Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Part 25

Egypt, the country out of which the Israelites came, had no story of the Creation and Fall of Man, _such as we have found among the Hebrews_; they therefore could not have learned it from _them_. The _Chaldeans_, however, as we saw in our first chapter, had this legend, and it is from them that the Hebrews borrowed it.

The account which we have given of the Chaldean story of the Creation and Fall of Man, was taken, as we stated, from the writings of Berosus, the Chaldean historian, who lived in the time of Alexander the Great (356-325 B. C.), and as the Jews were acquainted with the story some centuries earlier than this, his works did not prove that these traditions were in Babylonia before the Jewish captivity, and could not afford testimony in favor of the statement that the Jews borrowed this legend from the Babylonians _at that time_. It was left for Mr. George Smith, of the British Museum, to establish, without a doubt, the fact that this legend was known to the Babylonians at least _two thousand years before the time a.s.signed for the birth of Jesus_. The cuneiform inscriptions discovered by him, while on an expedition to a.s.syria, organized by the London "Daily Telegraph," was the means of doing this, and although by far the greatest number of these tablets belong to the age of a.s.surbanipal, who reigned over a.s.syria B. C. 670, it is "acknowledged on all hands that these tablets are not the originals, _but are only copies from earlier texts_." "The a.s.syrians acknowledge themselves that this literature was borrowed from Babylonian sources, and of course it is to Babylonia we have to look to ascertain the approximate dates of the original doc.u.ments."[98:2] Mr. Smith then shows, from "fragments of the Cuneiform account of the Creation and Fall" which have been discovered, that, "_in the period from B. C. 2000 to 1500, the Babylonians believed in a story similar to that in Genesis_." It is probable, however, says Mr. Smith, that this legend existed as _traditions_ in the country _long before it was committed to writing_, and some of these traditions exhibited great difference in details, _showing that they had pa.s.sed through many changes_.[99:1]

Professor James Fergusson, in his celebrated work on "Tree and Serpent Worship," says:

"The two chapters which refer to this (_i. e._, the Garden, the Tree, and the Serpent), as indeed the whole of the first eight of Genesis, are now generally admitted by scholars to be made up of fragments of earlier books or earlier traditions, belonging, properly speaking, to Mesopotamia rather than to Jewish history, the exact meaning of which the writers of the Pentateuch seem hardly to have appreciated when they transcribed them in the form in which they are now found."[99:2]

John Fiske says:

"The story of the Serpent in Eden is an Aryan story in every particular. The notion of Satan as the author of evil appears only in the later books, _composed after the Jews had come into close contact with Persian ideas_."[99:3]

Prof. John W. Draper says:

"In the old legends of dualism, the evil spirit was said to have _sent a serpent to ruin Paradise_. These legends became known to the Jews _during their Babylonian captivity_."[99:4]

Professor Goldziher also shows, in his "Mythology Among the Hebrews,"[99:5] that the story of the creation was borrowed by the Hebrews from the Babylonians. He also informs us that the notion of the _bore_ and _yoser_, "Creator" (the term used in the cosmogony in Genesis) as an integral part of the idea of G.o.d, _are first brought into use by the prophets of the captivity_. "Thus also the story of the _Garden of Eden_, as a supplement to the history of the Creation, _was written down at Babylon_."

Strange as it may appear, after the _Genesis_ account, we may pa.s.s through the whole Pentateuch, and other books of the Old Testament, clear to the end, and will find that the story of the "_Garden of Eden_"

and "_Fall of Man_," is hardly alluded to, if at all. Lengkerke says: "One single _certain_ trace of the employment of the story of Adam's fall is entirely wanting in the Hebrew Canon (after the Genesis account). Adam, Eve, the Serpent, the woman's seduction of her husband, &c., are all images, _to which the remaining words of the Israelites never again recur_."[100:1]

This circ.u.mstance can only be explained by the fact that the first chapters of Genesis were not written until _after_ the other portions had been written.

It is worthy of notice, that this story of the Fall of Man, upon which the whole orthodox scheme of a divine Saviour or Redeemer is based, was _not_ considered by the learned Israelites as _fact_. They simply looked upon it as a story which satisfied the ignorant, but which should be considered as _allegory_ by the learned.[100:2]

Rabbi Maimonides (Moses Ben Maimon), one of the most celebrated of the Rabbis, says on this subject:--

"We must not understand, or take in a literal sense, what is written in _the book_ on the _Creation_, nor form of it the same ideas which are partic.i.p.ated by the generality of mankind; _otherwise our ancient sages would not have so much recommended to us, to hide the real meaning of it, and not to lift the allegorical veil, which covers the truth contained therein_. When taken in its _literal sense_, the work gives the most absurd and most extravagant ideas of the Deity.

'Whosoever should divine its true meaning ought to take great care in not divulging it.' This is a maxim repeated to us by all our sages, princ.i.p.ally concerning the understanding of the work of the six days."[100:3]

Philo, a Jewish writer contemporary with Jesus, held the same opinion of the character of the sacred books of the Hebrews. He has made two particular treatises, bearing the t.i.tle of "_The Allegories_," and he traces back to the _allegorical_ sense the "Tree of Life," the "Rivers of Paradise," and the other fictions of the Genesis.[100:4]

Many of the early Christian Fathers declared that, in the story of the Creation and Fall of Man, there was but an _allegorical fiction_. Among these may be mentioned St. Augustine, who speaks of it in his "City of G.o.d," and also Origen, who says:

"What man of sense will agree with the statement that the first, second, and third days, in which the _evening_ is named and the _morning_, were without sun, moon and stars? What man is found such an idiot as to suppose that G.o.d planted trees in Paradise like an husbandman? _I believe that every man must hold these things for images under which a hidden sense is concealed._"[100:5]

Origen believed aright, as it is now almost universally admitted, that the stories of the "Garden of Eden," the "Elysian Fields," the "Garden of the Blessed," &c., which were the abode of the blessed, where grief and sorrow could not approach them, where plague and sickness could not touch them, were founded on _allegory_. These abodes of delight were far away in the _West_, where the sun goes down beyond the bounds of the earth. They were the "Golden Islands" sailing in a sea of blue--_the burnished clouds floating in the pure ether_. In a word, _the "Elysian Fields" are the clouds at eventide_. The picture was suggested by the images drawn from the phenomena of sunset and twilight.[101:1]

Eating of the forbidden fruit was simply a figurative mode of expressing the performance of the act necessary to the perpetuation of the human race. The "Tree of Knowledge" was a Phallic tree, and the fruit which grew upon it was Phallic fruit.[101:2]

In regard to the story of "_The Deluge_," we have already seen[101:3]

that "Egyptian records tell nothing of a cataclysmal deluge," and that, "the land was _never_ visited by other than its annual beneficent overflow of the river Nile." Also, that "the Pharaoh Khoufou-cheops was building his pyramid, according to Egyptian chronicle, when the whole world was under the waters of a universal deluge, according to the Hebrew chronicle." This is sufficient evidence that the Hebrews did not borrow the legend from the Egyptians.

We have also seen, in the chapter that treated of this legend, that it corresponded in all the princ.i.p.al features with the _Chaldean_ account.

We shall now show that it was taken from this.

Mr. Smith discovered, on the site of Ninevah, during the years 1873-4, cylinders belonging to the early Babylonian monarchy, (from 2500 to 1500 B. C.) which contained the legend of the flood,[101:4] and which we gave in Chapter II. _This was the foundation for the Hebrew legend, and they learned it at the time of the Captivity._[101:5] The myth of Deucalion, the Grecian hero, was also taken from the same source. The Greeks learned it from the Chaldeans.

We read in Chambers's Encyclopaedia, that:

"It was at one time extensively believed, even by intelligent scholars, that the myth of Deucalion was a corrupted tradition of the _Noachian_ deluge, but this _untenable_ opinion is now all but universally abandoned."[102:1]

This idea was abandoned after it was found that the Deucalion myth was older than the Hebrew.

What was said in regard to the Eden story not being mentioned in other portions of the Old Testament save in Genesis, also applies to this story of the Deluge. _Nowhere_ in the other books of the Old Testament is found any reference to this story, except in Isaiah, where "the waters of Noah" are mentioned, and in Ezekiel, where simply the _name_ of Noah is mentioned.

We stated in Chapter II. that some persons saw in this story an _astronomical_ myth. Although not generally admitted, yet there are very strong reasons for believing this to be the case.

According to the _Chaldean_ account--which is the oldest one known--there were _seven_ persons saved in the ark.[102:2] There were also _seven_ persons saved, according to some of the _Hindoo_ accounts.[102:3] That this referred to the sun, moon, and five planets looks very probable. We have also seen that Noah was the _tenth_ patriarch, and Xisuthrus (who is the Chaldean hero) was the _tenth_ king.[102:4] Now, according to the Babylonian table, their _Zodiac_ contained _ten_ G.o.ds called the "_Ten Zodiac_ G.o.ds."[102:5] They also believed that whenever all the _planets_ met in the sign of Capricorn, _the whole earth was overwhelmed with a deluge of water_.[102:6] The _Hindoos_ and other nations had a similar belief.[102:7]

It is well known that the Chaldeans were great astronomers. When Alexander the Great conquered the city of Babylon, the Chaldean priests boasted to the Greek philosophers, who followed his army, that they had continued their astronomical calculations through a period of more than forty thousand years.[102:8] Although this statement cannot be credited, yet the great antiquity of Chaldea cannot be doubted, and its immediate connection with Hindostan, or Egypt, is abundantly proved by the little that is known concerning its religion, and by the few fragments that remain of its former grandeur.

In regard to the story of "_The Tower of Babel_" little need be said.

This, as well as the story of the Creation and Fall of Man, and the Deluge, was borrowed from the Babylonians.[102:9]

"It seems," says George Smith, "from the indications in the (cuneiform) inscriptions, that there happened in the interval between 2000 and 1850 B. C. a general _collection_ of the development of the various traditions of the Creation, Flood, Tower of Babel, and other similar legends." "These legends were, however, traditions before they were committed to writing, _and were common in some form to all the country_."[103:1]

The Tower of Babel, or the confusion of tongues, is nowhere alluded to in the Old Testament outside of Genesis, where the story is related.

The next story in order is "_The Trial of Abraham's Faith_."

In this connection we have shown similar legends taken from _Grecian_ mythology, which legends may have given _the idea_ to the writer of the Hebrew story.

It may appear strange that the _Hebrews_ should have been acquainted with _Grecian_ mythology, yet we know this was the case. The fact is accounted for in the following manner:

Many of the Jews taken captive at the Edomite sack of Jerusalem were sold to the _Grecians_,[103:2] who took them to their country. While there, they became acquainted with Grecian legends, and when they returned from "the Islands of the Sea"--as they called the Western countries--_they brought them to Jerusalem_.[103:3]

This legend, as we stated in the chapter which treated of it, was written at the time when the Mosaic party in Israel were endeavoring to abolish human sacrifices and other "abominations," and the author of the story invented it to make it appear that the Lord had abolished them in the time of Abraham. The earliest _Targum_[103:4] knows nothing about the legend, showing that the story was not in the Pentateuch at the time this Targum was written.

We have also seen that a story written by Sanchoniathon (about B. C.

1300) of one Saturn, whom the Phenicians called _Israel_, bore a resemblance to the Hebrew legend of Abraham. Now, Count de Volney tells us that "a similar tradition prevailed among the _Chaldeans_,"

and that they had the history of one _Zerban_--which means "rich-in-gold"[103:5]--that corresponded in many respects with the history of Abraham.[103:6] It may, then, have been from the Chaldean story that the Hebrew fable writer got his idea.

The next legend which we examined was that of "_Jacob's Vision of the Ladder_." We claimed that it probably referred to the doctrine of the transmigration of souls from one body into another, and also gave the apparent reason for the invention of the story.

The next story was "_The Exodus from Egypt, and Pa.s.sage through the Red Sea_," in which we showed, from Egyptian history, that the Israelites were _turned out_ of the country on account of their uncleanness, and that the wonderful exploits recorded of Moses were simply copies of legends related of the sun-G.o.d Bacchus. These legends came from "the Islands of the Sea," and came in very handy for the Hebrew fable writers; they saved them the trouble of _inventing_.

We now come to the story relating to "_The Receiving of the Ten Commandments_" by Moses from the Lord, on the top of a mountain, 'mid thunders and lightnings.

All that is likely to be historical in this account, is that Moses a.s.sembled, not, indeed, the whole of the people, but the heads of the tribes, and gave them the code which he had prepared.[104:1] The _marvellous_ portion of the story was evidently copied from that related of the law-giver Zoroaster, by the _Persians_, and the idea that there were _two_ tables of stone with the Law written thereon was evidently taken from the story of Bacchus, the Law-giver, who had _his_ laws written on _two tables of stone_.[104:2]

The next legend treated was that of "_Samson and his Exploits_."

Those who, _like the learned of the last century_, maintain that the Pagans copied from the Hebrews, may say that Samson was the model of all their similar stories, but now that our ideas concerning antiquity are enlarged, and when we know that Hercules is well known to have been the G.o.d _Sol_, whose _allegorical history_ was spread among many nations long before the Hebrews were ever heard of, we are authorized to believe and to say that some Jewish _mythologist_--for what else are their so-called historians--composed the anecdote of Samson, by partly disfiguring the popular traditions of the Greeks, Phenicians and Chaldeans, and claiming that hero for his own nation.[104:3]

The Babylonian story of Izdubar, the lion-killer, who wandered to _the regions of the blessed_ (the Grecian Elysium), who crossed _a great waste of land_ (the desert of _Lybia_, according to the Grecian mythos), and arrived at a region _where splendid trees were laden with jewels_ (the Grecian Garden of the Hesperides), is probably the foundation for the Hercules and other corresponding myths. This conclusion is drawn from the fact that, although the story of Hercules was known in the island of Thasus, by the _Phenician_ colony settled there, _five centuries before he was known in Greece_,[105:1] yet _its antiquity among the Babylonians antedates that_.

The age of the legends of Izdubar among the Babylonians cannot be placed with certainty, yet, the cuneiform inscriptions relating to this hero, which have been found, may be placed at about 2000 years B. C.[105:2]

"As these stories were _traditions_," says Mr. Smith, the discoverer of the cylinders, "before they were committed to writing, their antiquity as tradition is probably much greater than that."[105:3]