Closer to the Real Christmas Story: Insights into the biblical text, history, culture, and geography

This is highly doubtful, however, so long as the stumbling block of the Cross exists 1 Cor 1: Lest it be misunderstood, it is not as if conservative Christian theology does not recognize any ANE influence on the biblical writers. Archaeological investigation has brought to light many new facets of Israelite life that had been lost with the passing of the ages and has helped to set Hebrew culture in proper perspective in relation to the trends and currents of ancient Near Eastern life generally We can certainly affirm some measure of influence upon the biblical writers of the times in which they lived.

It would be irresponsible not to. But—and this is crucial! And this is, I fear, exactly what the ANE scholars have done. In this redefinition the doctrine of inerrancy becomes an indefensible concept, and no eternal truths can be known with certainty. Why ostensibly Christian scholars would want this state of affairs makes little sense.

After all, in the final analysis we aim to lay hold of life-changing, inspired, inerrant truth from and about God, not some kind of ephemeral respect from scholarly but unbelieving peers. In Search of Relevance. This seems to be the reason why Walton does not develop his theology of Genesis 1 on the basis of systematic theology; secular scholars attach little credibility to such efforts, dismissing them as so much special pleading. He instead tries to meet them in a venue in which they will interact with him, that of critical literature studies.

And it order to speak to those steeped in secular science, he must also at least appear to allow for the long ages required by evolution. Yet, would this be so bad?

One who fears looking foolish in the eyes of cultural elites today is in danger of becoming a fool in the eyes of the Lord. Paul set an example that we should not be ashamed to be fools for Christ. Applied figuratively, these sophisticates were calling Paul a lowly scrounger of random information and ideas—a fool. But this shame was one Paul did not shrink from embracing, and neither should we. Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: Let us now consider a different way of viewing the influence of ANE literature on the biblical writers, one not requiring us to jettison the biblical definition of inspiration and the doctrine of inerrancy.

We noted above the comments of Harrison, that without doubt the ANE cultures surrounding the ancient Israelites impacted them and had some effect on their knowledge of their world. But it is one thing to be aware of what others around you think, and quite another to adopt their views as your own— especially if you have a heritage that indicates those views are wrong. The ANE scholars take it as a given that whatever cosmology the surrounding cultures held, the ancient Israelites did likewise. Moreover, they further assume that the writer s of Genesis bought into it.

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But we need only contemplate the vast philosophical divide within just our own country today between atheists, Moslems and Christians to see this assumption is unjustified. There is a similar great split in the political world between liberals and conservatives, between those who think government should take care of people and those who think individuals must pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.

Closer to The Real Christmas Story: Insights into the biblical text, history, culture and geography

The point is simply this: Are there any common features of the ANE cultural environment we can confidently apply to the ancient Israelites, and more specifically, to the writer s of Genesis? Yes…but the most likely candidates deal with reporting historical facts and using current literary norms to do so, not contentious matters like worldview or religion. For common ground between ANE literature and Genesis we must look for what I call value-neutral conventions , far more likely to be shared among diverse peoples living in the same general cultural milieu than those tied to religious concepts like cosmology.

These are uncontroversial, common practices nearly everyone follows with no concern whether they are right or wrong. The Implications of the Toledoths. The significance of the toledoth lines was first discerned by British Air Commodore P. In studying them he observed one uniform characteristic: Many of these old records related to family histories and origins, which were evidently highly important to those ancient people. Wiseman noticed the similarity of many of these to the sections of the book of Genesis. Those who accept the Bible as the Word of God understand that the Observer doing the reporting in this section was God Himself.

Since no human being was there to record it, the Lord would have had to reveal what had been done at Creation, and either engrave it on tablets like the first set of the Ten Commandments, or else instruct Adam to record it for posterity. Therefore, this material originated long before the rise of ANE culture.

The only thing which might be chalked up to ANE influence is how the material was later compiled by Moses in an editorial role, not the content itself. The above consideration must equally apply to every toledoth section reflecting a date of original composition antedating the rise of ANE culture, properly speaking.

These include, at a minimum, the sections from 2: Arising before there existed any distinct nations in the ancient Near East, the source material of these sections predated whatever content influence the later ANE cultural milieu could have exerted upon it. Thus, the overall document structure of Genesis may have reflected prevalent ANE value-neutral conventions, but not the content of its earliest sections.

Embracing the Earliest Heritage. We have seen the toledoths disconnect the content of much of the source materials of Genesis from potential ANE influences. But additionally, they also disconnect in time those sources from cosmological errors that arose later.

The Influence of the Ancient Near East on the Book of Genesis

Those ancient sources point to an original theology and associated cosmology that included a correct, if incomplete, knowledge of the One True God and His creation known to Noah and his immediate descendants from the earliest days after the Flood. But despite being first on the scene, the revelation preserved in Scripture was overshadowed by the alternative cosmology that arose later amongst the ambitious, rebellious, polytheistic progeny of Ham the Sumerians and Egyptians, and to some degree the Babylonians—Gn 10— This alternative came to dominate ANE conceptions of the universe, just as the original monotheism gave place to polytheism.

Yet, notwithstanding its culturally minor role, the monotheism and cosmology preserved in the biblical records never entirely vanished. The true knowledge of God and His creation based on divine revelation was still known among the Semites into the time of Abraham, and because he acted on it, he became known as the friend of God 2 Chr Thus, assuming the ancient Israelites embraced the cosmology of their ANE neighbors is just that: Secular scholars assume the Israelites adopted ANE cosmology because it serves their larger purpose of disconnecting biblical interpretation from a Scripture-centric approach , not because the known data requires it.

This assumption conflicts not only with what we know about human nature, but ignores the fact that the early Israelites were a nation of shepherds in a largely agrarian society, so different from the typical Egyptian that they needed an area of their own to live in, the land of Goshen Gn In many ways this is still true of Israel today. Finally, recall what Sewell wrote: It is our contention that it did not begin with the Babylonians, but the Babylonians adopted this value-neutral convention which had already been in use for many generations, going back to the antediluvian age.

The toledoths of the Genesis records were the original manifestation of what became common custom, leading later to the colophons found in the Babylonian tablets studied by Wiseman. In the same way, cosmological tales such as the Enuma Elish and Atra-Hasis did not come first, but the true cosmology retained by the ancient Semites preceded these corruptions. For this reason, it is presumptuous to assume a cosmology reflected in predominantly Hamite ANE literature had to have been adopted by the ancient Israelites.

As with their theology, they already had an older, better tradition long preserved by their Semite forebears, and no need to set it aside for a different one they had good reason to believe was false. There are exceedingly serious theological problems involved when Genesis 1 is approached as typical ANE literature. Those doing so say it was written by men whose writing reflects common cosmological misunderstandings of their day, requiring them to discard the concepts of inspiration and inerrancy as Scripture defines them.

But as we have seen, Hebrews Furthermore, the toledoths demonstrate that the book of Genesis is comprised of multiple source documents, several of which preceded the rise of any distinctive ANE influences, cosmological or otherwise, on their content. The only legitimate connection we may make between ANE literature and Genesis has to do with shared value-neutral conventions affecting the overall document structure of the book, not the content of its individual sources. Taking this view allows us to do justice to ANE literature, and more importantly, to affirm that Scripture interprets Scripture, as the doctrine of inspiration demands.

In closing, this must be said: Since the data does not require the biblical records to be viewed as typical ANE literature, doing so is too great a price to pay for the privilege of engaging skeptical scholars on their own terms. A Response to John Walton. The Oracles of God. Bible and Spade 23 1: Bible and Spade 7 1: September 20, ; Internet.

Our ministry relies on the generosity of people like you, who make it possible for us to develop and publish great articles. If you enjoyed this article, please consider supporting ABR with a small donation or by becoming a member. Interesting insights, particularly the Hebrews reference. Thanks for your work. In fairness to Walton, his Lost World does not reject the affirmation that God created everything You say the following: As such, your critique of Walton's book is based on a fallacy of logic called category error.

By lumping two dissimilar things into a single category you misrepresent Walton's book and muddle the point of Genesis 1 -- which is that God created the universe by "moving on the surface of the waters" of the primordial "deep. The visible from the invisible, as it were. Dear Anonymous, The fact you chose to be "anonymous" might lead one to conclude you lack confidence in your arguments in Walton's favor.

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If so, that is good, because it shows you are not convinced your points will hold up in the light of further information, and are open to being persuaded otherwise. A teachable attitude is a praiseworthy thing! I also need this attitude, so thank you for challenging me to examine more closely some of my thought processes here. But in keeping with longstanding Church teaching that Genesis indeed teaches an ex nihilo creation, out of nothing, I think there are other considerations which indicate it should be understood this way, and not as Walton does by using ANE literature as his interpretive lens for understanding the book of Genesis.

On the most fundamental level, eternal matter is a logical impossibility. Creation ex nihilo is the only sensible alternative that passes the test of logic. For a representative broader treatment of creation ex nihilo, see http: Russell Grigg, at www. Some scholars see this process as deterioration.

Bailey often explains that Jesus could have written a book. Instead he lived, worked, and talked with disciples. Christ trusted that the disciples would process what he said and did and what that meant. Inspiration is a process that lasted about 60 years. Pretend that the Roman Catholic Church has amnesia and forgets years of everything said and done in Rome. Their scholars go way back. Understanding Middle Eastern village life helps Bailey ask fresh questions. He traces answers through early Christian commentaries, medieval Arabic, and Jewish literature. For more than ten centuries, Christians who translate the gospels into Arabic have not seen the prodigal as repenting in the far country.

The prodigal does not understand costly love till he sees his father publicly humiliating himself by running to welcome the son. Only then does the prodigal give up his idea of restoring himself. The party is not because he repented. Luke did not personally see or hear what the gospel of Luke reports Jesus saying and doing.

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Bailey sees scripture inspiration as a process, not a single moment in time. Just give me facts.

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Imagine if someone could have set up 75 cameras from different angles to film that battle. What would you get? He compared gospel writers to a filmmaker who has to squeeze the death of John F. Kennedy into a documentary only an hour long. If the documentary did not include eyewitness accounts, interviews, and information from other sources, then the assassination could be reduced to a single sentence: A man in a warehouse shot another man in a passing car.

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Bailey affirms that the Spirit of God guided the process of the Bible. We build up around scripture our traditional interpretation of scripture. The text is inspired, not the translation. Our understanding of scripture has to be tentatively final. Sorry about the oxymoron. Today I have to be obedient.

But tomorrow I will understand better. I am a sinner in need of Christ. Especially since the Enlightenment, people in the Western hemisphere tend to assume that reason is universal. A lay Christian might hear a scholar talking about biblical interpretation and think the scholar is saying that the Word is wrong. But somebody halfway around the world processes the same data and comes up with a different conclusion.

I cannot eat any more cookies. I am fed up. And what light do these diamonds shine on people who care about reading the Bible and understanding God? As you might expect, he answers with a story. Open Hearts in Bethlehem: Cultural Studies in the Gospels. Bailey wrote the script.