Genesis 1-11 was written during the Babylonian exile

Faith & Science Conversation
41

I continue the discussion of the Exodus here.

42

What does “Philistine” mean? Does it mean “people descended from emigrants that came from Crete” or does it mean (anachronistically) the people who lived in “the place we now call Philistia”? Both are plausible meanings.

Consider that when the Roman Empire emerged from the Italian peoples…there were no “Italian” peoples. Italy didn’t exist. There are uncountable similar examples.

1 Like
43

I think this Wiki discussion is a good starting point … (yes, it’s Wiki … but it is an unusually well footnoted Wiki discussion):

The term “Peleset” (transliterated from hieroglyphs as P-r-s-t) is found in five inscriptions referring to a neighboring people or land starting from c.1150 BCE during the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt. The first known mention is at the temple at Medinet Habu which refers to the Peleset among those who fought with Egypt in Ramesses III’s reign,[1][2]

and the last known is 300 years later on Padiiset’s Statue. Since 1822, scholars have connected the Egyptian “Peleset” inscriptions with the Philistines,[3]

described in the Masoretic bible as “pelistim”. The Assyrians called the same region “Palashtu/Palastu” or “Pilistu”, beginning with Adad-nirari III in the Nimrud Slab in c.800 BCE through to an Esarhaddon treaty more than a century later.[4][5]

Neither the Egyptian nor the Assyrian sources provided clear regional boundaries for the term.[6]

The first clear use of the term Palestine to refer to the entire area between Phoenicia and Egypt was in 5th century BC Ancient Greece,[7][8]

when Herodotus wrote of a “district of Syria, called Palaistinê” in The Histories, which included the Judean mountains and the Jordan Rift Valley.[7][9][10][11][12][13]

In the treatise Meteorology c.340 BCE, Aristotle wrote, “there is a lake in Palestine”. [14][15] [16][17]

This is understood by scholars to be a reference to the Dead Sea.[18] Later Greek writers such as Polemon and Pausanias also used the word, which was followed by Roman writers such as Ovid, Tibullus, Pomponius Mela, Pliny the Elder, Dio Chrysostom, Statius, Plutarch as well as Roman Judean writers Philo of Alexandria and Josephus.[19]

Other writers, such as Strabo, referred to the region as Coele-Syria[a] (“all Syria”) around 10-20 CE.[20][21]"

References

  1. ^ a b Fahlbusch et al., 2005, p. 185.
  2. ^ a b Ancient Records of Egypt: The first through the seventeenth dynasties, James Henry Breasted, page 24
  3. People of the sea: the search for the Philistines, Trude Krakauer Dothan, Moshe Dothan, Macmillan, 1992, p22-23. Jean-François Champollion, in 1822, was the first to make this connection.
  4. ^ a b c Sharon, 1988, p. 4.
  5. Carl S. Ehrlich “Philistines” The Oxford Guide to People and Places of the Bible. Ed. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan. Oxford University Press, 2001.
  6. Eberhard Schrader wrote in his seminal “Keilinschriften und Geschichtsforschung” (“KGF”, in English “Cuneiform inscriptions and Historical Research”) that the Assyrian term “Pilistu” referred to “the East” in general. See KGF p123-124 and Tiglath Pileser III by Abraham Samuel Anspacher, p48
  7. ^ a b c d e Jacobson 1999: “The earliest occurrence of this name in a Greek text is in the mid-fifth century b.c., Histories of Herodotus, where it is applied to the area of the Levant between Phoenicia and Egypt.”…"The first known occurrence of the Greek word Palaistine is in the Histories of Herodotus, written near the mid-fifth century B.C. Palaistine Syria, or simply Palaistine, is applied to what may be identified as the southern part of Syria, comprising the region between Phoenicia and Egypt. Although some of Herodotus’ references to Palestine are compatible with a narrow definition of the coastal strip of the Land of Israel, it is clear that Herodotus does call the “whole land by the name of the coastal strip.”…“It is believed that Herodotus visited Palestine in the fifth decade of the fifth century B.C.”…“In the earliest Classical literature references to Palestine generally applied to the Land of Israel in the wider sense.”
  8. : "As early as the Histories of Herodotus, written in the second half of the fifth century B.C.E., the term Palaistinê is used to describe not just the geographical area where the Philistines lived, but the entire area between Phoenicia and Egypt—in other words, the Land of Israel. Herodotus, who had traveled through the area, would have had firsthand knowledge of the land and its people. Yet he used Palaistinê to refer not to the Land of the Philistines, but to the Land of Israel
  9. ^ a b The Southern and Eastern Borders of Abar-Nahara Steven S. Tuell Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 284 (Nov., 1991), pp. 51–57
  10. Herodotus’ Description of the East Mediterranean Coast Anson F. Rainey Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 321 (Feb., 2001), pp. 57–63
  11. In his work, Herodotus referred to the practice of male circumcision associated with the Hebrew people: “the Colchians, the Egyptians, and the Ethiopians, are the only nations who have practised circumcision from the earliest times. The Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine themselves confess that they learnt the custom of the Egyptians… Now these are the only nations who use circumcision.” The History of Herodotus
  12. Beloe, W., Rev., Herodotus, (tr. from Greek), with notes, Vol.II, London, 1821, p.269 “It should be remembered that Syria is always regarded by Herodotus as synonymous with Assyria. What the Greeks called Palestine the Arabs call Falastin, which is the Philistines of Scripture.”
  13. Elyahu Green, Geographic names of places in Israel in Herodotos This is confirmed by George Rawlinson in the third book (Thalia) of The Histories where Palaestinian Syrians are part of the fifth tax district spanning the territory from Phoenicia to the borders of Egypt, but excludes the kingdom of Arabs who were exempt from tax for providing the Assyrian army with water on its march to Egypt. These people had a large city called Cadytis, identified as Jerusalem.
  14. Again if, as is fabled, there is a lake in Palestine, such that if you bind a man or beast and throw it in it floats and does not sink (Aristotle, Webster ed. 2004, p. 38)
  15. ^ a b “Meteorology By Aristotle”. Classics.mit.edu. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  16. ^ a b Aristotle (1 January 2004). E. W. Webster, ed. Meteorology. Digireads.com Publishing. pp. 38–. ISBN 978-1-4209-0042-2. etvHt-bBafMC. Again if, as is fabled, there is a lake in Palestine, such that if you bind a man or beast and throw it in it floats and does not sink (Aristotle, Webster ed. 2004, p. 38)
  17. ^ a b Aristotle, Meteorology 1.8, trans. E.W. Webster, rev. J. Barnes.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g Schmidt 2001, p. 29.
  19. ^ a b Robinson, Edward, Physical geography of the Holy Land, Crocker & Brewster, Boston, 1865, p.15. Robinson, writing in 1865 when travel by Europeans to the Ottoman Empire became common asserts that, “Palestine, or Palestina, now the most common name for the Holy Land, occurs three times in the English version of the Old Testament; and is there put for the Hebrew name פלשת, elsewhere rendered Philistia. As thus used, it refers strictly and only to the country of the Philistines, in the southwest corner of the land. So, too, in the Greek form, Παλαςτίνη), it is used by Josephus. But both Josephus and Philo apply the name to the whole land of the Hebrews ; and Greek and Roman writers employed it in the like extent.”
  20. ^ a b c d e f g Feldman 1996
  21. ^ a b The Hellenistic settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa, 2006, Getzel M. Cohen, p36-37, "“Palestine” did not come into official use until the early second century ad, when the emperor Hadrian decided to rename the province of Judaea; for its new name he chose “Syria Palaestina.” The new name took hold. It is found thereafter in inscriptions, on coins, and in numerous literary texts. Thus Arrian (7.9.8, Indica 43.1) and Appian (Syr. 50), who lived in the second century ad, and Cassius Dio (e.g., 38.38.4, 39.56.6), who lived in the third, referred to the region as “Palestine.” And in the rabbinic literature “Palestine” was used as the name of the Roman province.
44

I think you missed the point. If Genesis 1-11 was written/compiled during the Exile and the term “Philistine” used anachronistically, it does not render the entire text fiction.

45

Oh, I agree with that.

Just because someone writes an American history that includes the giant Paul Bunyan as an HISTORICAL person, doesn’t mean all the other chapters are inaccurate.

But all the chronology that involves Paul Bunyan’s affairs are likely to be fairly garbled, yes?

For example, Abraham pretends to be Sarah’s brother, so that the war lords of Palestine wouldn’t seek to kill him because of their lust for Sarah - - who, by anyone’s best guess is at least in her 60’s! This is the kind of corresponding evidence that shows the Abraham chronology is suspect.

If the Bible scribes are trying to tell us about the history of a period … and their history is wrong … it helps to show that not every chapter in the Bible is reliable.

While I understand your desire to rationalize this reporting problem as simply not knowing who really lived on the Philistine coast in 1900 BCE … the problem is TWO-fold:

Whoever was living there (if anyone) was living under Egyptian hegemony. The Egyptians consistently projected their power up the Levantine coast … with occasional lapses for sure … all the way through the Amarna period … and up to the arrival of the Philistines.

The centuries of context surrounding Moses, Joshua and Judges do NOT fit a time of Egyptian hegemony. The context of Deuteronomy, Exodus, Numbers, and Joshua fit the POST-PHILISTINE arrival.

46

How long would an “occasional lapse” be?

47

When I used the phrase “occasional lapse” - - this was to acknowledge that there are always uprisings…

So it might last a few years … just until the Pharaoh could send out an army to make things right … or to conclude a negotiation.

As we can see from any reading of the Old Testament narrative, in 1000 years that elapsed from the time of Abraham to approximately sometime after 943 BCE (said to be the 5th year of King Rehoboam), when the Egyptian Shishaq/Shoshenk invaded in the area of Jerusalem) the only episode of Egyptian influence in the Levant was the unnamed Pharaoh conquering Gezer and giving it to his daughter, now Solomon’s wife. ( 1Ki 9:16 “For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife.” ) This is particularly dramatic … in its singular nature!

FOOTNOTE on Sheshonq:
Hebrew Bible at 1st Kings 11:40, 14:25, and 2 Chronicles 12:2-9. According to the Bible, Shishaq invaded Judah, mostly the area of Benjamin, during the fifth year of the reign of king Rehoboam, taking with him most of the treasures of the temple created by Solomon. Shoshenq I is generally attributed with the raid on Judah. This is corroborated with a stela discovered at Megiddo.

48

Thank you all for this discussion - great stuff

49

While @Jonathan_Burke and I have our disagreement about Exodus … we certainly agree that Genesis was written AFTER the Exile to Babylon!

“Genesis 1-11 was written during the Babylonian exile”

While it is always attractive to think that the Biblical texts about patriarchal times were written BEFORE other texts, the odds of this seem pretty low.

Homer barely mentioned certain Greek Gods. And it was LATTER writers who explored the histories of these Gods who had barely been discussed by Homer.

Stories about Romulus and Remus, legendary founders of Rome, did not appear until Rome had become a fairly mature Republic or Empire.

The temptation to create a “back story” about the 12 founders of the legendary 12 tribes seems inescapable.

50

@gbrooks9
@Jonathan_Burke

In my considered opinion while Genesis most likely was edited and received its final edit during the exile, it was written before then, probably during the time of the United Kingdom of David and Solomon as the Jewish people sought to understand their roots as a new nation in the Middle East using the traditional sources available to them.

The story of Noah may be an exception. It clearly has Babylonian roots and may have been inserted to fill a gap in the history.

However history is not written all at once, History is written in stages and it seems that this is what took place with Genesis.

1 Like
51

It would be VERY strange if the books of Genesis were actually written in the same sequence as the chronology they purport to cover …

The usual pattern in ancient writings is for a nation to produce a compendium of recent glorious history … to be followed by an even more glorious narrative PRIOR to the first publication!

52

This theory needs to address the following facts.

  1. Virtually all the specific events and people of Genesis 1-11 are not found anywhere from Genesis 12 to the end of 2 Kings. There’s no evidence that anyone before the Babylonian exile knew about Adam, Eve, the serpent, the trees, the fall, the flood, or the tower of Babel.

  2. The genealogies found from Genesis 12 to the end of 2 Kings don’t go back any further than the family of Abraham; there’s no evidence that anyone before the Babylonian captivity knew the genealogies of people who lived earlier than Abraham’s family.

  3. Historical and geographical references in Genesis 1-11 which could not have been written before the reign of Solomon at earliest, and some which are clearly exilic.

  4. Citations in Genesis 1-11 (not simply the flood narrative), of content in specific Sumerian and Akkadian texts which would not have been available to pre-exilic Hebrews. They were available to Daniel, and we know he was taught “the language and literature of the Babylonians”, which included these texts.

  5. Vocabulary and grammar in Genesis 1-11 which belongs to the era of the monarchy or exile.

53

@Jonathan_Burke

Looking at these 11 chapters I would divide them into two parts, 1-4 is the Creation and the first Family. 5 is transition to Noah. 6-10 is the story of Noah and 11 is again transition.

As I indicated before I really do not want to defend the story of Noah. Could you give me dome background other than the obvious behind the “curse of Canaan (Ham)?”

That leaves the first four chapters, which I think date back to the monarchy. It might be noted that the Jews, Babylonians, and even the Canaanites were products of the same general culture and language.

54

How does that account for these facts?

  • Virtually all the specific events and people of Genesis 1-11 are not found anywhere from Genesis 12 to the end of 2 Kings. There’s no evidence that anyone before the Babylonian exile knew about Adam, Eve, the serpent, the trees, the fall, the flood, or the tower of Babel.

  • The genealogies found from Genesis 12 to the end of 2 Kings don’t go back any further than the family of Abraham; there’s no evidence that anyone before the Babylonian captivity knew the genealogies of people who lived earlier than Abraham’s family.

  • Historical and geographical references in Genesis 1-11 which could not have been written before the reign of Solomon at earliest, and some which are clearly exilic.

  • Citations in Genesis 1-11 (not simply the flood narrative), of content in specific Sumerian and Akkadian texts which would not have been available to pre-exilic Hebrews. They were available to Daniel, and we know he was taught “the language and literature of the Babylonians”, which included these texts.

  • Vocabulary and grammar in Genesis 1-11 which belongs to the era of the monarchy or exile.

Certain vocabulary in Genesis 1-3 is used elsewhere only in books written during the monarchy or later, such as ʾēd (source of water, Genesis 2:6), neḥmād (pleasant, Genesis 2:9; 3:6), tāpar (sew, Genesis 3:7), ʾēbāh (enmity, Genesis 3:15), šûp (bruise/wound, Genesis 3:15) ʿeṣeb (labor, Genesis 3:16), tĕšûqāh (longing, Genesis 3:16). The word Shinar (Genesis 10:10; 11:2), was used by nations outside Mesopotamia “to designate the Kassite kingdom of Babylon (ca. 1595-1160 B.C.E)”; consequently its use here indicates Genesis 11 was written no earlier than the date of that kingdom. The Hebrew phrase for “breath of life” used in Genesis 2:7; 6:17; 7:15, 22, is not found anywhere else in Scripture. However, it is found in the Eridu Genesis, a Sumerian text which was copied and read by the Babylonians.

Certain names appear only in Genesis 1-11 and books written during or after the Babylonian exile; typically they appear later in 1 Chronicles 5 or later books as personal names, and in Isaiah and Ezekiel as place names. Some names appear as personal names before the exile, but as place names only during or after the exile. A few names appear only in Genesis 10.

  1. Gomer (Genesis 10:2-3, 1 Chronicles 1:5-6, Ezekiel 38:6, Hosea 1:3).
  2. Magog (Genesis 10:2, 1 Chronicles 1:5, Ezekiel 38:2; 39:6).
  3. Madai (Genesis 10:2, 1 Chronicles 1:5).
  4. Javan (Genesis 10:2, 4, 1 Chronicles 1:5, 7, Isaiah 66:19, Ezekiel 27:13).
  5. Tubal (Genesis 4;22; 10:2, 1 Chronicles 1:5, Isaiah 66:19, Ezekiel 27:13; 32:26; 38:2-3; 39:1).
  6. Meshech (Genesis 10:2, 1 Chronicles 1:5, Psalm 120:5, Ezekiel 27:13; 32:26; 38:2-3; 39:1).
  7. Tiras (Genesis 10:2, 1 Chronicles 1:5).
  8. Togarmah (Genesis 10:3, 1 Chronicles 1:6, Ezekiel 27:14; 38:6).
  9. Dodanim (Genesis 10:4).
  10. Dedan (Genesis 10:7; 25:3, 1 Chronicles 1:9, 32, Jeremiah 25:23; 49:8, Ezekiel 25:13; 27:20; 38:13).
  11. Akkad (Genesis 10:10).
  12. Erech (Genesis 10:10).
  13. Calah (Genesis 10:11-12).
  14. Resen Genesis 10:12).

Some verses in Genesis 1-11 use place names which help date the text. In particular, several verses in Genesis 10 indicate the chapter could not have been written until after the reign of Solomon.

  1. Genesis 2:14; 10:11. These verses refers to Assyria, which did not exist until the reign of Assuruballit I (1363-1328 BCE). The city of Assur was built earlier (around 2,500 BCE), but was ruled over by Akkadians, Amorites, and Babylonians in succession. Assyria did not become an independent state with Assur as its capital reign of Assuruballit I.

  2. Genesis 10:11. This verse refers to Nineveh as part of Assyria, but it was not until the reign of Assuruballit I (1363-1328 BCE), that Nineveh became part of Assyrian territory. Note that Nineveh is mentioned in Genesis 10:11-12, but not mentioned again until 2 Kings, written during the exile; this supports the conclusion that Genesis 11 was not written before the exile.

  3. Genesis 10:11-12. This refers to the city of Calah as “that great city”. Calah did not exist until 1750 BCE, and was a mere village until the ninth century BCE, when it became “that great city” during the reign of Assurnasirpal II, who made it the capital of Assyria. It could not have been called “that great city” until after the reign of Solomon.

  4. Genesis 10:19. The boundaries of Canaan described here did not exist until 1280 BCE by a peace treaty between Ramses II and Hattusilis III in 1280 BCE; it is therefore unsurprising that the borders of Canaan described here do not match the description of Canaan in Genesis 15:18 or Numbers 34:2-12, or any text of Moses’ time. This verse could not have been written earlier than 1280 BCE.

  5. Genesis 10:19. This verse refers to Gaza, but this location was first called “Gaza” during the reign of Thutmose III (1481-1425 BCE); it was not called “Gaza” before this time. It would have been known as “Gaza” by the time of Moses, but not in the time of Abraham.

  6. Genesis 11:28, 31. These verses refers to “Ur of the Chaldeans”. The Chaldeans did not occupy Ur until around the tenth century (1000 BCE). The only pre-exilic use of the phrase “Ur of the Chaldeans” in the Old Testament is in Genesis 15:7, which was clearly written at least as early as the eleventh century (possibly by Samuel), by which time the term “Ur of the Chaldeans” was already the common term for the area. The only other use of “Ur of the Chaldeans” is in Nehemiah 9:7, a post-exilic book.

55

This information is very interesting to me. Where did you get it from?

56

It’s a combination of my own research and some information I have found in commentaries.

1. Certain vocabulary in Genesis 1-3 is used elsewhere only in books written during the monarchy or later. I found most of this in commentaries, and some of it myself through word searches.

2. Certain names appear only in Genesis 1-11 and books written during or after the Babylonian exile. I found this information myself by making repeated word searches.

3. Some verses in Genesis 1-11 use place names which help date the text. I found some of this information in commentaries, and some of it I worked out myself by choosing a place name then looking for its earliest use in the Bible and looking in history for the earliest date at which it could have been used in the Bible in the way it’s used in Genesis 1-11.

57

Interesting, thanks.

1 Like
58

@Jonathan_Burke,

What an irony that you and are part of the minority that think Genesis was written AFTER the Exile… and yet you tortured our discussion with an uber skepticism that Jewish scribes would ever know Sumerian cuneiform.

Clearly you meant only to doubt that they wouldn’t know Sumerian prior to the Exile. But on these grounds you stopped my linguistic and theological assessment dead in the water - - despite its relevance to the post-Exile situation.

I find that odd…

But at the very least, I agree with you completely about Genesis…

59

It’s not odd George, the simple fact is there’s no evidence for Hebrews in pre-exilic Judea knowing Sumerian cuneiform. It’s that simple. We have plenty of proto-Hebrew and Hebrew texts in pre-exilic Judea. We have absolutely zero Sumerian cuneiform texts in pre-exilic Judea.

We have textual evidence that hardly any Sumerians or Babylonians could even read or write their own texts, let alone Hebrew texts. Scribal literacy was confined to a tiny scribal elite; not even the kings could read or write. The first evidence we have for Hebrews learning cuneiform is in the exilic era, and the first evidence of Assyrian contact with Israel (not even Babylonian contact with Israel), is in the seventh century.

60

@Jonathan_Burke
@fmiddel
@gbrooks9

It should be noted that the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20 include the justification of the Sabbath on the seventh day because YHWH created the universe in 6 days. (Ex 20:8)

This would seem to indicate that Gen 1 was written before the Exile.