The Old Testament :: Religion Influence Religious Bible Essays

The Old Testament The Old Testament is a compilation, and like all(prenominal) compilation it has a wide variety of contributors who, in turn, confirm their exclusive influence upon the final work. It is no surprise, then, that there exist certain parallels among the Enuma Elish, the cosmogony of the Babylonians, and the give-and-take of Genesis, the first part of the Pentateuch section of the watchword. In fact, arguments may be made that other Near Eastern texts, particularly Sumerian, have had their influences in Biblical texts. The extent of this borrowing, as it were, is not limited to the volume the Enuma Elish has its own roots in Sumerian legendology, predating the Enuma Elish by nearly a thousand years. A superficial examination of this evidence would erroneously data track one to believe that the Bible is somewhat a collection of onetime(a) mythology re-written specifically for the Semites. In fact, what develops is that the writers have addressed each myth as a separate issue, and what the writers say is that their God surpasses every other. Each myth or text that has a counterpart in the Bible save serves to further an important idea among the Hebraicals there is but one God, and He is omnipotent, omniscient, and other-worldly He is not of this world, but outside it, apart from it. The idea of a monotheistic religion is first evinced in recorded history with Judaism, and it is vital to see that instead of being an example of plagiarism, the Book of Genesis is a meticulously composed document that will set apart the Hebrew God from the others before, and after.To get a clear picture of the way the Book of Genesis may have been formed (beca physical exercise we can only guessing with some degree of certainty), we must place in somewhere in time, and then define the cultures in that time. The influences, possible and probable, must be illustrated, and then we may draw our conclusions.If we trace back to the first appearance of the Bible in written form, in its earliest translation, we arrive at 444 B.C.. cardinal texts, components of the Pentateuch referred to as J and E texts, can be traced to around 650 B.C. Note that J refers to Yahweh (YHVH) texts, characterized by the use of the word Yahweh or Lord in accounts E refers to Elohist texts, which use, naturally, Elohim in its references to God.1 But 650 B.