so cool

[meismusicdork]

Anyone else find the amount of mythology in the Bible, especially the Old Testament .. i mean like all the Babaloynian mythology and all sorts of other things that are written and ignored ... for instance the fact that the first real mention of a monotheistic religion .. a single God for all people .. is in Isaiah .. we just interpret the books

Comments

[diggerthemole]

I guess I'd like an explanation for Ruth 1:16 (read up to that point in Ruth for backstory) where she seems to indicate that Yahweh will be her only God, or at least that's how I'm reading it. Am I surprised that you've made this claim? Heck no, I know what Exodus 20:3 does and doesn't technically say.

[meismusicdork]

both my translations: "you people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God."

She refers to mother-in-laws God as her only God .. she does not specify that that god is the one true God .. only that it will be her one true God. God is refered most often as the Lord .. like a name .. not an exculsive title.

Where as later in the Bible .. i dont remeber the exact passage, but im pretty dure its somewhere in Isaiah, God begins to be refered to as "the" God.

Part of this seems due to the fact that the Hebrew people had not solidified themselves as a monotheistic people yet and still encountered heavy outside influence from Egypt, Syria, Baybalon and others all of whom had polytheistic beliefs and traditions that were being reconciled with the increasingly monotheistic belief of the one true God.

[diggerthemole]

Gotcha, good answer, I'm pretty sure I agree. Reading Judges was a nice reality check for just what Isreal looked like back then.