Old Testament Parallels
My Favorite Old Testament Parallel
14/07/09 09:12
Today's Old Testament lectionary reading provides one
of my favorite parallels between the Old Testament
and other writings from the Ancient Near East. I am
not sure why this one stands out to me in particular
when there are a lot of other interesting parallels
out there. I think that maybe it has to do with the
fact that it is one of the more transparent
parallels. The lectionary reading is the story of the
Egyptian pharaoh seeking to kill the male children of
the Israelites, particularly about how Moses escapes
this fate by being placed in a basket/ark, which is
then placed in a river. For this story, there is an
Ancient Near Eastern parallel in the Legend of
Sargon. For those unfamiliar with this text, you
would do very well to read it. There is a free online translation of
the text here. Read
More...
Parallels to the Old Testament
28/05/09 11:23
In recent discussions and in looking at online
forums, blogs, social networking sites, etc., I have
encountered a lot of people talking about parallels
between the Old Testament and other Ancient Near
Eastern Literature. Some of these discussions are
very helpful, for instance the blog post by G. Brooke
Lester entitled Why Do They Have to Be All Wrong.
However, in many areas, it seems that people
have very little idea what they are actually
talking about. This likely has to do with
religious (or a-religious) sentiment.
Read More...
Read More...