Previously, I mentioned the rabbinic claim that Joshua married the harlot, Rahab:
http://tanakhemet.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/midrash-fact-fiction-or-projection.html
There are many myths that find their way into Talmud and Midrash from a variety of sources. It is possible that this myth may have a connection to a claim made about another Yeshua - Jesus.
According to a new book, Jesus married Mary Magdalene, who was also a prostitute.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2827310/Jesus-married-prostitute-Mary-Magdalene-two-children-lost-gospel-reveals.html
It is very easy for such myths to crossover into Jewish Midrash, since the common market of new religions 2000 years ago shared many ideas and stories. Thus several myths which have no basis in the TNK but were in external works such as the Dead Sea scrolls or the Alphabet of ben Sira, find their way into rabbinic midrash.
Mythology and legend is the cultural expression of a people and is commonly found to be rooted in other cultures as well. The Midrashim are imaginative commentaries for the most part. The Torah itself though is a compilation of myths and legends which predated it own existence. The Creation narrative is wholely Chaldean, the story of Cain and Abel was lifted from the texts of Egyptian mythology, the story of Noah was predated by Gilgamesh which itself was predated by the Epic of Atrahasis. The list goes on and on. The Torah is a fascinating peice of literature culled together by many authors over many generation in ored to define the identity and culture of the Israelite people. Today the value in its texts is in the realm of allegorical exegesis as an overly literal reading of the text in most cases is irrelivant and based on false assumptions of the texts origins which in a literal context can be disputed and ultimately discounted in the historical record. The problem I see with modern Karaim is that they are one step towards complete secularism that Jews take before they give up Judaism. They have already come to the knowledge of the false claims made by the Rabbonim and then look for an alternative "true" to the text movement like the Karaim. However, the critical thinking mind typically takes the wooden literalism of Karaism to its logical conclusion and thus concludes that the Torah is not a historically valid document and has little relevance to the modern man. This is why some of the Karaite Sages of the past have turned to Kabbalah (like Simha Lutz) for spirituality as Karaism doesn't provide a spiritual platform to make Torah relevant to the questions and needs of the people.
ReplyDeleteIf it is suggested that stories in Genesis were lifted from earlier sources, how do we know what historically happened? The flood for example. If it also was recorded in Gilgamesh, this doesn't help us decipher the origin of the story. The date of the flood, is presumably corroborated by the 2 versions.
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