Paul Clark

Author of The Omega Course

Notes on Appendix 4

PAGE
Book		LOC
Kindle		APPENDIX 4
38310279E reflects the concerns of Israel and shows no interest in Judah: Friedman, Richard Elliott: Who Wrote the Bible? Jonathan Cape, London 1988, pp.61-67. Finkelstein, Israel and Silberman, Neil Asher: The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of its Sacred Texts. Touchstone, New York 2002, pp. 12, 45.
38310281The resulting population explosion triggered an economic and social revolution: Finkelstein & Silberman op cit, pp. 243-6.
38410285And with this social, economic and political revolution came a religious revolution: Finkelstein & Silbermanop cit, pp. 246-9, Lane Fox, Robin: The Unauthorised Version: Truth and Fiction in the Bible, Viking, London 1991, pp. 61-4.
38410290apart from briefly in Egypt some 500 years earlier: Thomas Römer states that there is no evidence of any connection between the Egyptian and Judean moves to the worship of a single god (Römer, Thomas: The Invention of God, Harvard University Press, 2015,, pp. 232-234).
38410292Scholars are divided about when (the J text) was written: Friedman (Who Wrote the Bible? pp. 86-7) and Robin Lane Fox (The Unauthorised Version, pp. 58) date it before the fall of Israel, as does Greg Hoover (The Yahwist, KDP 2012, Loc 72); Finkelstein & Silberman (The Bible Unearthed, p. 46) date it after.
38410296The failure of the Assyrians to capture Jerusalem may have convinced the Temple priests there that their city really was special: Römer, T: The Invention of God, pp. 184-186.
38410301the Yahweh-only faction lost much of its influence: Friedman: Who Wrote the Bible? p. 96; Finkelstein & Silberman: The Bible Unearthed, pp. 270-271.
38410302It did not regain it until 640 BCE, when an 8-year-old named Josiah came to the throne: Friedman: Who Wrote the Bible? pp. 96-98.
38410303the discovery of an ancient book of law: Friedman: op cit, pp. 101-2; Finkelstein & Silberman: The Bible Unearthed, pp. 277-281.
38410304More than 200 years ago, scholars concluded that this was an early version of the Book of Deuteronomy: Römer, T: The Invention of God, p. 193.
38410308we should not take the finding of a long-lost book literally. It is a common trope: Römer, T: op cit, p. 193.
38410309According to these scholars, the D text did not come until much later: Römer, T: op cit, pp. 203, 216-218.
38510315(the Babylonians) looted the Temple and carried the king and all the city’s nobles, priests and craftsmen into captivity: Friedman: Who Wrote the Bible? p. 98.
38510317In the year 587 the Babylonian army marched back into Judah: Friedman: op cit, pp. 98-99. Lane Fox: The Unauthorised Version, p. 71.
38510320The Bible tells us about the most exemplary punishment they meted out to (Zedekiah): 2 Kings 24:18-25:7.
38510329The traditional explanation would be that Marduk, the Babylonian national god, was stronger than Yahweh: Barton, John: A History of the Bible: The Book and Its Faiths, Penguin Random House, London 2020, p. 105; Römer, T: The Invention of God, p. 214.
38510331Yahweh himself had visited this devastation upon his own people, as a punishment for breaking their covenant in which they promised to worship only him: Römer, T: op cit, pp. 215-216.
38510333One faction, possibly centred around the prophet Jeremiah, produced a history of the Israelites that put this explanation in writing: Friedman: Who Wrote the Bible? Pp. 146-149.
38510339this is not history as we understand it today: Römer, T: The Invention of God, pp. 217-218
38610355he sent Jewish exiles in Babylon to rule Jerusalem and the surrounding area:  Finkelstein & Silberman: The Bible Unearthed, pp. 298-299.
38610362Some scholars insist that P was written before the Exile, but the majority place it during or after the restoration of the Temple: Friedman (Who Wrote the Bible, p. 210) has it before; For Finkelstein & Silberman (The Bible Unearthed, p. 310) and Thomas Römer (The Invention of God, pp. 214, 225-6), it is mostly during or after.
38610366you should go to the Temple in Jerusalem and make an appropriate sacrifice: Friedman: Who Wrote the Bible, pp. 190-193.
38710371This was the gateway to a massive revolution in Jewish theology, the development of monotheism: Römer, T: The Invention of God, pp. 216-218; Stark, Thom, The Human Faces of God, What Scripture Reveals When It Gets God Wrong (And Why Inerrancy Tries to Hide It) (Kindle Edition), WIPF & Stock, 2011, Loc 2784; Hayes, Christine, Introduction to the Bible (Kindle Edition), Yale University Press 2012, Loc 476.
38710374Polytheistic religions have mythology, the story of how the gods came to be. In the Bible, all this has disappeared: Hayes: op cit, Loc 482-489.
38710376Polytheistic gods need names to distinguish them from each other. God doesn’t: Römer, T: The Invention of God, pp. 26, 240.
38710381Jews and Christians learned to read all these references to (God’s) body allegorically, but we should not forget that they were originally written to be taken literally: This is Francesca Stravrakopoulu’s theme (God An Anatomy, Kindle Edition, Picador, 2021). For a discussion of allegorical interpretations, see Loc 968, 1254-1281.
38710383Overt references to statues of Yahweh disappeared from the Jews’ holy texts. However, this did not stop their enemies recording the capture of Jerusalem Temple statues on the stone steles that commemorated their victories: Römer, T: The Invention of God, pp. 157-159, 239-240.
38710387in the words of Richard Dawkins: Dawkins, Richard: The God Delusion, Bantam Press, London 2006, p. 31.
38810394The most intellectually rigorous Jews and Christians see this aspect of the Old Testament for what it is, a remnant of its polytheistic origins: Stark: The Human Faces of God, especially chapters 4-6.
38810396Monotheism has a big problem with evil: Hayes: op cit, Loc 6707-6716; Römer, T: The Invention of God, pp. 223-224.
38810398One explanation for evil and suffering is to say that God is not evil but just: Stark: The Human Faces of God, Loc 455-477.
38810400In this meaningless life of mine… Ecclesiastes 7:15.
38810402And so the idea of divine justice in the afterlife develops: Stark: The Human Faces of God, Loc 566-576, 3783.
38810403the wicked simply perish (what the first Christians probably believed): John 3:16; Wray, TJ & Mobley, Gregory: The Birth of Satan: Tracing the Devil’s Biblical Roots (Kindle Edition), Palgrave MacMillan 2005, Loc 2963.
38810404Another solution to the problem of evil is to give God an antagonist: Wray & Mobley: op cit, 1893-1898.
38810404Satan is a very minor character in most of the Old Testament: Wray & Mobley: op cit, Chapter 3; Hayes: Introduction to the Bible, Loc 508-516.
38810409This leads to eschatology, a belief in end times and a final, devastating war between good and evil: Wray & Mobley: The Birth of Satan, Loc 1899-1907; Römer, T: The Invention of God, pp. 243-244.
38810411The end times would not only entail the defeat of Satan but also the return of a Davidic king anointed by God to lead the Jews to ultimate victory over the Gentile nations: Martin, Dale B: New Testament History and Literature (Kindle Edition), Yale University Press, 2012, Loc 6353-6359; Stark: The Human Faces of God, Loc 5292-5362.
38810417papyrus and parchment…only remain legible for a few decades: Barton: A History of the Bible, p. 285; Römer, T: The Invention of God, p. 8.
38910425The redactor(s) who stitched J, E, P and D together to form the Pentateuch were monotheists…But many of the sacred texts they used…had been written by polytheists: Hayes: Introduction to the Bible, Loc 569-579.
38910427There is some debate about exactly when the Pentateuch was compiled: Friedman: Who Wrote the Bible, pp. 223-233; Barton: A History of the Bible, p. 51, 223; Römer, T: The Invention of God, p 238.