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Shingai Rukwata Ndoro Chiseling the Debris —
PREVIOUSLY, the column made a submission that the core of any religious disposition is that the source and sustenance of life is from the causative and creative power of a supernatural force or power, a deity.
Such a deity is then assumed to be humanoid or anthropological with “an appearance, character and attributes resembling that of a human being.”
The reward and punishing deity is also assumed to actively intervene, respond to and gets involved in daily human behaviour. It does so by requiring appeasement through perpetual petitioning, invocations and supplications combined with fervent adorations.
From this week, we would like to have a look at ancient myths before the Hebrew Scriptures were compiled in the 2nd century BCE.
According to an ancient document called the “Letter of Aristeas,” the Hellenistic emperor of Egypt, Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 BCE) is said to have requested seventy Hebrew scholars to produce a single compilation from available ancient myths, texts and manuscripts.
As a result, the “Septuagint” (the oldest Greek version of Hebrew Scriptures) was produced between 300 and 200 BCE! Read www.allabouttruth.org/septuagint.htm
The Aleppo Codex of the 10th century CE is the oldest Hebrew language manuscript whose source text or literary ancestor was the 3rd to 2nd centuries BCE Greek “Septuagint.” The Poleo-Hebrew pictographic alphabet was only developed in 3rd century BCE.
“As of today almost all contemporary biblical scholars recognise that the first five books of the (Hebrew Scriptures) were not written by a single author and that they are in fact a compilation of separate sources composed by different schools of thought.” — Dr. David Bokovoy (2014).
The civilisation of Sumerians thrived in the 4th millennium BCE and had one of the oldest known written languages, the first historically attested civilization and invented cunei form writing, the sexagesimal system of mathematics, and the socio-political institution of the city state. Their art, literature, and theology had a profound influence long after their demise around 2000 BCE. Sumer means the “land of the civilised” and was “an ancient region of south west Asia in present-day Iraq, comprising the southern part of Mesopotamia. From the 4th millennium BCE it was the site of city states which became part of ancient Babylonia.” — Charles Gates(2003).
“This is one account from Sumeria, before it was merged into Babylon. The ultimate origin of all things was the primeval sea, personified as the (feminine cosmic power) Nammu. She gave birth to the male sky, An, and the female earth, Ki, whose union in turn produced the great (divinities). Among these was Enlil, source of the ordered universe, responsible for vegetation, cattle, agricultural tools and the arts of civilization. Man was created to serve the (divinities) and provide them with sustenance.” — “The Seven Days of Creation” www.usbible.com/creation/sixdays.htm
In Babylon — “In the beginning, nothing existed except Apsu, the sweet-water ocean and Tiamat, the salt-water ocean. From their union springs a succession of (divinities), culminating in the great (divinities) Anu and Ea, who beget Markuk.
But conflict arises between the younger (divinities) and the primeval (divinities). Ea kills Apsu, and Tiamat determines revenge. She assembles a horde of ferocious monsters with her son Kingu at its head. Various (divinities) attempt to subdue Tiamat, but they fail and finally the pantheon chose Marduk as their champion. Markuk accepts on condition that he is recognised as the king of the (divinities). He defeats and kills Tiamat, he divides her body in two, one half forming the sky and the other half the earth. Next Markuk kills Kingu, and from his blood, mixed with earth, creates mankind.” – Introduction to Babylonian Mythology.
Before the Hebrew Scriptures were compiled and from the 7th century BCE “EnûmaEliš” (Akkadian Cuneiform):
When the sky above was not named,
And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name,
And the primeval Apsu, who begat them,
And chaos, Tiamat, the mother of them both,
Their waters were mingled together,
And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen;
When of the divinities none had been called into being. — John Black (2013)
The scribes for the Hebrew Scriptures paraphrased by saying, in the beginning was the Deep Nothing (“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep” — Genesis 1:2a) and then Watery Chaos (“And the Breath/Spirit of the Divine moved upon the face of the waters” — Genesis 1:2b).
References:
Michael Brennan Dick, ed. “Born in Heaven, Made on Earth: The Making of the Cult Image in the Ancient Near East” (1999)
Charles Gates, “Ancient Cities: The archaeology of urban life inthe Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome” (2003).
Neal H. Walls, ed. Cult Image and Divine Representation in the Ancient Near East. American Schools of Oriental Research (2005).
John Black, “The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts” (2013) www.ancient-origins.net/human-origins-folklore/origins-human-beings-according-ancient-sumerian-texts-0065
Dr. David Bokovoy, “The Death of the Documentary Hypothesis” (2014).
Feedback: [email protected] or Twitter @shingaiRndoro. A gallery of previous articles is found at www.sundaymail.co.zw/author/shingairukwata
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