What do you think?
Rate this book
Genesis: World of Myths and Patriarchs
The time was the Bronze to the Iron Age, the third to first millenniums B.C. Great leaders arose from Iraq to Eygpt-- Sargon of Akkad, Gudea of Lagash, Hammurapi of Babylon, and Akhenaten of Egypt--and from these lands of the Fertile Crescent came the underpinnings of Western law, science, arts, and the alphabet. But the human spirit wanted more.
In a universe run by mercurial gods who kept humankind in bondage, there emerged the need for one all-powerful divinity, one omnipresent as mentor and protector. The book of Genesis, with its narratives of real people struggling to survive, provided that God, and thus the roots of monotheism.
World of Myths and Patriarchs is an in-depth look at the civilizations that formed the background of the first book of the Bible. Drawing on the great archaeological discoveries in the Middle East over the past century, everyday life of the people of Genesis is viewed through their politics, arts, nomadic migrations, commerce, religion, and moral values.
With over 250 illustrations, including sixty-four color plates, this rich visual panorama describes what the authors of Genesis saw, and what events and ideas moved them to write the story of their people's origins. The book includes fourteen maps and charts, a selected chronology, and a list of gods of the Middle East. Cyrus Gordon and Nahum Sarna, two of the most renowned scholars of ancient Near Eastern history and Bible, provide the text.
World of Myths and Patriarchs acquaints us for the first time with the people we know from this familiar book of the Bible, and with the places they inhabited and the culture they developed. We trace what was borrowed, rejected, and transformed to create a new and unique ethic which has continued to shape the world.
In a universe run by mercurial gods who kept humankind in bondage, there emerged the need for one all-powerful divinity, one omnipresent as mentor and protector. The book of Genesis, with its narratives of real people struggling to survive, provided that God, and thus the roots of monotheism.
World of Myths and Patriarchs is an in-depth look at the civilizations that formed the background of the first book of the Bible. Drawing on the great archaeological discoveries in the Middle East over the past century, everyday life of the people of Genesis is viewed through their politics, arts, nomadic migrations, commerce, religion, and moral values.
With over 250 illustrations, including sixty-four color plates, this rich visual panorama describes what the authors of Genesis saw, and what events and ideas moved them to write the story of their people's origins. The book includes fourteen maps and charts, a selected chronology, and a list of gods of the Middle East. Cyrus Gordon and Nahum Sarna, two of the most renowned scholars of ancient Near Eastern history and Bible, provide the text.
World of Myths and Patriarchs acquaints us for the first time with the people we know from this familiar book of the Bible, and with the places they inhabited and the culture they developed. We trace what was borrowed, rejected, and transformed to create a new and unique ethic which has continued to shape the world.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
12 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 16, 2015
The purpose of this book, filled with pictures of ancient art and writing and of Middle Eastern landscapes, is to help us understand Genesis by helping us understand the pagan cultures that Judaism evolved among.
For example,
*A Babylonian incantation refers to "an evil demon couching like an ass, that lurketh in wait for the man." Similarly, Gen. 4:7 states that "sin coucheth at the door ... but thou mayest rule over it." Here, Genesis takes a pagan figure of speech, but uses it to support free will instead of magic.
*Sumerian art shows ladders leading to pagan shrines, with the king and his deity at the top of the ladder- just as Jacob dreamed of a ladder reaching to the sky.
*El, one of the Biblical names of God, was also the leading Ugaritic deity. Perhaps Abraham and his ancestors worshipped El as one deity among many before seeing him as the only deity.
*Just as the Bible describes Israel as a "land of milk and honey", an Egyptian manuscript describes the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon as "a good land... Plentiful was its honey ... and milk prepared in every way."
*Before the Torah mandated circumcision of infants, Syrians, Egyptians and Phoenicians also circumcised boys- but usually much later in life. Perhaps the Biblical command was a way of making this rite of passage less painful.
For example,
*A Babylonian incantation refers to "an evil demon couching like an ass, that lurketh in wait for the man." Similarly, Gen. 4:7 states that "sin coucheth at the door ... but thou mayest rule over it." Here, Genesis takes a pagan figure of speech, but uses it to support free will instead of magic.
*Sumerian art shows ladders leading to pagan shrines, with the king and his deity at the top of the ladder- just as Jacob dreamed of a ladder reaching to the sky.
*El, one of the Biblical names of God, was also the leading Ugaritic deity. Perhaps Abraham and his ancestors worshipped El as one deity among many before seeing him as the only deity.
*Just as the Bible describes Israel as a "land of milk and honey", an Egyptian manuscript describes the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon as "a good land... Plentiful was its honey ... and milk prepared in every way."
*Before the Torah mandated circumcision of infants, Syrians, Egyptians and Phoenicians also circumcised boys- but usually much later in life. Perhaps the Biblical command was a way of making this rite of passage less painful.
Displaying 1 of 1 review