I propose this topic in response to Granny Magna who insisted that the Hebrews and their writings (OT) were influenced by the surrounding nations. (See Msg 226 of the Bibles Flat Earth thread in the Accuracy and Inerrency forum.)
I would like to offer evidence to the contrary and prove that their beliefs and teachings were not influenced by the nations around them.
(As this is centered around the Old Testament writings, i would ask that Apocryphal books are not included in any responses. The Apocrypha books were not part of the Old Testament and as it is the Old Testament teachings that are being discussed, the apocryphal writings are not applicable here.)
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MEDICAL
One of the oldest Egyption medical texts available is the
Ebers Papyrus , which is a compilation of practices, dating about 1550B.C.E.
It has 700 remedies for various afflictions, some of them were extremely dangerous. For the treatment of a wound, one of the prescriptions recommended applying a mixture of human excrement to open wounds.
while the egyptions were using their own excrement as a wound salve the
Mosaic Law demanded sanitary regulations that required excrement be buried away from people. Deuteronomy 23:13 This is significant because Moses was raised in Egypt and was educated in the finest Egyptian schools yet his words show that excrement was to be viewed as something unclean not to be touched'
The Hebrews practiced quarantining & sanitization
Lev13.2 'In case a man develops in the skin of his flesh an eruption or a scab or a blotch ...he must then be brought to Aaron the priest ... the priest must look at it, and he must declare him unclean...the priest must then quarantine the plague seven days. 5And the priest must look at him on the seventh day, and if in the way it looks the plague has stopped, the plague has not spread in the skin, the priest must also quarantine him another seven days...'6And the priest must look at him on the seventh day the second time, and if the plague has grown dull and the plague has not spread in the skin, the priest must also pronounce him clean. It was a scab. And he must wash his garments and be clean.
The babylonians to the contrary placed their sick in public for all to come and see
quote:
'They have no physicians, but when a man is ill, they lay him in the public square, and the passers-by come up to him, and if they have ever had his disease themselves or have known any one who has suffered from it, they give him advice...'
Under the Mosaic Law the dead body was viewed as making those touching it unclean for a seven-day period. If someone was in a house or tent where a death occurred, as well as the dwelling itself and all open vessels, they were made unclean. They had to wash everything.
This was unlike the egyptions who would spend over 1 month embalming the dead
Egyption emablming customs] the process of emabalming was a high contact sport...they certainly did not mind touching dead bodies.
Its only been since the 19th century that doctors began using sanitation as a way to control disease. Actually
[has been recently voted the worlds number 1 medical advancement] of our time...perhaps of all time. Not that moses knew that, but the law he practiced was given to him by God who Did know these important things whereas the nations around them were in the dark with regard to such matters.
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EARTH AND COSMOLOGY
GREEK Hesiod, who wrote his
Theogony in the eighth centuryB.C.E. explains how the gods and the world began. He starts off with Gaea, or Gaia (Earth), gave birth to Uranus (Heaven). First Uranus was supreme, but he suppressed his children, and Gaia encouraged his son Cronos to castrate him. Cronos in turn devoured his own children, until his wife Rhea gave him a stone to eat in place of Zeus; the child Zeus was brought up in Crete, compelled his father to disgorge his siblings, and with them and other aid defeated Cronos and his Titans and cast them down into Tartarus.
Sumerian belief was similar and likely influenced the Greeks. They believed in a succession of gods, and the goddess Nammu who is called "the mother, who gave birth to heaven and earth"
Chinese folk religion states (213-191BCE)that Chaos was like a hen’s egg. Neither Heaven nor Earth existed. From the egg P’an-ku was born, while of its heavy elements Earth was made and Sky from the light elements. P’an-ku is represented as a dwarf, clad in a bearskin or a cloak of leaves. For 18,000 years the distance between Earth and Sky grew daily by ten feet, and P’an-ku grew at the same rate so that his body filled the gap. When he died, different parts of his body became various natural elements. ... His body fleas became the human race.
Genesis 1:1 simply states that 'In the beginning God created the Heaven and Earth'
Genesis described the 2 luminaries (Sun & Moon) that caused the Light and Dark at Gen. 1:14-18
Egyptian cosmology said the universe is a rectangular box, placed in a north-south position, like Egypt. The earth is located on the bottom, as a slightly concave plain with Egypt in the center. ... At the four cardinal points very high peaks hold up the sky. The sky is a metallic cover, flat or curving outward, pierced with holes. From it hang stars, like lamps hanging on cables.
Some believed that the earth was supported by four elephants standing on a big sea turtle. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher and scientist of the fourth centuryB.C.E., taught that the heavenly bodies were fixed to the surface of solid, transparent spheres
The bible described the Creator as 'hanging the earth upon nothing', and in the eighth centuryB.C.E., it spoke of 'the circle of the earth' which indicated a round or circular object as opposed to any other shape. (Job 26:7; Isa. 40:22)
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ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY
Ancient Egypt belief was that Mankind was created from the tears of the god Ra.
the goddess of moisture gave birth to Geb and Nut, the earth god and the sky goddess. And so the physical universe was created. Men were created from Ra's tears.Gen. 2:7 says that the Almighty Creator created man from the dust from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life.'
Egyptionking married his own sister occasionally his own daughter to preserve the purity of the royal blood.
The Law given Israel after they had left Egypt forbade incestuous marriage, saying, 'The way the land of Egypt does ... you must not do' Le 18:6‘YOU people must not come near, any man of YOU, to any close fleshly relative of his to lay bare nakedness...'
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AFTERLIFE BELIEFS OF EGYPTIONS, GREEKS, ROMANS
AncientS believed that the deceased had need of food and clothing after death. Maps and eyes were painted on Egyptian wooden coffins to guide the departed. Tools and personal effects, such as jewelry, were also left on the assumption that the dead would be glad to have them in an afterlife.
The Greeks and the Romans believed that the dead needed to be ferried across the Styx, the principal river of the underworld. This service was performed by Charon, a demonic boatman. He was paid for his services by a coin placed in the mouth of the deceased, a practice that continues to this day in many parts of the world.
Many nations were convinced of an afterlife but the
bible clearly stated at that death is the end of life.
Eccl 9:5'...the dead are conscious of nothing at all'
Ezekiel 18:4 '...the soul that is sinning, it itself will die'
Eccl 3:19 'For there is an eventuality as respects the sons of mankind and an eventuality as respects the beast...All are going to one place. They have all come to be from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust.'
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GOD
Here is an interesting quote from
No webpage found at provided URL: http://www.isi.org/books/content/396chap1.pdf][A Student’s Guide to Natural Science Page 20]quote:
'When Genesis says that
the sun and moon are merely lamps placed by God in
the heavens to light the day and night, it is attacking the
pagan religions that worshipped the sun and moon. When
it says that man is made in the image of God and is to
exercise dominion over the animals, Genesis is, among
other things, attacking the paganism in which men worshipped
and bowed down to animals or to gods made in
the image of animals.
It is recognized that many ancient religions are based on the natural world where the elements and nature are gods, this is called polyotheism.
Hinduism has many thousands of such gods, Egypt had the sun god, the moon god the crocodile god, the god of the nile river etc etc etc
This is in stark contrast to the hebrew religion which was based on one single almighty Creator God known in the OT as Yahweh or Jehovah.
The were not influenced in the slightest in believing that there were any other gods besides this one God.
This explains why the Mosaic law stipulates that 'You must not have any other gods against my face' and 'You must not make carved images/idols and be induced to serve them'
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All these examples show that the bible is contrary to what the popular opinions were of the time.
I have presented only a few examples I would be interested to see examples of where the Hebrews were influenced by the beliefs of the nations around them...or any more examples that anyone might like to add.
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