the world begins perfectly but then gets much much worse what about in the Sumerian epics the world begins that’s right it begins with a mess it’s imperfect then a whole bunch of violence happens and then things get better now we’ve got some order that’s what we saw in the enuma leash you’ve got an unformed world with violent vengeful Gods there’s war there’s death and out of the chaos order appears finally the gods establish a new hierarchy yay they create man to serve the gods according to the needs of the Gods now things are set the way they need to be Bible proclaims just the opposite everything will set perfectly and then man rebelled and the world was cursed and things just get worse and worse over time one other observation when myths are passed down there’s a noticeable aspect of transmission a myth becomes more mythological it becomes more elaborate it becomes less believable this is the normal direction of myths but if the Bible came from these myths then it doesn’t make sense because the Bible is less mythological and more realistic myths tend to get more elaborate and less realistic not simpler and more realistic over time yet the Bible does just that if the borrower if the Bible was borrowed and came later then why is the account less mythological why is it simpler myths just don’t work that way so well I’ll say one more thing and then a final conclusion some have argued that yes the Bible was written in relation to the Pagan neighbors but not from a borrowing sense but as a polemic as an attack against the beliefs of those other neighbors that is and Israelites were saying Moses was saying God was saying when he wrote the scriptures this is the argument you think the flood happened due to the noise of men and the crankiness of the Gods let me emphasize the real reason over and over again in the text of the Bible it was because of the wickedness of man it was because of the great Holiness of God God was grieved not at noise but at violence the very violence that you celebrate in your Legends so it’s possible the Bible is written or that those accounts were written with as partly a polemic but really the better explanation for the similarities between the Bible’s account and the myths of this neighbors has to do with one fact the bible really happened the events the bible really happened of course there will be similarities between what the Bible presents and the mythologized history of the other nations because those myths at their core are based off of real history that they remembered they are distorted memories of what really happened because the Bible is true we expect that that would happen that those memories would last and be distorted we expect that men would pass on their descendants Jews Like Son there was a time when man had access to immortality but then he lost it or son there was a time when a great flood destroyed all men on Earth those truths were passed down because they really happened this is the presupposition that the Skeptics just never consider maybe the reason these Miss sound like they what’s written in the Bible is because what the Bible says actually is true we praise God that his word is true that he’s not like the gods of the Nations that he has called us to be a people for himself out of the goodness of his heart out of desire to show his greatness to us not out of some need for relationship or service and there is no God like God that’s it for today next week talk about Babel dispersion of the peoples and the time the Patriarchs we’re out of time so if you have questions or comments please see me afterwards let’s pray oh God we thank you that you are God you rule you reign oh God well it’s just like what your scriptures say I’m talking about those who reject the truth they create a God in their own image now we see that with these ancient cultures and we see that today people make you out to be like them but God you are not like us you are not like a man you’re not imperfect you’re not needy you were great your love and kindness is abounding and your Holiness is too much to bear we’re thinking that you’ve made a way for us in Christ that unlike Gilgamesh who despaired that there was no way to gain eternal life you actually say the opposite there is a way and it is by repentance and belief in you God I pray that each person here listening will have done that we’ll do that and Lord that they would rejoice and what you accomplish on their behalf in Jesus name amen