Epic Archaeology

Were These Creation Myths Written Before Genesis? | Digging for Truth Episode 291 The Epic of Atra-Hasis and The Enuma Elish are ancient Mesopotamian...

YHWH IS VICTORIOUS AGAINST THE GODS OF EGYPT - Polemical theology is the use by biblical writers of the thought forms and stories that were common in ancient Near Eastern culture, while filling them with radically new meaning. The biblical authors take well-known expressions and motifs from ancient Near Eastern milieu and apply them to the person and work of Yahweh, and not to the other gods of the ancient world. Polemical theology rejects any encroachment of false gods into orthodox belief: there is an absolute intolerance of polytheism. Polemical theology is monotheistic to the core. ”

~ John Currid, Against the Gods, pg. 25

Check out this excellent graphic by the Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology

A handy infographic depicting the 10 plagues and the corresponding Egyptian god(s) that the plagues rendered powerless.

TEL SHILOH SCARABS - In a peer-reviewed article published in 2024, archaeologists, Gary Urie and Scott Stripling discuss three significant scarabs excavated at Shiloh and their possible significance for the dating and function of the site (see, Judea and Samaria Research Studies Volume 33, No. 2, 2024, pp. 85 -115) One of the scarabs they discovered dates to the time of 18th Dynasty pharaoh Thutmoses III, and could possibly have been brought to Shiloh by one of the Israelites from Egypt (see Ex. 12:35-36). In ancient Egypt, scarabs were considered sacred as they symbolized re-birth and resurrection. Scarabs are found extensively in Egyptian mummies placed over the heart, wrapped in the linen wrappings. Many scarabs were even worn by the living as a protective amulet carved with a pharaoh's name and/or spell from the Egyptian book of the dead. The purpose of the scarab amulet to keep the heart soft and light as it would be judged by the 42 principles of ma'at in the afterlife. Aside from providing illumination to Ex. 7, it was also a reminder and warning to the Israelites against hardening their hearts towards YHWH. A lesson the Lord God would reiterate many times throughout their history. "Today, if you will hear His voice: Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work. For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways’ (Psalm 95:8-10)."

THE ENUMA ELISH & ATRAHSIS MYTHS from Mesopotamia were written down centuries before the composition of Genesis by Moses. In our latest interview with our colleagues at Associates for Biblical Research I sit down with Henry Smith (host of Digging for Truth) to discuss the relationship and connections between these myths to the creation account in Genesis. The episode premieres here in just about two hours. Be sure to tune in!

Were These Creation Myths Written Before Genesis? | Digging for Truth Episode 291 The Epic of Atra-Hasis and The Enuma Elish are ancient Mesopotamian...