The Babylonian Flood Story tablet was not excavated; it was found by a shepherd of Kibbutz Megiddo after the Oriental Institute excavators had closed shop. In a dump of excavated soil, the shepherd found a broken tablet, inscribed in cuneiform, bearing (on both sides) 37 lines of writing that included a portion of the […]
The Sumerian flood story cannot serve as the basis for independent meaningful comparison with the Bible for it has survived only in a very fragmentary state. The first 38 lines are missing, and there are long gaps in the narrative. As a result the outlines of the story must be reconstructed from the other […]
Three different Babylonian stories of the flood have survived- the Sumerian Flood Story, the eleventh tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic, and the Atrahasis Epic. Of these, the best known is Gilgamesh XI, which was one of the earliest cuneiform texts to be discovered and published. In 1872 George Smith read a paper called “The Chaldean […]
The Seven Tablets of Creation, also called Enuma Elish, have long been considered by scholars to be primary source material for the book of Genesis. British Museum Mackenzie, Donald A. Myths of Babylonia and Assyria. See also- Sacred Texts.com- The Seven Tablets of Creation by Leonard William King, 1902
“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Code of Hammurabi. The Louvre. Code of Hammurabi Detail The Code of Hammurabi treats only a small portion of the legal material; it is a collection of reform laws that were probably appended to long-established legal cases. In this respect, none of the legal […]
Overview From Egypt to Sinai (Exodus 5-24, 32; Numbers), Christine Hayes, Open Yale Courses (Transcription), 2006. Biblical History- From Abraham to Moses, c. 1850-1200 BCE, Steven Feldman, COJS. Primary sources Exodus 5-24 Exodus 32 Exodus 19-20- The Revelation at Sinai, Texts and Traditions, ed. Lawrence H. Schiffman, Ktav Publishing House, Hoboken NJ, 1998. Artifacts Ugaritic […]
Date- 14th century BCE Current Location- Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, Germany Language and Script- Akkadian; cuneiform Amarna Letter 1 Amarna Letter 2 Biblical Verses- During his campaign through the land of Canaan, Joshua faced the same groups of chiefdoms as had been powerful two hundred years earlier, in the Amarna Period. Among them was the chiefdom […]
Because of the stern injunction against representing God, images depicting the Almighty are rarely found in Jewish book art. However, artists did find other ways of depicting divine presence, as in this illustration of one of the most momentous episodes in the Hebrew Bible, in a Haggadah from about seven centuries ago. According to the […]
David Playing the Harp North French Miscellany, Northern France, c.1278-98. David playing the harp This 13th-century French manuscript shows a popular contemporary subject in both Christian and Jewish art- King David playing his harp. He is traditionally the author of the Psalms, which were to be sung with musical accompaniment. Though it is a Hebrew […]
Moses in a Festival Prayer Book Southern Germany Moses receiving the law This decorated word panel shows Moses holding the Tablets of the Law on Mount Sinai (on left of the image) while Aaron and the Israelites stand in prayer. Trumpets pierce the clouds and announce the solemnity of the occasion. Aaron, brother of Moses […]