...husband, Kingu using his blood to create humankind so that they can do the work of the gods. (Sources, Foster, B.R., From Distant Days : Myths, Tales, and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia. 1995, Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press. vi, 438 p., Bottéro, J., Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia. 2004, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. x, 246 p., Jacobsen, T., The Treasures of Darkness : A History of Mesopotamian Religion. 1976, New Haven: Yale University Press. 273.) Enuma Elish 'When on high' The Babylonian Epic of Creation (full text) Translator unknown. The Babylonian/Mesopotamian creation myth, Enuma Elish, When on high, was written no later than the reign of Nebuchadrezzar in the 12th century B.C.E. But there is also little doubt that this story was written much earlier, during the time of the Sumerians. Drawing some new light on the ancients, Henry Layard found within the ruins of the library of...
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...OUTSMARTING GOD: EGYPTIAN SLAVERY AND THE TOWER OF BABEL SHEILA TULLER KEITER The Book of Exodus begins the story of Israel's enslavement in Egypt. A new pharaoh rises to power, one who did not know Joseph (Ex. 1:8). This new pharaoh ushers in a new regime and new policies. He embarks on a national program of enslavement and subjugation. Yet these policies are not as original as one might think, for they are reminiscent of the social-political experiment of another great building society, the people who built the Tower of Babel. The Torah deliberately links these two societies and passes judgment on both. The new pharaoh begins by bringing his cause to the Egyptian people, making the following pitch: 'Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise, in the event of war, they may join our enemies in fighting against us and go up from the land' (Ex. 1:9-10). As presented in the text, the pharaoh's logic is hard to discern. His solution to the problem of Israel's burgeoning population is persecution and enslavement, rather than expulsion or genocide (Ex. 1:11). If they are too many, why not just kill them? Pharaoh does eventually order the killing of all the male babies born to the Hebrews, but only after his first policy prescription results in an Israelite population boom (Ex. 1:12, 16). Furthermore, if the Israelites represent a potential fifth column, why is Pharaoh afraid that they will...
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...Genesis 1-8/1-11 = Primeval Period * Prehistorical material (creation, the flood, the tower of Babel) * Deals with events in the earliest stages of humankind and earliest stages of Israelite history * Most scholars think these were the latest stories to be written and that they are the least distinctively Israelite * These early stories have common parallels in other ancient near eastern cultures * They reflect a shared background with other river cultures * In these early sections, we have Israelite versions of common mythical themes (how were human beings created, the flood myth, how is that we speak different cultures) * Genesis 9/12-50 = Ancestors in Canaan * After chapter 11 you start getting stories that are more historical in nature and have to do with the actual ancestors of Israel itself * Here we have cycles of stories that cluster around each of the great patriarchs * Ancestors = Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah are their wives * This section ends with the Joseph cycle of stories * It is through Joseph that the stories and the traditions of the people of Israel are transmitted when they end up in Egypt * Exodus 1-14=Ancestors in Egypt * The people go to Egypt because there is a famine and the Pharaoh rises up who doesn’t know the Israelites and starts to oppress them (Israelites...
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...How can I resist peer pressure? “At school you’re faced with so much—smoking, drugs, sex. You know that what the kids want you to do is stupid. But you get to this point where you feel you just can’t chicken out.”—Eve Its natural to want to be accepted by others. Peer pressure play on that desires. For example, if you’re being raised as a Christian, you know that such things pre-marital sex and alcohol abuse are wrong. (Galatians 5:19-21) Many of your peers, though, urge you to join them in these activities. Have they thought about those matters and made their own decision? Not likely. By and large, they “He that is walking with wise persons will become wise, but He that is having dealings with the stupid ones will fare badly.” -Proverbs 13-20 have yielded to the influence of others. They want to be accepted, so they allow others to shape what they believe. Do you? Or do you have the courage to stand up for your convictions? Moses’ brother, Aaron, gave in to pressure- at least in one instance. When the Israelites surrounded him and urged him to make a god for them, he did just what they told him to do! (Exodus 32:1-4) Imagine-this was the man who had confronted Pharaoh, boldly declaring God’s message to him. (Exodus 7:1,2,16) But when his fellow Israelites poured on the pressure Aaron caved in. Evidently he found it easier to stand up to the king of Egypt than to stand up to his peers! What about you? Do you find it hard to stand up for what to know...
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...Laurel Dorris Term Paper Part 1: Assignment Grand Canyon University Noahic Covenant: I Peter 3:19-22 “19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.” The Noahic Covenant represented here is that if Noah would be faithful and build an ark with the measurements that God gave him, He would save Noah and his family when he destroyed the Earth. In the New Testament, these verses are saying that just like God destroyed the Earth with water but saved Noah and his family, he also destroys our sin but saves us with water in the form of baptism. He destroyed the Earth in Noah’s day by flood because sin was running rampant and the people weren’t listening and were not repenting and turning back to God like He wished they would so He would not have to destroy the Earth. In the same way, we were a sinful people and did not repent and realize our sins like we should without being baptized and having Jesus pay for our sins. The water is a very symbolic form of cleansing...
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...The Israelites were of the Hebrew religion and live around 13th century BCE. They were from Israel and came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household. The Israelites were enslaved by Pharaoh because Pharaoh feared that there were too many Israelites and if they kept multiplying and a war was to fall upon the Egyptians the Israelites could join the enemies of the Egyptians and fight against them and possibly escape from the land. The Egyptians were the people of Egypt and they served under the Egypt King, who was King Pharaoh. Pharaoh was a new King and he did not know Joseph. Pharaoh had great concern about the Israelite people multiplying and possibly taking over Egypt in case on war. Therefore he was a very cruel king and worked the Israelites very hard. He made them serve with rigor and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field; in all their work they were made to serve in rigor. Pharaoh killed the male born children of the Hebrew women out of his on going fear and concern for them growing strong and mighty in numbers. He tried to get the midwives to kill the male babies at birth but the midwives very uniquely disobeyed Pharaoh therefore he ordered the sons to be cast into the Nile. God found favor on the midwives for not following Pharaoh's orders in killing the babies. God came to Moses and told him go back and speck to your people and tell them it's time ...
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...when he was trying to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. The things that made Moses successful were six things that were install abilities and was anointing. Third is his sacrifice. Fourth is his wisdom. Fifth is he is very confidence. An last his humility. (ex. 12:28) So you see this journey Moses had was making him become one of the most humble leader of his time. A leader communication God instructs his people You hear a lot about in a relationship that there is no communication. Well it’s the same thing as trying to become a leader. Without the ability to communicate a leader goes on a dark long path by himself. You will never get an vision unless you grab it an put it in his or her heart. God did just that when explain to the Hebrews families how they could save the life of their first born sons. (ex 12:3-23) Attitude: My way or the highway!!!!! Pharaoh thought it did. Not only did he rule with absolute power, he also displayed his true arrogance. Pharaoh revels his arrogant character, through his defiant response to Moses request that he let his people go. But Pharaoh Pride led to arrogance, and his arrogance lead to rigidity. His heart became stone cold and hard. You know that really should have been a song. “ My way or the highway” Because the Israelites had a chance it was either his way or the highway, which they chose the highway. Moses need it help Have you ever seen anybody that won anything by themselves? No! No leader can thrive without teammates. Moses...
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...The Midrash is known to be an ancient commentary on part of the Hebrew scriptures. I am not familiar with the concept of the Midrash other than it provides the people with a outsiders commentary on the scriptures rather than the idea and teachings itself within the Hebrew scriptures. Not only that, the Midrash points out and clarifies many things that you may have thought about or that the scriptures itself hint toward. In a huge way, the Midrash is almost a book of clarification for many. Its initial purpose was to help resolve problems and confusion with the biblical stories that goes beyond just what’s written on paper. It seems as though the Midrash has a significant meaning in the culture and the philosopher, R. Gamaliel, took part in writing an interesting and different take on the original text. The process of creating the Midrash was preformed with help from the rabbis. The commentary within the Midrash is basically all the interpretations the people came across and then the rabbis “filled in the gaps” through the assistance of the Torah. This books overall goal is to aid and provide us with answers to many questions we may have come across when reading the Hebrew scriptures. It has been said by many that the Torah does provide the Jewish culture with laws and rules however they are very broad. One of the Midrash’s purposes is to go into further detail on the rules and provide us with further clarification. After reading the Midrash Rabbah on the book of Genesis it...
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...15th of Nisan (spring, March-April) The Passover in Hebrew is known as Pesach. It begins in the Sunset of Monday, April 10, 2017, and ends at the nightfall of Tuesday, April 18, 2017. The Pesach is depicted in the book of Exodus 12:23. It describes the day when God passed over Israelites. During the Passover, the Israelites usually celebrate their Liberation from the Egyptian bondage. This is when God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. The Passover is also considered to be one of the most theologically important holidays in the Jewish calendar. It normally goes for eight days but in other communities, it lasts for only one week. The Jews are prohibited to eat any bread or leavened food. They are only allowed to eat unleavened bread and traditional foods made of ground matzah referred to as matzah meal. Such foods may include gefilite fish, ponge cake cakes and cookies made from Nuts and macaroons (Hexham, 89). Other activities comprise of the Jewish reading the Haggadah to retell the story of the Exodus and their migration from Egypt. During the Passover, the firstborns of Israel must fast to thank God for being merciful and sparing them. The seventh day usually marks the day they crossed the Red Sea. On the last day, the Yizkor memorial prayer is recited for dead. Feast of Weeks: Shavuot Shavuot begins in the sunset of Saturday, June 11, 2016, and ends at the nightfall of Monday, June 13, 2016. The name Shavuot is a Hebrew name that means Weeks because it depicts the traditional...
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...The Jews that were disbursed to the West were called Hellenists which means they were to conform to the Greek language and customs. Most of the Jews in the West were craftsmen, traders, and merchants that were on the move and not able to form a long-term community. For this cause they were more secular and less religious which was influenced by their adoption of Greek culture and philosophy. In contrast, the Jews to the east were more community oriented and sought to keep their spiritual identity. They studied the law under the rabbis and were not influenced by the Greek culture. The Western Jews were drawn to Grecianism by its refined elegance and profound substance that permeated every aspect of life. They were challenged to defend...
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...the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up-for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground- then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground” (Gen. 2:4-8). In this same paragraph, I noticed that the writers refer to God as “LORD God”, but in chapter 1 God is called, “God.” Also, in the first one God creates everything in 6 days and rests on the 7th, but in the second account there is nothing about how many days it took the LORD God to create everything. In the book, The Old Testement A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures, Coogan states, “ Finally, in the second account no mention is made of seven days, heavenly bodies, or divine rest, just as in the first no...
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...the World- Fall Term I 2014 Professor Cassie Lipowitz September 28, 2014 Reflection Paper, Assignment #5 Judaism It is a fact that Human Beings depend on interaction with others to survive. In order to preserve the quality of such interaction, it is essential that moral awareness be part of society in general. It is also a fact that moral rules need to be established to keep us functioning as society. Basically, we all need to understand, and be aware of how far we can go to avoid damaging other people. Moral rules are necessary and exist to remind us of what is right and what is wrong. At the same time, they also protect us from being threaten by others possible intentions. Smith states in his book, The World’s Religions, that the Hebrew Bible contains 613 commandments to guarantee the integrity of the vital relationship among human beings. The commandments mentioned, cover four important factors of Human Beings lives believed to be the basic factors that dictates it. Without monitoring them, Human race existence would be jeopardized. It is interesting how force, wealth, sex and speech do have a huge impact in the way we rule our lives. It is doubtless that no having a moral control of each of these factors would probably make our lives impossible. I do believe in the importance of such guidelines. Although I agree with its accuracy because they can serve us as a reference, or a reminder of how to act in an ethical way, society itself might be able to provide us with such...
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...Talbot Sondheim Professor of African Studies at Swarthmore. My second excursion into less-traveled territory was a paper I wrote for Introduction to Hebrew Scriptures. I chose to do an exegesis of Isaiah 65:17-25. I worked from the original Hebrew text since I had taken a course in biblical Hebrew (Religion 93) and have a moderate level of reading comprehension of the language. I had a marvelous time digging so deeply into each word, and sometimes even individual letters, as is required in an exegesis of a Hebrew passage. My two major projects this year-my thesis and my senior project-are related by the theme of war literature, and my work on one project gives me new ideas for the other. I feel fortunate that this has worked out, and at the University of Colorado-Boulder I want to continue studying twentieth-century literature. However, I am also ready to start widening my base, casting out in some new directions. I have found over and over that if I have a long-standing gut-level enjoyment of some kind of literature I almost invariably have a wonderful time and do a particularly good job taking an academic approach to that literature. Old English literature is in this category for me. I have never done academic work in Old English literature, but for years I have treasured a cassette tape on which are recorded in Old English the stories of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Caedmon, and The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell. And when I am feeling particularly harried, I often...
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...Passover. The Hebrew word for Passover is Pesach which means to jump or to pass over. Historical origin of the holy day would be included in this paper. As well the time of year of the holy day with religious practice associate with this day. And, the cultural differences that might lead to different observance of this holy day. The origin of this day began around 3000 years ago. This would have been the time of Moses and freeing his people. As the story goes, Moses was tending sheep when God had appeared to him as a burning bush. God had told him to go to the Pharaoh and tell him to release his people or God will release 10 plagues against him. But the last plague will turn out to be the worst plague. This is where God intended to take the firstborn from error every household that did not have the blood of a sacrificial lamb around the door. With the blood around the door God would skip that household and not taking the firstborn this would be known as Passover. God did tell Moses he would do this on the 14th day of the first month of the lunar year. God did instruct Moses what to do with the sacrificial lamb so it does not go to waste. And to this day the Jewish faith still carries the tradition of this day. Even Jesus had practice this tradition. Jesus was crucified on this day as well, in the Catholic faith this is called Palm Sunday. Below you would see a chart that would tell what day this would fall on. The Passover Starts At Sundown | Pesach - Hebrew Calendar Date...
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...The Hebrew Bible is very powerful in the eyes of many. It provides faith and support to the weak and empowers the believers. One particular story within the Hebrew Bible is the tale of David and Goliath. This story has been made very popular. It has been passed down from one generation to the next. David and Goliath together, have shown faith can supply a person with much strength and that the under dog is never to be underestimated. Without David's belief in his God, he never would have come up with the power to overcome Goliath and all of his strength. It is told in the story that Saul, David's king, offers David a helmet, armor, and a sword. Unexpectedly, he refuses to accept the equipment. David says that he has not proved them. Instead, he only wishes to rely on his faith for his God to help him during his fight with Goliath. These words from the story are so vivid because they make it easy to picture David, a smaller man, shocking everyone when he decides not to use tools that may help him save his life while dueling a man so much larger than him; Goliath. So much meaning is hidden beneath the story's words. David himself, represents the average man. Temptation, struggle, and evil are represented through Goliath. The only way to get rid of all of the things Goliath stands for, one must use the power of God to put those aside, just as David did. Although Goliath appeared much more stronger and intimidating, David overpowered Goliath by putting his trust in God. So through...
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