Intro. to the Hebrew Bible

Study Guide for Quiz #2

Fall 1999

Bible:

Creation / Adam and Eve

2 creation stories
6 day creation
contrast with Enuma Elish
Adam & Eve
Adam as Androgyne
Lilith

succubus / baby stealer
Sumerian terra cotta relief
as first wife of Adam
solves problem of two creations of Eve
as wife of Samael / Satan
Lilith / Serpent as temptress
feminine serpent in Renaissance temptation pictures


woman’s story or men’s story?
subversive hermeneutics
A & E’s legacy in later Judaism & Christianity
Eve vs. Mary

choose life or death
sexual dynamic of the fall

Myth

definition
historical vs. "true"
Ancient Near Eastern parallels to Bible
Enuma Elish (//s to Creation)
Tiamat & Apsu
Kingu
Marduk
parallels and contrasts re. Genesis
Biblical references to God defeating ‘Rahab’
possible parallels to the Story of the Watchers and Christian fall of Satan
Enoch / Jubilees / Testament of the 12 Patriarchs
Possibility of pre-biblical version of the story
dependency issue
Babylonian Creation festival
Epic of Gilgamesh (//s to Adam & Eve)
etiology
Ishtar
Descent of Ishtar
Iconography & Ishtar (snake/tree)
interpretation of snake as representing pre-exilic worship of foreign god(desse)s
Shamash
Gilgamesh // Samson
Enkidu
seduction
priestess as courtesan
parallels to fall of A&E
Plant of Life
parallels to fall of A&E
Utnapishtim/Atrahasis (//s to Noah)
similariteis/differences re. Noah
similarites to Enuma Elish
Other culture’s versions of the flood story
Question of historicity
Issue of dependency
Parallel accounts in Noah story