The Problem of Myth in the Hebrew Bible
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- The Problem of Myth in the Hebrew Bible
LECTURE IN HONOR OF RICHARD J. CLIFFORD, S.J.
03/14/12
Peter Machinist
Lecture on March 14, 2012
Presenter: Peter Machinist
Sponsored by the School of Theology and Ministry with the generous support of the Kitz Family, in honor of Richard J. Clifford, S.J.
The word “myth” has been used in many different ways, sometimes positively, but more often, and especially recently, negatively. Many would argue that it has no relevance for the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, indeed would be expressly rejected by the biblical writers. But is this correct? The answer, this lecture will argue, is no - that, in fact, myth is a word and a set of concepts which can lead to a deep and varied understanding of the Hebrew Bible, set against the broader ancient Near Eastern world from which it comes.
Peter Machinist is the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages at Harvard University.
Let's put it this way: myth occupies the space between fact and fiction. Myths contain certain truths that have inspired the story. This helps people to understand the world around them not in terms of science, but in terms of how to live life wisely.
In Genesis, the Joseph character says he came from the “land of the Hebrews.” We learn earlier and later in the story that was Canaan. This is before the Exodus and Joshua stories.
Jacob/Israel are myths, never existed. Also Abram/Abraham also a myth, never actually existed. Made up
Very interesting because there was no Hebrew nation at that point. They were a minority, a small family in Canaan. Joseph would have been fourth generation.
Hebrew was often used to refer to a slave or migrant labourer in ancient Egypt.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrews
It isn't referring to Israel but the place occupied by his family
This was great! I'd definitely want more videos like this. I study Old Testament (I've almost got my master's degree) and it's quite difficult to find good videos about the subject.
You might like some of the other videos we have on Bible topics. It is a lot of New Testament but there are some good OT lectures in there too. ruclips.net/p/PLkpPG25V5RpJy1gdkqnRDNvkKlDafScjg
Katleral. You might already have seen these but this is one of my favorite go to series on u/tub.
Hebrew Bible Yale Christine Hays Lesson one . This is a semester long video class .
ruclips.net/video/mo-YL-lv3RY/видео.html
I'm amused when I hear of certain Jews who will not say the name Yahweh or spell god 'god' as opposed to 'g_d' for fear of (what?). Who knows?. Of course this habit is no different from the Muslim habit of saying "blessed be his name" after every mention of the word Allah. In both cases, this practice bespeaks a deity that is either narcissistic or has an inferiority complex.
@Geo fromNJ Those are etiquette's of addressing someone superior like you do in a law court or with a member of a royal family.
Incorrect, Muslims never say blessed be his name his after saying Allah, because they consider Allah Gods name. They may follow saying Allah by mentioning some his attributes like, the benficet the merciful or to him be praised and exalted. But never praising his name when they already know that Gods name is Allah.
These so called scholars tell us about myths in all other religions except the old and New Testament which is full of myths and contradictions.
Great presentation. Might places the ancient Hebrews said they conquered actually be populations that were absorbed into Israel. If that happened, might the theologies then be merged in a way that was as harmonious as possible. What do you think 🤔?
In 1 Samuel: 25 we encounter Nabal, who was not accomodating towards David and his outlaw army, during David's exile by King Saul. Nabal's wife Abigail, understood the threat to their lives which that stance on Nabal's part posed. So this makes Nabal a fool from the bible writer's point of view. The word Nabal according to the Bible, meant "fool". Often people's names in the Old Testament meant whatever role they were playing in the Hebrew narrative. This suggests mythology.
I can't help but regard Machinist as "thin soup". He never mentioned Joseph Campbell, the foremost scholar on myth, and he never read Karen Armstrong. Yet he proposes to know about myth and its distinctions with history and what is shown in the Bible. The great tragedy of Christianity (and perhaps Judaism, but I can't speaK for that) is it that it has regarded its story as actual, factual history. So we send out archeologists to find Noah's ark and the Garden of Eden and argue over what kind of "fish" could have swallowed Jonah, all the while ignoring the deep, profound meaning of these stories (myths). Jesus taught in parables (stories). Do we have to prove the factual and historical existence of the Prodigal son or the Good Samaritan? I studied theology and Bible 60 years ago. I loved it then, but then I discovered Campbell and see the world in completely different terms. Stories are what humans live by.
FILLER 22 minutes / 28% of the video and he said absolutely nothing of value. He doesn't even mention myth until 25 minutes and take a couple minutes to do that.
34:00 he starts to mention the Bible.
He never says anything about a problem of myth in the Hebrew Bible. At most he suggests at the end that Abraham might be a composite of people instead of a real historical person but he provides no evidence to back of that claim.
Complete waste of time.
The lecture has about a dozen examples of myth in the Bible... did you not watch?
That introduction was horrendous, put all that info in a handout and just yell Here's Johhny!
You are just quoting other books as if those authors lived in that time
If it’s the truth, it’s I’ll mortals. I have read Josephus, the violence the blood shed, why would anybody think that love is in antiquity.
The corn. Israel is but the Likeness of the spirit of the Bible reflecting through God‘s Creation In order that the structure of God might be recognized by the little ones.
You said it! I was lead in spirit straight for the rotted roots of what is known as egyptology by searching for the founder of such FOOLISHNESS!, their mouths aught to be stopped to a smothering when they call The Bible
"the white man's book".... I say this BECAUSE eGYPTOLOGY WAS COMPLETELY FOUNDED BY WHITES AND ONE YOU WELL KNOW FUNDED THEM! (LOOK)
"Through financial aid from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Breasted organized the Oriental Institute (1919) at the University of Chicago."
"James Henry Breasted, (born August 27, 1865, Rockford, Illinois, U.S.-died December 2, 1935, New York City, New York), American Egyptologist, archaeologist, and historian who promoted research on ancient Egypt and the ancient civilizations of western Asia."
Look at this emhotep follymen!
"He compiled a record of every known Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription and published a translation of these in a five-volume work, Ancient Records of Egypt (1906). " THE UNDERSTANDING OF THOSE GLYPHS WERE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING MORE THAN HIS IMAGINATION AT WORK AND HIS LONG WORKS AT ATTEMPTING TO MAKE SENSE OF PRIMITIVE CAVE AND FUNERARY DECORATIVES!
"His History of Egypt (1905) and his high school textbook, Ancient Times (1916), both lucidly written, enjoyed extraordinary success. A pioneer work in a specialized field was Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt (1912)."
"Through financial aid from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Breasted organized the Oriental Institute (1919) at the University of Chicago. This institution became an internationally renowned centre for the study of ancient cultures in southwest Asia and the Middle East. Under his directorship, the institute undertook a number of important excavations, including one at Megiddo that uncovered a large riding stable thought to have been King Solomon’s and one at Persepolis that yielded some Achaemenid sculptures."
PRIOR TO THIS WAS THIS WHITE FRENCHMAN! emhotep follymen!
"Jean-François Champollion (French: [ʃɑ̃pɔljɔ̃]), also known as Champollion le jeune ('the Younger'; 23 December 1790 - 4 March 1832), was a French scholar, philologist and orientalist, known primarily as the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs and a founding figure in the field of Egyptology. A child prodigy in philology, he gave his first public paper on the decipherment of Demotic in 1806, and already as a young man held many posts of honor in scientific circles, and spoke Coptic and Arabic fluently. During the early 19th century, French culture experienced a period of 'Egyptomania', brought on by Napoleon's discoveries in Egypt during his campaign there (1798-1801) which also brought to light the trilingual Rosetta Stone. Scholars debated the age of Egyptian civilization and the function and nature of hieroglyphic script, which language if any it recorded, and the degree to which the signs were phonetic (representing speech sounds) or ideographic (recording semantic concepts directly). Many thought that the script was only used for sacred and ritual functions, and that as such it was unlikely to be decipherable since it was tied to esoteric and philosophical ideas, and did not record historical information."
NOTICE THIS ABOUT "THE WRITINGS ON THE WALL"
"it was unlikely to be decipherable since it was tied to esoteric and philosophical ideas, and did not record historical information."
NOW STOP YOUR MOUTHS! OF THAT FOOLISHNESS! Y'ALL AUGHT TO BE A SHAMED BEFORE THE LIVING GOD ALMIGHTY, TO EVEN BREATHE eGYPT, THE BOOK OF "THE DEAD" "THE DEAD" SEA SCROLLS OR ANYTHING PERTAINING TO THE DEAD OR ANY FUNERARY TEXT EVER SCRATCHED IN ENGRAVED STONE! NOW GET THEE BEHIND ME WITH THOSE WEAK DOUBTS AND LIES! YOU HAVE BEEN UNEARTHED FOR ALL TO SEE!
it should say the foolish not fools
If you are born in Kabul and Isis makes you follow islam do you go to hell because you have never practised Catholicism? let's hope not.
No, salvation comes from God not a book or a building or people.
the natural cannot understand the things of God. He chose the fools to confound the wise.
It is all mythology.
🖤👌🤓👀
Boring.