Quote:
Originally Posted by Amanah
I know we've previously discussed the biblical use of Jewish tradition and mythology in the book of Jude as a reference from current culture to support biblical concepts. Could the same could be true for the Nephilim and Melchizedek?
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Genesis 6:1-8 is often seen as incorporating elements from ancient Near Eastern and Jewish traditions to convey themes about humanity's depravity before the Flood:
*Borrowed Elements:*
1. Divine beings (Nephilim) and human intermarriage: Similar to Greek mythology's demigods and Mesopotamian tales of divine-human hybrids.
2. Giant legends: Found in various ancient cultures, including the Rephaim in Ugaritic texts.
3. Corruption and violence: Echoes Mesopotamian flood accounts (e.g., Epic of Gilgamesh). |
I don't know about "Mesopotamian tales of divine-human hybrids", as there are a lot of claims made about Mesopotamian religious beliefs that turn out to be not quite so accurate. However, I would say that the pagan beliefs in "divine-human hybrids" is a case of THEM borrowing from the Bible. Or rather, they are both telling the same story, but one version is correct and the other is corrupted. The belief in demigods (near-superhuman heroes descended from marriages or relations between gods and humans) is the corrupted version of the Genesis account of the sons of God and the daughters of men and the mighty men which were the result of those unions.
The Bible also mentions "giants", and so do the pagan legends. However, there has been extensive archaeological evidence of "giants" existing in the past. So if there were giants, then it would make sense that the Bible records that information, as well as the local histories of the cultures involved and related to the original Adamic culture.
As for an age of violence and corruption in the Mesopotamian accounts, we should remember that Abraham was from Mesopotamia, that Mesopotamia is where the descendants of Noah established themselves after the Flood. So of course that culture will have the story of the Flood and the basic gist of what led up to it.
I think it has generally been established that the story of Samson is in fact the source of the Greek Heracles myths. Just because a pagan culture has a story similar to a Biblical account does not mean that the Bible borrowed it from the pagans. It is likely very often the other way around.
In fact, we often hear about for example how the catholics borrowed the trinity from Hinduism and other pagan triadic concepts. Yet the Hindu trinity (Trimurka) is actually later in date than the catholic trinity, and was apparently a Hindu adaptation of catholic concepts imported into India in the early medieval period.
The "timeline" of history has been intentionally corrupted by the gatekeepers, in other words.