AN INTRODUCTORY LECTURE Its Importance The most influential, the most published, the most widely read book in history It continues to be read and written about It is a spiritual text And also a source of geography and history, although it lacks precision Its language, and the many characters to be found in it Its stories The Biblical Periods 4000 BC to 2000 BC – The Primeval Period 2000 BC to 1700 BC – The Patriarchal Period 1700 BC to 1200 BC – The Egyptian Period 1200 BC to 1000 BC – The Tribal Period 1000 BC to 900 BC – The Davidic Period And so on, until 70 BC to 100 AD – The Roman Period The history of the Bible Septuagint: 70 scholars who translated the Bible from Hebrew to Greek in the 3rd century BC By ancient tradition, the first 5 books of the Old Testament (OT) were written by Moses The Greek word for the first five books is ‘Pentateuch’ The Book of Genesis is translated into English as, “The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis” The first 5 books give us traditional history of the Hebrew people, and their laws ‘Genesis’ God is first mentioned; the Hebrew word is ‘Elohim’, meaning many Gods This is because of the use of the royal ‘we’ Another form of address was, ‘Yahweh Elohim’, meaning the Lord God References to the Big Bang? The six days of Creation are clearly marked The concept of the Sabbath, the seventh day devoted to God Man Genesis 2:7 ‘And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul’ ‘Adam’ in Hebrew means ‘mankind’, but was translated as a proper name Here, soul meant breath Man, the male being, came into existence first, hence patriarchy Eden Genesis 2:8 ‘And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden’ Eden was supposed to be eastwards from Canaan Eden seems to have been an actual place There are several other references to Eden in the Bible as a prosaic, everyday land, not an ideal Was Eden a general reference to the entire Euphrates valley? The Serpent Genesis 2:17 ‘But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat’ However, this order was disobeyed Genesis 3:1 ‘Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field’ Is the serpent representative of evil, and so, Satan? What was the motive? Was this a nature myth? Eve Eve is formed of Adam’s rib, hence the myth of the male ‘spare rib’ Andreas Vesalius, 1543, all humans have 12 pairs of ribs Anaesthesia Genesis 3:20 ‘And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living’ Havvah, the Hebrew name for Eve, seems to mean ‘to live’ The Descendants Children of Adam and Eve: Cain, Abel, Seth, Awan, Azura, Aclima Grandchildren: Enos, Enoch, Noam Great-granchildren: Kenan, Irad, Son of Enoch, Mualeleth, Barakiel.