Dragons in Genesis

As Matthew’s author copied and expanded Mark’s gospel, he adapted Jesus for an audience that held the Hebrew Bible in higher regard. Thus the messiah became more loyal to Jewish law, more reverent to temple requirements, and more like Moses than originally described.

Among the most popular stories from the life of Jesus is the Sermon on the Mount. 3 chapters of lessons from the most famous teacher in history… though this sermon isn’t found in the earliest gospel. Now did earlier christians know anything about it. That doesn’t mean the teachings didn’t exist, as the lessons found in that sermon were certainly recorded… they just didn’t come from Jesus.

As with his ministry and miracles, the final days of the life of Jesus are rife with allegory and seem to be constructed from scenes borrowed from prior literature. But is there some kernel of truth behind the myth? Is there fact behind the fiction? Surely his trial and death must shed some light on the actual events… unless that too was taken from older stories.

From the transfiguration on the mountaintop to his overturning of tables in the temple, the arrival of Jesus at Jerusalem is filled with memorable scenes that demonstrate his character and illustrate his teachings. But many of those scenes and even his words, were not original to his story. Instead they seem borrowed from earlier tales of prophets, teachers, and even mythical figures.

Jesus lays out his fate to a crowd of disbelieving disciples who reject the idea that their savior must suffer and die, but prior to this is he repeats his calming of the sea and multiplication of bread and fish miracles. The reasoning behind this repetition can be found in the differences in the details, and in the repeated use of the sea in a story set in the Judean desert.

Decades after christianity began, an unknown author completely changed scripture by penning a Greek tragedy about the messiah. So popular was his work that in spawned numerous rewrites and imitations during the subsequent decades. His biography of Jesus would set the stage for storytellers for the next 2000 years, and the amazing adventures of the miracle-working prophet would be expanded by later...

The Hebrew Bible is now complete, so what's next?

In the mid second century BCE, the people of Judea did the impossible… the ended centuries of foreign rule by expelling the Seleucids and reviving the divine Judean kingship. To celebrate their victory, they wrote stories which pretended to predict this achievement and cast a legendary hero from Canaanite mythology as their prophet. The result included angels, foreign gods, dragon-slaying, and gre...

In the aftermath of the fall of Jerusalem the population was lost, bereft of king and temple. Their prosperity and security had been taken from them and family members had been carted away to a distant land. But perhaps worst of all, their own deity seemed to have turned his back on them. But when he finally took notice he didn’t offer comfort, but wrath.

Perhaps no other single book of the Hebrew Bible is as important to the New Testament authors as Zechariah. From it we find the idea of a suffering servant figure, a Davidic savior, one who is pierced through, who enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey and will remove the sins of the people before being elevated to the throne of heaven to sit beside God.

Could Yahweh be a dying-and-rising god? Does Malachi speak to the worship of Asherah in the Jerusalem Temple? Was Yahweh originally an angel who served his father, El Elyon? All these questions and more are raised by the minor prophets who saw the restoration of Judah as a parallel with the restoration of nature and linked it with annual sacrifices.

From giants and witches, to sun gods and talking animals, the Bible is littered with strange mythology. Curious stories concerning mystical beings can be found in every book, but one of the strangest stories is that of Jonah. Not only is a man eaten by a fish, but this prophet might just shed light on another myth which was prominent in the ancient world but seems blasphemous to modern theologians...

Throughout the New Testament we’re treated to countless examples of literary influence from the older texts, including the Book of Enoch and the works of Homer. But most striking are perhaps the numerous examples of New Testament authors borrowing directly from the Hebrew Bible in order to craft their most memorable scenes. From the nativity story to the crucifixion, virtually every scene from the...

As the returning exiles begin settling in Judah and our timeline moves nearer the Intertestamental Period, the literature looks both forward and backward in time, to themes of a coming day of judgment that will lay the foundation for Christianity and to the idea that past sins caused their recent downfall which will soon inspire the mythic history which serves as the origin story for the Jews.

The influence from neighboring cultures in Second Temple Judaism cannot be overstated, but that influence shows up in some surprising places and comes from some surprising sources. Perhaps none more alarming are the Babylonians themselves who took the upper classes from Jerusalem hostage. From this hostile neighbor the Jews would get a new writing system, a new calendar, units and measures, the co...

An enemy of Judah is an enemy of Yahweh, and what better way to describe his enemies than in terms of his most ancient of foes, the great sea dragon? But this section of Ezekiel isn’t just populated with dragons, but also angels with flaming swords, god-kings, trees that reach into heaven, and rivers of blood.

The Bible is filled with strange scenes, but few can compare with the opening of Ezekiel when the sky is filled with clouds, fire, and lightning and a vision of a strange entity described as “wheels within wheels” terrifies the prophet so that he cannot speak for a week. But it’s hardly the strangest thing we’ll encounter in this episode. There’s also the worship of a bronze snake, a resurrected S...

The Mediterranean region is littered with myths of storm gods fighting great sea monsters, and Israel is no different. Their dragon goes by the name Leviathan and wishes to swallow up the world, and Yahweh, in a great tumultuous flood. This is part of their creation myth, but it can serve another purpose. It can be recycled to explain military losses and the destruction of Yahweh’s temple… but to...

As the destruction of the temple draws near, Jeremiah offers mixed messages of hope and despair, of violent ends and joyous beginnings. The city will be dismantled, no, it will be burned down. The temple will be toppled, or perhaps consumed by cleansing flames. And through it all the story of Zarathustra shines as the prophet replays the court scene from the legendary Persian prophet.

Moses is presented as the prototypical prophet who brings Yahwism to a nation of people who have forgotten Yahweh. Under his reform and leadership they eradicate idolatry and establish a new covenant. But is Moses the true prototypical prophet, or is he modeled after another?

When the Jewish exiles returned from Babylon they brought with them sweeping changes to their religion, changes formed during and after their captivity. Many changes were unwelcome, but as they were backed by the Persian state, they held sway in the newly-built Jerusalem. As their reforms took root, older forms of Yahweh worship were deemed apostate including the acknowledgment of Yahweh’s sibling...

Throughout human history people have attempted to explain tragedy with divine wrath. Great calamity seems to invite magical explanations as we seek meaning in our suffering. The final chapters of Isaiah attempt exactly that, ascribing their crushing defeat at the hands of the Babylonians to Yahweh’s anger and using such an explanation as a polemic against rival styles of worship. And in doing so,...

Throughout the Hebrew Bible we’ve found important sections that were inspired by older myths and stories. From the opening chapter of Genesis drawing upon the Babylonian creation epic to Jacob’s struggle with the mysterious figure by the river taking details from the Epic of Gilgamesh, outside inspiration permeates the stories. But were the stories of Abraham and Moses inspired by portions of the...

The Hebrew Bible is filled with prohibitions against human sacrifice as Yahweh repeatedly states he is against such practices and has never asked for them. Yet buried within the text are stories which the redactors forgot to remove, stories in which Yahweh fiery pits are maintained for the purpose of sacrifice children and even entire armies to the patron god of Jerusalem.

The Jubilee Year was a time of change in Jewish lives, a time when property was returned to its original owner and people returned to their homes. A time to return the disrupted nation to a more orderly state. It should come as no surprise that this concept was linked with the Great Flood in which sin was washed away, leaving the world ready for a new and fresh creation. And as Isaiah explores the...