JJMt said:
Quote:
That's fine, but as I said, ANE methods of recording historical events is not the same as we use today. Point-by-point accuracy wasn't the goal. It was to convey points. If you took ANE history writers and put them on a hill outside Gettysburg in early July 1863, they are going to record the events of those days FAR differently than Shelby Foote would.
And Hebrew writers of history would record events dramatically different than writers from other ANE cultures. In other words, there doesn't seem to be much of a basis for extrapolating from other ANE cultures to decide what Hebrew writers, especially writers of the Bible, would write or how they would record history. The ancient Hebrews were markedly different than the cultures that surrounded them.
As a prime example, the Hebrew writers clearly did not glorify their patriarchs and ancestors, unlike their ANE neighbors. The Hebrew writers showed their patriarchs and ancestors as fallen, weak, sinful men. There is no myth building making those men look perfect or infallible. That is certainly not true of the writers of the surrounding cultures.
Well, considering the environment the Old Testament was put to paper I would expect as much. They were exiled from their homeland in a hostile and foreign land. Their faith was on the verge of disappearing. They were a bit upset at their ancestors at the moment.
I find the miracle of the Jewish (therefore pre Christian) faith in its endurance against all seemable odds.
The Greek Miracle also intrigues me.
