20260721 Q&A
Q & A
(1:30:59) And so in the meantime as we're uh doing this as Mike is collecting kind of your comments and questions I'm going to get a glass of water and we can um continue. Uh so to begin with I want to thank uh folks who have been uh offering donations or giving donations and support uh both in the lecture today. Uh JM thank you for your support.
(1:31:19) Uh Puglies in Australia thank you so much for your support. We also have had a bunch of um YouTube superthanks contributors who are not contributing in the live but go later as their practice is to do this um once they've been posted and they watch later. And so thanks also to always ask why, to Buu uh Kean Coup, to CC Ryder, to Canace Ronis, to Cliff Fornwalt.
(1:31:46) Thank you also to Cornelia Taylor, to Demaglot, to Edward Contreras, uh to Elodis Algado, to God of the Gaps. Thanks also to Jerger Ube, to John O'Brien, to Lark Wright, to Laura Alexander, to Mark Long. Thanks also to Nathan, to Rodrik Delm Machio, and Ryan M. and William Gazale. So, here are some of the questions people have been asking.
Temple in the City of David
(1:32:16) Um, Felix Fortuna Rex says, "An archaeologist named Eli Shukrron found a temple in the city of David above the Guhan spring, right where the Bible says it should be. It almost sounds like uh the first temple's been found." Okay. Well, that's that's an interesting thing. I'll have to um Eli Shookrun. So, I'm going to I'll look that up and we'll I be uh I haven't seen that, but I'll be interested to see what's been uh being done there.
(1:32:46) I've been um a couple years ago when I was able to go to um Jerusalem uh as part of a delegation for uh churches for Middle East peace. um was able to see the um that component of the the city of David um which is under an is a Palestinian um neighborhood that's under a lot of uh of of threat because of course it's has a lot of archaeological excitement for people but is obviously also an active um neighborhood.
New Religions and Abrahamic Faiths
(1:33:16) Um, Asgar Farooq Katak says, um, if you know all this man Abraham made, then why have new men made, uh, new religions? If you know all this man Abraham made, then why have new men made new religions? Well, um you know the in a lot of cases the you know the the different new religions that are Abrahamic um nevertheless consider themselves to be all of them consider themselves to be direct heirs.
(1:33:47) And so um for example uh as I say Islamic tradition is that um essentially all of these um patriarchs including Abraham are are prophets of God and essentially they're all um have been essentially Muslim the entire time and they they trace back their tradition anyway all the way back to creation is how they understand it.
(1:34:13) And so in other words, they consider uh Islam to be a direct continuation of this mythic time of Abraham. And that's also true in rebbitic Judaism. Um Christians entirely consider themselves heirs to Abraham. The New Testament says so all the time. So so in that sense um no one consider usually don't consider their religions to be new.
(1:34:37) Usually religions have claims to antiquity. Um so when I talk about religions being new, I'm talking about that from you know the kind more like of historical realities of of of how um there all of history is about um you know continuity and change. people are always um making new things within their own time frame because otherw if you try to do anything um that was exactly like how things were in let's say just even two or 30 hundred um BC it would just be completely alien from our our lives today.
Cultural Similarities to Abrahamic Stories
(1:35:15) So Austin Lewis says um I know many Bible stories are similar to other cultures stories in the region. So, for example, the flood story, the creation myth. Um, are there similar stories uh to Abraham's with other cultures? So, yeah, I was just thinking about that because I um we had talked about that just that thing um all of the different um connections for example that the Eden story have with other um Middle Eastern creation myths, the flood story as you mentioned.
(1:35:46) And I was trying to think of this this story specifically of you know like Abraham and Sarah going and visiting um you know in the staying in the houses of other kings and you know tricking them by saying that he's my sister. I don't I don't I'm I'm not aware of that existing in any any other story. Also um um it would be interesting.
(1:36:10) I'm I'm also not thinking of any other stories where um where a leader is called upon to you know sacrifice his own own child in this kind of way. I guess those are some of the most famous Abraham stories. And so um I guess the other most important story is um you know being promised that you'll have a multitude of descendants and um yeah to look for that.
Rachel's Theft of Idols and Josiah's Reforms
(1:36:35) I but I'm not I'm I kind of feel like these are um interesting and maybe more unique to Abraham than let's say the flood story or the creation story. Nexus Gaming Studios says um Genesis 31 uh 19 describes Rachel's theft of Laben's family idols. How would this fit in uh with the idea that the Abrams Abram story may have been pre-existing and modified in uh Josiah's era? So, um so yeah, I'd have to look exactly.
(1:37:08) So, the the Rachel story there is pro and the theft of the family idols is probably a I haven't looked at it, but it's probably a a Yahwist story. And so the idea of it is that um that you know the Yahwist story the J source is pos possibly or probably pre-exilic or at least if it's later it's a it seems to be a courtly narrative and and and the author of it doesn't have the um the kind of sensibilities that the the pre priestly writers have.
(1:37:47) And so, um, a, uh, a woman, you know, taking advantage of, uh, her her father by, you know, stealing his household gods, um, would have been that kind of a a courtly, um, story that's showing how people, you know, you know, trick are able to, you know, play tricks essentially or outwit other people in order to um, be able to retain favors and and different powers.
(1:38:13) And so it's very much in keeping with other things that are happening in terms of the um uh the Yahwehist author um in terms of um the Josiah reforms. So this is when um you know at the end of the first temple period we are uh there's beginning to be really a focus on um monolatry or hentheism where we're only we're trying to uh centralize uh just the worship of the one god and uh forbid worship of all the other gods.
(1:38:49) And so this particular story is able to make it in because the um you know without getting fully edited out or deleted like other stories would be because it isn't entirely clear you know to all the readers that that what she's bringing is you know the family idols she's bringing something.
(1:39:06) Um but I think it I think that is able to maybe slip by or slip through like that in the same way that we have um you know again these other other kinds of footprints of um of a broader pantheon of of polytheism that the story that I read in the Yahwist tale where essentially God is appearing as three as a you know as three men.
(1:39:31) Is that um is there is there an edit here or a part of the story where um there's a bigger pantheon at one point in some cases angels or um potentially other gods that have been um downgraded to angels. um the angel of death is perhaps that is um requiring the uh this firstborn sacrifice and is co is is causing and is getting passed you know passed over is potentially um a footprint of an earlier god of death.
(1:40:05) So all of these um edits are um are trying to um rep earlier um tradition that that is pretending that monotheism goes all the way back to the beginning when actually the real practice is that the religion is emerging out of um a more general Canaanite polytheism and and it is a the tradition itself is becoming monotheistic especially by the time you get into the second temple period.
Origin Stories: Outside vs. Native
(1:40:35) Um Jeremiah Bazan says, "Why do we think the Israelites invented a story where they come from outside of Canaan instead of being natives to the land?" So, um you know, like I kind of say with a with an origin story, you you have those sort of two options. You either you either decide you're from there or you decide you're from somewhere else.
(1:40:57) So the the Romans end up um you know with a story that uh you know in the in the Aniid that they are um not from Italy but rather that they um they're descendants of Trojan refugees and so um they may have picked up or stolen that story from the Atruscans who may have themselves um told that story about themselves.
(1:41:21) Um but neither of those is is the case. So they're not um they're not Trojan refugees. They um the Atruscans are are from there, you know, and so uh and so that's that's they just emerged out of out of that location. Um the Romans are since they're Indo-Uropean speakers at a certain point, Indo-Uropeans did enter into Italy and um but the Romans are um are also partially descended from the Atrescans.
(1:41:51) So they're kind of half from their they're half from a a land migration of these Indo-Uropean peoples. Anyway, they didn't know that. And so they're coming up with an origin story and they're use they're telling it in order to connect themselves to um uh Greek culture that they admire and also to um to write themselves into the great um epic uh of ancient Greece, you know, but not without making them be Greeks.
(1:42:20) they're they're the other guys. They're the Trojans who are also very very presented very nobly in the Iliad. Um and so in the same way um um Israelites have these origin stories where on the one hand there's one where they are descended from Abraham that's coming out of the one great civilization to the east of them, Mesopotamia.
(1:42:41) And then the other one is the they're uh they come from Egypt and have left Egypt through which is the other great civilization on the other side of them. And so, um, I think that those are those are two different origin stories that then really resonate and become very important in the second temple period when the exiles themselves have um, you know, physically returned to the land from um, their time in Babylon.
(1:43:14) And so it spoke to them very much. And so there might have been multiple other stories, but as they get edited together, the ones that are kept and retained and and resonate the most um you know are are these stories of coming back into the coming back into the land or coming into the land. Um, and so those are what the prophets are talking about and as a as a something they're holding up when the first temple is destroyed and and it's something that the the later editors and writers are are focusing on when uh the exiles come back.
Hebrew Bible vs. Old Testament
(1:43:49) Um, Ricky Palasio says, "Is there any noticeable difference in the Abraham of the Hebrew Bible and the Abraham of the Old Testament and Genesis?" So yeah, Ricky, so when I talk about the Hebrew Bible and I talk about the Old Testament, um those are the those are ex the same thing. So the only reason I I I usually switch back and forth between these and I talk about I say the Hebrew Bible or I say the which is the Jewish way of of talking about the uh Bible and I also talk about the Old Testament which is the Christian name for the
(1:44:22) Hebrew Bible. Those are synonyms. Um the Old Testament in within um Catholic and Orthodox tradition is is has more books than the rabbitic um cannon of the Hebrew Bible. So rabbitic Judaism um and so it has the other uh books that Catholicism calls the dut dutononical books.
(1:44:47) So this is things like the books of Mcabes and things and those are because they were in the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagent that is the basis of the Christian Old Testament. But um Genesis is exactly the same book in um you know the Hebrew Bible and in the Old Testament. I mean the only difference would be are there are there changes between the the Hebrew text and the u the the text as it's translated into the Septuagen and those are simply I think mostly translation changes.
The Earliest Datable Abraham Story
(1:45:21) It's not like um the difference between uh Daniel in in the um in the original uh Aramaic and Hebrew version and then the Greek version has additional parts that are not in the Aramaic and Hebrew versions. So no, I'd say there's no difference. Um Green Country Agroforestry says, so bottom line, what's the earliest datable Abraham story that we can dig up? I was poking about.
(1:45:49) I found Abraham and Ishmael in early forms in Syria around 2500 before the common era, but not associated with the biblical Abraham. So they're just, you know, names that can be used in use that early. So like I was saying, yeah, green country of agroforestry that um the problem, you know, we already have in in Genesis both Abram and Abraham as versions of the name.
(1:46:16) And so this um particle ab you know is um in Semitic is it's you know related to you know the word for father. And so whenever you're going to get into some kind of unimportant ancestor having you know the name ab you know as part of that is going to not be that unusual. And same thing um you know Ishmael or whatever is also has you know the same kinds of um smitic uh common Semitic consonants and because again in a lot of these writing systems the vowels aren't even there uh you know you can find variations on these names but what we don't have with any of those kinds of um
(1:46:56) any of those kinds of names is an association with an actual Abraham story as part of the Abraham tradition that we have. And so the earliest ones that we have of that is like I say the um the you know with any story attached is the uh the prophetic writers from the first temple period who are aware of Abraham as a progenitor and um and then by the time we getting to the very end of the first temple period also they're aware of a tradition of um of a covenant that uh God is making with Abraham to make one man into
(1:47:35) many. So maybe the very beginning of this line of um of uh of the progenitors and possibly also that you know again he's from a different place. He's come to Canaan which part of the covenant is that the that is to possess the land of Canaan. Um Smuggy Rob says are there any Indo-Uropean influences on the Hebrew Bible? Um so yeah I mean I think that so indo-uropeans are are all over the place and uh have you know extended into um you know they're not as close into the um uh the biblical area as all that because mo you know it's the center is
Indo-European Influences
(1:48:21) between you know the smitic speakers and then also the Egyptian speed speakers the um afroasiatic and so the um uh and so that's kind of the core But for example, um, Hittites who are remembered anyway in the Bible and, uh, uh, spoken Indo-Uropean language and so they will have had, you know, some some influences on on that.
(1:48:50) It's not really remembered, but there are essentially the biblical version of the Hittites are um are like neo-Hittites. the later later Hittites the but after the after the fall of the um the Hittite the actual Hittite empire in the Bronze Age collapse. Uh also during the Bronze Age collapse is when the um u is when the Philistines who are most certainly one of the sea peoples are settled by the Egyptians in what becomes Felistia Palestine.
(1:49:22) Uh, and so they are almost certainly a um um I mean they're pro almost certainly related to the masonians. And so they're probably a um um you know an Indo-Uropean speaking people that are are there and so the Philistines are a major um by the time the Bible's written uh the Philistines they have forgotten the Bible writers have forgotten that the Philistines aren't just from there.
(1:49:45) They assume they're just from there. And by that point they've also completely assimilated into um you know having local Canaanite uh language and customs and so forth. But they will have already um been providing you know some background uh influence and then ultimately um ongoing um helenic influence uh happens to in the Hebrew Bible which uh because of there's a lot of contact and interaction even during the Persian period with um with the Greeks uh many of whom have been um conquered by and incorporated into the
(1:50:24) Persian Empire. So the whole um uh west coast of Anatolia is settled by Greeks and those become part of the um the Persian Empire. And then of course after Alexander um the whole area is has a lot of Hellenistic influences and and texts are still um you know in the maybe in their final forms being edited and added to and some of the last ones like for example um Daniel is definitely um written in the Henistic period and is um you know very cognizant of of the of the Seucid Kings and other things.
Abraham vs. Brahma and Brahman
(1:51:05) So there's definitely um Indo, you know, Indo-Uropean in the sense of uh Indo-Uropean descendant speakers like the Greeks and the Hittites. So Operation Ivy says, "Is it possible the name Abraham shares some kind of um linguistic background with Brahma and Brahman?" Um so I don't know. So they I don't know what the linguistic background of Brahma and Brahman are.
Moses, Akenatan, and Joseph
(1:51:30) So the um you know we're just talking about Indo-Uropeans and um so the Brahmans are uh you know are part of you know one of the reasons why Indo-Uropean languages include the word Indo is because um Hindi anyway um the Sanskrit is as one of the Indo-European languages and so it's possible that that's actually you know has some kind of Indo-uropean root as opposed to Abraham which would be a Semitic route and so in that case it probably wouldn't have any relationship.
(1:52:01) Um, Patty O'Reilly says, "Is it likely that Moses happened upon uh text from Jacob's son Joseph in Pharaoh's house of his records that which mentioned Abraham and Aenatan, which inspired Moshe's Moses's mission to free his people from Atmosa, the first of Egypt?" Um, it's certainly something that people would love for that to be true, you know.
(1:52:24) In other words, can being able to connect um uh Moses and um and Israelite monotheism with Aenatan and uh is something that people would like to do. They just um not ever able to be found any link for that. um it is anacronistic um to have imagined like some kind of a connection because again the the Israelite religion only becomes monotheist much later and so it it's not um as a direct result of anything that anybody remembers about Akenatan but is instead um I think part of uh a later thing that's happening in the in the axial age that is also
(1:53:05) happening uh uh in ancient Greek religion where where the philosophers are also um beginning to see behind all of the gods a single a single source. And so um it's just an idea that multiple people can have and as much as we would love it to um to have connected to Akenatan, we have done a whole um lecture on Akenatan that um that there doesn't seem to be any connection.
(1:53:32) Uh likewise um you know in terms of Moses and and Joseph in term those are also uh like Abraham um not uh not historic figures. So we're talking about mythic figures and so there won't there are no records that we have uh from Egypt about them. We had a whole um lecture on on why unfortunately for Moses u is set in a time period when in fact um the Egyptian Empire included all of the land of Canaan.
(1:54:05) And so the um an Exodus no matter how much you're wandering in the wilderness, you don't end up you would only end up back in lands ruled by Egypt if you went to Canaan. Ron Wagner says, "Isn't it true that Muslims believe that Ishmamail was the one to be sacrificed and not Isaac?" Yes. So yeah, like I said, Ron, I didn't wasn't able to um go through all of the traditions that are subsequent to the Bible.
The Sacrifice of Ishmael
(1:54:28) Took a whole lecture just to um look at all of the um the biblical traditions and anything that might might possibly exist to predate um biblical traditions to see where we where the the sources for this Abraham tradition are. But yeah, like you say, um each of the traditions has evolved subsequently. So Abraham has lots of mentions in the New Testament.
Theological Significance of Hagar and Ishmael
(1:54:50) Of course, Abraham has lots of mentions in um you know the the Talmud, the rabbitic writings and Abraham is also mentioned in the you know the traditional stories and sayings and teachings ascribed to um Muhammad. And included in that is the is the idea that um that actually this this story that exists in Genesis um about the sacrifice of Isaac that it was actually Ishmael that was the one who was going to be sacrificed.
(1:55:21) Um but that that story is is clearly late and dependent on the story in Genesis which is the is the original that's been changed. Uh, Nexus Gaming Studio says, "I thought it was interesting how Abram follows ancient customs without asking God and then gets Ishmamail, but then asks God before following a different custom to get rid of Hagar and Ishmamail.
(1:55:42) " And I was wondering if there was a theological point being made. Yeah. So um so yeah the the the the issue with with all of that is that we have um you know multiple different voices with traditions that are coming together there. And so I didn't have time to as we were doing this I didn't have time to go through the entire um Hagar and Ishmael story.
(1:56:07) And so it is interesting that um you know is God doesn't command uh um in the story of that God doesn't command Abraham to take Hagar as a uh as a handmaidaden because his wife Sarah hasn't been having children. That's just something that um that Sarah suggests given the the reality of this. Um and then again this becomes a courtly story because uh as as usually as usual would happen is that when um when the the the lead wife in a in a royal court um you know obviously isn't able to have a son at all herself or when a um but when a a
(1:56:51) concubine let's say um ends up producing a a favored son she can be very much elevated in the in the in the court because her son, you know, increases her power and status, especially if that son ends up becoming, you know, the heir, becomes up becoming the king. And so um and so uh one of the things that ends up happening is this becomes then intolerable to to Sarah and um and rather than uh you know weigh into the disputes of of among wife and concubine, Abram says, "Well, you know, she's your handmmaid and you can choose what to
(1:57:28) do." And so um uh sends her it's Sarah who sends her off. uh Abraham doesn't intervene there but then God is is one that intervenes and God actually speaks to Hagar and ultimately speaks to Ishmael. So Hagar becomes one of the prophets the prophetists in the in the Genesis because um the Lord you know appears to her and comforts her and tells her that she's going to make a great uh nation am of her and her son as well.
(1:57:58) Uh and that becomes the origin story for Bedawins in the um in the Genesis account. Um Coachira says, "So are Abraham and Sarah siblings only in the esource or is it possible uh that them being brother and sister is an older tradition?" So that's I I was going to look at that as well because it does talk about it. There's another I think there's another reference um at the very beginning where um you know in the as they're doing sort of generations where essentially it's uh mentioning that you know at the end of the book of generations there we saw
Abraham and Sarah as Siblings
(1:58:34) that um Abraham's father Tara has um has three sons um and Lot is the uh Lot is the uh son of one of them and so that's how that's how that relationship of having a nephew works. I'm trying to think if though if somewhere in that area it also mentions that um that Terra has another it mentions that Terra has a daughter as well by a different one or if it is only right there in the esource and I I was going to look it up but I ran out of time. So it's interesting.
Evaluating Abraham's Character
(1:59:06) We'll have to I'll have to look it up and put it in the um in the comments uh of the lecture. K. Tempest Bratford says it's weird to me that Abraham is hailed as the great ancestor yet he is a terrible father. He sends his first son into the away into the desert with nothing. He almost kills or does kill his second son.
(1:59:26) He's also a terrible husband. Poor Sarah. Poor Ishmael's mother, Hagar. Uh, what is there to revere here? I've heard a simplistic view, Isaac versus Ishmael, described the Israeli versus Arab or Jew, Judaism versus Muslim. Can you speak on that? So, um, yeah. So again, this is what I was kind of saying too in the um you know uh the different books of the New Testament um hail Abraham and his willingness to obey God even to the point of sacrificing his own son although he doesn't end up doing it in the Genesis as we have it um as
(2:00:05) that that's a test of faith and that Abraham passed the test and certainly that's um how it was able to be interpreted still by early Christians and Christians up until very recently. I like I said whenever I read that I I interpret that as if Abraham is actually um being given a test his willingness to do it is failing the test.
(2:00:28) But uh again this is because when you have stories become scripture become sacred story and and therefore continue to resonate and speak to people in different times. You know we're going to have we're going to look at it and interpret it very differently. And so as you say um you know for our understanding of what we how we view what fatherhood is and how fathers should behave and things like that in the 21st century uh Abraham doesn't have a great track record here but again he is at you know being written about in a time period that has
(2:01:01) you know different values that are trying to um say different things. I don't actually think he's also necessarily um being held up as a model of how a good father behaves, but rather that he is um the importance is that he is the progenitor of all of all of these nations. Um in terms of the uh um taking Isaac and Ishmael um uh to you know I guess I guess it would yeah Jacob and well I guess it's Isaac and Israel.
(2:01:36) Jacob or Jacob and Israel, Isaac and Ishmael or Isaac's son Jacob who is Israel as a as a shorthand for um uh is Israel versus uh Arab or Jewish versus Muslim. You know, these are just when people are are taking shorthands even today. You know, in the same way that all of the prophets are are speaking to the Israelite people and they'll say, "Hear hear me, O Jacob.
(2:02:01) " and and they're using that aonomous mythic ancestor as a um as a shortorthhand for the people. And so that can still be done and people still do it. But um obviously the u the conflicts uh are are not u sometimes portrayed as that these are conflicts that are super agent and go all the way back. Actually a lot of these are are very new.
(2:02:26) Um there is a lot of lot of tradition anyway through um a bunch of the a bunch of the middle ages where um uh uh Jewish people were let's say given more tolerance sometimes in in Muslim nations than in Christian nations depending on what time I mean Jewish people were also received varying levels of tolerance in Christian nations or terrible persecutions and pilgrims in Christian nations as well.
(2:02:57) So there's it's always, you know, it's hard to really generalize for any of this. Um the the current conflicts are um you know are are are really you know tied up with the um uh the this modern foundation of a state of Israel and um the ongoing um uh occupation or military occupation of the Palestinian people uh by the Israeli military.
Traditions Outside Abrahamic Texts
(2:03:26) Um certified genius. Thank you so much for your support. Uh, Kmpus Bradford also asks, "Are there any traditions of Abraham outside of Hebrew, Christian or Islamic holy texts?" So, not not earlier ones. So, we don't have any traditions of Abraham earlier. Um, you know, outside of um later, in other words, what texts that are dependent on Genesis, so that already understand the character.
(2:03:56) Um there will be um any number of traditions that are going to um have evolved since then because the Bible is such a um massively influential book. Uh Nexus Gaming Studio says, "Are there any resources that lay out which part of the Toron corresponds to each source?" Yes. So um Richard Elliot Freriedman um has a book.
Resources for Biblical Sources
(2:04:24) This is about the Torah specifically um that um refers it's called the Bible with sources revealed. And so he makes his case why he thinks each individual component of the Torah is written I that is written either by the or comes from either the the Yahweh source, the Elois source, uh the Deuteronomist, um the priestly writer, the uh J reactor and the final redactor.
Questions and Answers
Next Week: Movie Review Plan
(2:04:50) And so he makes the argument for that and I I find that to be a very helpful resource if >> what's the name of the author? >> Richard Elliot Freriedman. The Bible with the sources revealed is the text. All right. So folks, we are going to do a movie review next week because um I'm going to a conference and I won't be able to prepare an entire um lecture.
(2:05:13) And so we've asked for movie suggestions about what we should review. Uh folks have said we should review the Odyssey, the new one, which would be fun because Lander and I haven't actually gone to the theater to see a movie in a few years and so that would be uh heard good things about it, but I would like to see it. That's a good idea.
(2:05:32) People have said Jesus Christ Superstar, that's been at the top of our list. Monty Pythons, the life of Brian, that's of course one of my favorites that I um you know wouldn't I mean I can I would love to watch it again always. I know a lot of it by heart. Quoadis I think would be a good one.
(2:05:51) I think that that I have never seen it but um Peter Uff is uh apparently um chewing you know the whatever the the scenery is such a an incredible actor in that and be funny. The apple Jesus of Montreal the Ten Commandments. I don't know if Landro has enough. We're trying to save some time. I don't know if we have time to watch the Ten Commandments is very long.
(2:06:14) We'll do it someday but probably not next week. the Passover plot, Exodus Decoded, and then there was a series in the 1990s called the Bible Collection that has a dozen or so films, a miniseries. So, that probably also sounds like too long for next week, but I appreciate all of these suggestions. You can also keep putting them um in the uh once the once this lecture ends on the outside of the um the YouTube uh you and we'll continue to look at that and we'll announce sometime in the next week which one we watched uh which one we're
(2:06:48) deciding to watch so that you guys can watch along with us and um and we'll see you next Tuesday.
Lectures Mentioned
| Lecture Topic | Context |
|---|---|
| Akenatan | Discussed connections between Israelite monotheism and Akenatan. |
| Moses/Exodus | Discussed why Moses is not a historic figure and the anachronisms of the Exodus story setting. |
| Biblical Traditions | Examined sources of the Abraham tradition and biblical traditions predating the Bible. |