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POSTED
13 JULY, 2008
Encountering Mythology: A Case Study from the Flood Narratives
by
J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net
Believers today are facing a dilemma.
Your average evangelical Christian is bombarded
with information and perspectives, which a short
ten years ago were not necessarily present in
significant numbers in the religious world.[1]
With the continuing expansion of the Internet,
cable television, and even printed media,
Christians are having to consider points of view
regarding well-cherished accounts in the Tanach
or Old Testament which they have never really
had to consider before. While parallels between
the Bible and Ancient Near Eastern (ANE)
mythology have always been discussed in academic
circles, or have been considered by that
reference book collecting dust that one never
reads, your average layperson is now having to
consider these things by simply watching the
History Channel or picking up a magazine at
Barnes & Noble.[2]
The answer to us as people of faith cannot be to
hide ourselves under the proverbial bushel,[3]
act as though the enemy has simply perverted
God’s “Truth” with a capital T, and be isolated
from any criticism of our faith. On the
contrary, the Apostle Paul says to “test
everything; hold fast what is good” (1
Thessalonians 5:21). We are required to engage
with arguments that (may) attempt to rip apart
the Bible’s message for our lives, and consider
them with a discernment that will hopefully
enable us to be more effective in the Lord’s
service. The evangelical world is
now
having to deal with issues that have remained
closed to the world of scholasticism—which means
that the Messianic community is
not that far
behind.
One of the most important Tanach narratives that deserves the
attention of today’s Believers—particularly as
it is employed later in the Apostolic Scriptures
or New Testament[4]—is
the Flood of Genesis 6-8. Just after God made
His Creation, Adam and Eve fall into sin, and
the Book of Genesis depicts “that
[eventually] every imagination of the thoughts
of his [man’s] heart was only evil continually”
(Genesis 6:5).[5]
The Lord has to send a devastating flood to wipe
out what He had made (Genesis 6:7), save Noah
who “found favor in the eyes of the
Lord” (Genesis 6:8). We all know the story too well—as only
Noah, his family, and two of every animal were
spared. But what many do not know is that there
are other Ancient Near Eastern accounts
which
portray a significant flood, somehow
inflicting damage on the world—that may or may
not parallel what we see in Genesis. What we are
to do with these accounts, the role that they
play in relationship to Genesis 6-8, and what
they mean have baffled many interpreters. Some
believe that the ANE myths appeared first, and
were later adapted by the Ancient Hebrews in the
compilation of the Torah. Others believe that
the ANE myths are distorted forms of the true
Biblical account. And others, not surprisingly,
are confused and do not know what to believe,
avoiding the subject altogether.
Evangelical scholarship is just now having to
catch up in its engagement with ANE mythology
and the Bible, and no person needs to be
uninformed or ignorant any more. This is
especially true of a Messianic movement that
claims our Heavenly Father is in the process of
restoring the Torah to His people, yet is often
ignorant of arguments against its
trustworthiness that have been around since the
mid-Nineteenth Century.
End of sample excerpt.
Enjoyed this excerpt?
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Confronting Critical Issues
coming soon to paperback and Amazon Kindle eBook
J.K. McKee
(B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury
Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN
Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic
apologist.
He is a 2009 recipient of the Zondervan Biblical
Languages Award for Greek.
He
is author of
numerous books, dealing with a wide range of
topics that are important for today’s
Messianic Believers. He has also written many articles on
theological issues,
and is presently focusing his attention on Messianic commentaries
of various books of the Bible.
NOTES
[1]
Unless otherwise noted,
Biblical quotations in this article are
from the Revised Standard Version (RSV).
[2]
Or worse yet, by going to
an ever-changing and grossly unreliable
source like Wikipedia!
[3]
Cf. Matthew 5:15; Mark
4:21; Luke 11:33.
[4]
Matthew 24:37f; Luke
3:36; 17:26f; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5.
[5]
How long or how quickly
this took place in actual time can only
be a matter of chronological
speculation, hence I have placed
“eventually” in brackets.
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