Christian Forums

Genesis 1 enumerates 7 days for the creation.  It painstakingly documents the shift from one day to the next with the repetitive phrase, "and there was evening, and there was morning, the Xth Day."

I read something recently that suggests to me that the enumeration of 7 days itself... that is probably a poetic device.  What I read was a translation of another ancient story, named Aqhat.  This story was engraved on stone around the time that Moses lived, and unearthed in Ugarit in modern days by archaeologists.

The story contains a section that looks very similar to Genesis 1's week of creation.  I've included the section at the bottom of this post so you can read it for yourself.  As you do, take note of the progression over a period of 7 days, and of the repetitive language that painstakingly documents the shift from one day to the next.  The main character dresses, goes to offer sacrifices to the gods, praying that he might conceive a son, and then undresses, goes to bed, gets up the next day and repeats it all again.

It seems that this repetition over a period of 7 days is a literary form.  It expresses the passage of time - of a long time.  The repetition causes the reader/hearer of the story to experience the passage of time.  If you read below, you will suffer alongside the main character as he waits and persists in petitioning the gods for a son.  You might be happy to know that he is granted his request.

And just to be clear, I DO think the chapter is about the literal creation of the world.  This isn't one of Aesop's fables.

---

Then Danel, the man of Rapau,
the Hero, the man of the Harnamite,
girded, he gave the gods food,
girded, he gave the holy ones drink.

He cast off his cloak and lay down,
put off his garment and spent the night

One day passed, and on the second
girded, Daniel gave to the gods,
girded, he gave the gods food,
girded, he gave the holy ones drink.
A third day passed, and on the fourth

girded, Daniel gave to the gods,
girded, he gave the gods food,
girded, he gave the holy ones drink.

A fifth day passed, and on the sixth
girded, Daniel gave to the gods,
girded, he gave the gods food,
girded, he gave the holy ones drink.

Danel cast off his cloak and lay down,
cast off his cloak and lay down,
put off his garment and spent the night.

Then, on the seventh day, Baal approached...

from Stories from Ancient Canaan, by Coogan & Smith

---

As a side note, the character Danel was apparently a popular literary hero of the Canaanites and is NOT the same person as the prophet Daniel.  The book of Ezekiel also makes reference to Danel twice (chapters 14 & 28).

.
Content Withdrawn
_

Quote from: NyawehNyoh on Sun Oct 06, 2024 - 16:42:41For example: theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking understood pretty well how the cosmos works; but could never scientifically explain why it should exist at all. Well; in my estimation, the only possible answer to the "why" is found in intelligent design; which is a religious explanation rather than scientific. Religion's "why" is satisfactory for people of faith. No doubt deep thinkers like Michio Kaku, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michelle Thaller, and the late Carl Sagan would prefer something a bit more empirical.

There are so many conditions of "why" that are not answerable in science.  We know that opposite charges attract and like charges repel.  We know very precisely the forces generated by the charges. We know that they do, but we don't really know why.  We know that things always tend to the lowest equilibrium energy level but we don't know why.  We know, since Einstein, that time is altered by speed and by mass and by the expansion of the universe.  We know that very precisely. We don't know why time is so altered. We know that the energy emitted by electromagnetism is a strict function of the frequency.  We know that very precisely.  But again, we do not really know why that is.

Hebrews 1:2-3 tells us that it was Jesus through whom God created the universe and that he upholds the universe by his word.  That tells me God is the "why" of all such things.

Quote from: NyawehNyoh on Sun Oct 06, 2024 - 16:42:41Copypasta

If all you've got is pre-written stuff that you copy-paste... please don't put it into my topics.

QuoteCopypasta

Does that go better with marinara sauce, or Alfredo?

It wouldn't surprise me if it were true, but are we leaning toward stories written in Genesis were pre-existing narratives? 

Quote from: Alan on Wed Oct 09, 2024 - 06:40:53It wouldn't surprise me if it were true, but are we leaning toward stories written in Genesis were pre-existing narratives?

Pre-existing what?

Quote from: DaveW on Wed Oct 09, 2024 - 05:09:54Does that go better with marinara sauce, or Alfredo?

Doesn't matter which sauce you use... copypasta is never cooked al dente... it's always re-heated and soggy.

Quote from: Rella on Wed Oct 09, 2024 - 06:57:44Pre-existing what?

You know, the people that existed before the written tales of the Pentateuch, the recorded history that predates our current Bible. 

Quote from: Alan on Wed Oct 09, 2024 - 06:40:53It wouldn't surprise me if it were true, but are we leaning toward stories written in Genesis were pre-existing narratives?

No.  I don't think that ALL the stories written in Genesis can be lumped into any single category.  However, I would note that "history" wasn't a genre of literature at the time much of it was written.

Because that is so, where Genesis does recall historical events, it does so using genres that did exist, which includes the use of some narratives and figurative language (euhemerisms).  Where it makes reference to pre-existing narratives, it usually subverts the versions of the story we find elsewhere.

Genesis 1:1-2:4 is a single composition that falls into the genre of Semitic epic poetry.  While it is LITERALLY about the creation of the earth, it uses poetic devices common to that genre - parallel statements, repetition, symbolic use of numbers.  By comparing it to the stories unearthed at Ugarit, Ninevah, and elsewhere, we can kind of nail down when and where it was written (13th-9th century BC, near Gilead/Bashan).

Thanks Jarrod