Some recent geological history
(who knew we’d be talking about fluvial geomorphology?)
120,000 – 18,000 BC – last
ice age
18,000 BC – warming; New
Euxine Lake (freshwater) @ present-day site of Black Sea
13,000 BC – flow of
freshwater from melting glaciers stopped
10,500 BC – 9,400 BC –
declining temps, declining rainfall.
Lake becomes landlocked. Drought
throughout Near East; settlement near lake.
9,400 BC – 6,200 BC – normal
temps & rainfall; civilization develops in various parts of Near East
6,200 BC – mini Ice
Age. Villages in Fertile Crescent
abandoned; congregation along lake (again)
~5650 – 5500 BC – warmth & rain. Huge rise in sea level. Mediterranean Sea held back by small rise @
present-day Bosporus; spilled, cut channel – discharge = 200x Niagara Falls for
300+ days!!) – catastrophic deluge inundates all settlements along the former
lake. Triggers massive migrations,
including back to Fertile Crescent.
Highlights of
the history of the Bible as a text:
1400 BC – Ten Commandments delivered to Moses; the texts of the Pentateuch state that Moses wrote down all the subsequent laws (613!) dictated by God, but nowhere state he authored the five “Books of Moses”
500 BC – Completion of all original Hebrew manuscripts – 39 books of the Old Testament
200 BC – Completion of Greek manuscripts, 39 OT books & 14 Apocrypha books
1st C AD – Completion of Greek manuscripts, 27 books of New Testament
315 AD – Bishop of Alexandria identifies 27 books of NT as the recognized canon of Scripture
382 AD – Latin manuscripts of all 80 books of the Bible (39 OT / 14 Apocrypha / 27 NT)
500 AD – Translations into over 500 languages (!!!)
600 AD – Church of Rome rules Latin the only allowable language for Scripture
995 AD – Anglo-Saxon translation of NT
1384 AD – 1st handwritten manuscript copy of complete Bible, all 80 books
1455 AD – Gutenberg Bible 1st mass-produced book
1526 AD – 1st NT printed in English
1535 AD – 1st complete Bible printed in English
1539 – 1600, various competing English translations
1611 – King James version. Originally all 80 books; Apocrypha officially (and quietly!) dropped in 1885 -> only 66 books now.
1885 – 1st major English revision of King James Bible
20th Century – Various competing word-for-word or phrase-for-phrase English translations, c.f. New Standard Revised Version
Earliest
Scripture generally considered to be the “Pentateuch,” 1st five
Books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
Some
archaeological & linguistic evidence that the Book of Job may be older
Written
in ancient Hebrew (Aramaic), passed down on scrolls of animal skin
Entire
Pentateuch on one scroll = “The Torah” (holiest text of the Jews)
One
complete Torah = ~150 feet. One sheep =
~3 feet. One Torah = one flock of
sheep!
On
the accuracy of Hebrew scribes …
1st
Century AD, Greek translations printed on papyrus; papyrus bound in codices
Oldest
complete Greek NT codices ~300 AD
How do we look at it now?
Conservative (Literalist)
Christians, Orthodox Jews: Bible = literal word of God, written down infallibly
by various inspired prophets; 1st five books by Moses.
Liberal Christians & Jews, non-Judeo-Christian or secular people, including most Biblical scholars: a foundational text, a culture’s “family history,” a group of myths, linked to actual historical and prehistoric events.
“Documentary Hypothesis:” –
Genesis written over several centuries by 5+ authors & editors. Primary evidence = doublings w/o agreement –
see two Creation stories, multiple accounts of the loading of the Ark, of the
nature & duration of the Flood, two accounts of Jacob’s name change to
Israel, etc.
Flood story appears to be
the work of 2 Hebrew writers, “J” and “P,” interleaved into one text by one
redactor – “J” used “Yahweh” as name of God, btw. 848 and 722 BC southern
Judah; “P,” a priest, before 587 BC; “R,” a redactor who added one sentence
after 587 BC.
20+ points of similarity
btw. Genesis & Utnapishtim’s tale in Gilgamesh;
Hebrew version appears to be a monotheistic rewriting of the earlier Sumerian
tale. Compare to Greek myth, 9 days of
Flood in the time of Deucalion, son of the Titan Prometheus.
History of the world & the [chosen] people,
according to the Bible:
The
Fall (expulsion from Garden of Eden): 4100 BC
Birth
of Noah (10th gen. from Adam): ~3170 BC
Flood:
2567 BC (note, Noah lives 950 years)
Eight
survivors; ten generations from Noah to Abram w/ gradually shortening lifespans
from ~900 to an average 120
Abraham
(b. Abram) ~2215 BC, migrates w/ wife Sarah (b. Sarai) from Mesopotamia to
Canaan.
Isaac,
offered by Abraham as a sacrifice -> Abraham’s covenant w/ God, chosen
people
Jacob
(Israel)
12
sons, including Joseph
Jacob
arrives in Egypt, 1925 BC
End
of Genesis: by its own count, more than 2,000 years.
Note
– 470 years until Moses begins writing anything
– oral history / inspired word of God
Genesis,
by its own count, covers more than 2,000 years.