Tonight we discussed various cultural influences found during the period of the early Old Testament writings. We discussed Standing Stones, Oral Tradition, and the Ancient Hebrew’s World View.
Eyewitnesses did not write the books of the Old Testament as the events occurred. The Biblical stories that we have were originally passed down by word of mouth. Family after family of the Hebrew people told and retold the stories of their religious faith experience; stories of how God had saved his people and was still saving them. Although the details of stories were changed or even lost, the basic religious meaning remained. This process of preserving stories, known as oral tradition, kept the stories meaning and value for the people. All civilizations have stories of the past that have been passed down from generation to generation.
Careful research of the first 5 books of the Bible, or the Pentateuch, reveals that it was probably assembled from 4 separate sources. In the Yahwist source (J), written in the Southern part of the Kingdom, God interacts directly with humans and has human qualities. God is passionate, relational, personal, social, and merciful. Later in the Elohist source (E), written in the Northern part of the Kingdom, God interacts indirectly with humans, through dreams and manifestations, and He is less vivid and less concrete. Later still in the Priestly source (P), written during the exile in Babylon, God is represented as transcendent and holy. This source emphasized genealogies, pilgrimages, festivals, worship, and ritual. Finally in the Deuteronomist source (D), written in Israel, God is the Lord of Israel. It is primarily concerned with the history of Israel.
Eyewitnesses did not write the books of the Old Testament as the events occurred. The Biblical stories that we have were originally passed down by word of mouth. Family after family of the Hebrew people told and retold the stories of their religious faith experience; stories of how God had saved his people and was still saving them. Although the details of stories were changed or even lost, the basic religious meaning remained. This process of preserving stories, known as oral tradition, kept the stories meaning and value for the people. All civilizations have stories of the past that have been passed down from generation to generation.
Careful research of the first 5 books of the Bible, or the Pentateuch, reveals that it was probably assembled from 4 separate sources. In the Yahwist source (J), written in the Southern part of the Kingdom, God interacts directly with humans and has human qualities. God is passionate, relational, personal, social, and merciful. Later in the Elohist source (E), written in the Northern part of the Kingdom, God interacts indirectly with humans, through dreams and manifestations, and He is less vivid and less concrete. Later still in the Priestly source (P), written during the exile in Babylon, God is represented as transcendent and holy. This source emphasized genealogies, pilgrimages, festivals, worship, and ritual. Finally in the Deuteronomist source (D), written in Israel, God is the Lord of Israel. It is primarily concerned with the history of Israel.
Myth is “an imaginative story that embodies the beliefs and values of a group of people”, or contains “symbolic stories that express a spiritual truth or a basic belief about God”. Its purpose is to reveal many meanings or levels of understanding contained in a single story”. They perform four functions, including Theological, what God is like and how God relates to humanity; Cosmic, how the world works and what it’s purpose is; Social, how society should be organized and who is in charge; and Ethical, what values we should have and how we should behave.
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