The Origin of Myths

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers…” Hebrews 1:1.

We live in a culture of disbelief. It is fashionable to doubl. Scepticism is considered a quality of intcllectualism. Faith has been placed on the endangered species list. The Bible is regarded as a relic of the past and outdated. Anything Biblical, which does not fit the evolutionist or humanist agenda, is labelled as a myth or a legend.

What is a myth? A myth is a collective term used in accounts or traditional narratives of gods, superhuman beings, or other living beings, and events with a religious and cultural significance, but generally regarded as imaginary or unreal (1,2). Yet as we shall sec, many myths with Biblical parallels actually are a degradation or deterioration of relevant truths of human or supernatural beings and experiences of the past.

Myths are common to all aborigines from every corner of our planet. Surprisingly, many of the myths have a significant number of details in common. Although some may be totally false, some have an element of truth, which runs parallel to the teachings of the Bible.

The Oral Bible

The oral Bible antedates all myths and legends. Before the first books of the Bible were written by Moses in the XV century B.C., there was an oral law, which had been communicated from father to son through the generations since creation. The apostle Paul in his letter to the Hebrews states this fact, “God, who al sundry limes and in divers manners spake in time past to the fathers…” Hebrews 1:1.

Studies in the fields of anthropology and linguistics have shown that the native inhabitants of the different continents did not know how to write nor read. But they taught their posterity their version of history through song and poetry. By telling the events of the past in rhyme, it was easier to be transmitted from one generation to another. Each group had their own oral tradition or oral history. Likewise, tM Bible existed as an oral tradition or an oral history before ft was put in written form.

The Jews till this day refer to the oral law and state that the oral law is as binding as the written law found in the Pentateuch or Torah—the first five books of Moses in the Bible. They also speak of the Babylonian Talmud which existed orally for several generations before it was finally written down by Rabbis and scribes after the time of Jesus Christ. The Talmud is the Jewish interpretation of the law.

Like the Jews, the British still speak of English common law. It is an unwritten or oral law, upheld traditionally in England.
Adam, our first forefather, heard the story of creation from God Himself. Adam later transmitted the summary of the events of creation to his posterity for nearly 1000 years. Noah, the first forefather after the flood, knew the stories of Genesis from chapters 1 through 11, which he later communicated to his posterity. Noah lived right through the time of the tower of Babel, which occurred about 800 years (2247 B.C.) before Moses wrote the first books of the Bible.

The generation of the lower of Babel knew the oral Bible right through chapter 11 of Genesis. But that generation became exceedingly sinful and was dispersed by God with the confusion of tongues. As those families later separated and travelled to the different corners of the earth, the stories and events from the oral Bibie were perverted with time. New elements were mixed into the biblical truths. Thus, myths were born into the human families.

Mythological Parallels

The Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Native Americans, Mayan, Incas, el cetera, all have common elements in their myths, They all believed in the truths or elements of Genesis: God, the creation of man and earth, paradise, the sacred tree of life, cherubs, animal sacrifices, altars, the great flood, good and bad spirits (angels), and in life after death. Thus, there exists a more than coincidental probability that the parallels between the pagan myths and the book of Genesis have a common origin,

Babylonian Theory of Genesis

In university circles today, the false concept is propagated that the Jews invented their Genesis stories after their Babylonian captivity in’the VII century B.C. Infidels, wishing to ignore the superiority of the Biblical account of Genesis, consider it as a post-Babylonic plagiarism. Listen to what H,G. Wells wrote in his book: “The outline of History”, regarding the origin of the book of Genesis. “Excavations have revealed Babylonian versions of both the Creation story and the Flood story of a date prior lo the restoration of the Jews, and it is therefore argued by Biblical critics that these opening chapters (of Genesis) were acquired by the Jews during their (Babylonian) captivity. They constitute the first ten chapters of Genesis.” (1).

The Babylonian Babel Refuted

H,G. Wells, like many other historians and Bible critics have il all wrong. The stories of Genesis were not copied by the Jews from the Babylonians during their 70-year captivity in Babylon. Rather the Babylonian myths of creation and the great flood are the result of a perversion of the oral Bible known by the generation of the lower of Babel. With the passage of time, the oral Bible stories were perverted and altered by the Babylonian ancestors. Thus, the Babylonian written accounts may be a few centuries older than the Biblical written accounts, but both have their origin in the oral Bible.

Let’s consider two arguments, which refute a Babylonian origin of Genesis. First, how can these historians and Bible critics account for the Egyptian or Mayan stories similar to Genesis chapters 1 through 11? The Egyptian records arc as old as the Babylonians. Their record and accounts, legends and myths, have common elements. Did the Egyptians also copy their stories from the Babylonians? Of course not,

The Egyptians were the dcscendcnts of Mizraim, the first Pharaoh and the uncle of Nimrod. When the Canaanites saw the Egyptians crying and lamenting for the death of Jacob in Canaan, the Canaanites called the place “Abel-Mizraim.” Genesis 50:11. Both Mi/jaim and Nimrod knew the oral Bible. They heard it from Noah, who faithfully taught his descendents the oral bible—Genesis 1-11.

The second argument deals with comparing and contrasting the amount of detail in both the Babylonian and Jewish accounts. The Babylonian account of creation is generally referred to as the “Creation Epic” or “cnuma elish” and the great flood is called the “Epic of Gilgamesh” (4). When the Biblical account is compared to these Babylonian epics, there is a drastic difference. The Biblical account has more majesty and beauty to it. Et has more detail. It tells a longer and fuller story than any of the Babylonian pagan accounts of Genesis. Therefore, the Biblical account must antedate the Babylonian myths, because the Biblical account has more details in the story. As the axiom dictates, the lesser is derived from the greater.

The Cherubs of Antiquity

Another clement in the book of Genesis, which has its parallels in the archaeological reconstructions of the ancient world empire palaces and temples, are the cherubs. The Bible says that God placed cherubs at the entrance of the Garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life. “So He (God) drove out the men; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubims. and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Genesis 3:24.

The Hebrew word for cherub is (Strong’s number 3742) “keruwb”, whose meaning is uncertain. However, some maintain that “keruwb” is similar to “kirubu” or “sedu” which was the Assyrian name for the winged bulls in the Assyrian empire palaces and temples (5).

“In their function as guardians of Paradise the cherubims bear an analogy to the winged bulls and lions of Babylonia and Assyria, colossal figures with human faces standing guard at the entrances of temples (and palaces), just as in Egypt the approaches to the sanctuaries are guarded by sphinxes.” Often these “winged figures, half human and half animal… arc found on both sides of the ‘sacred tree1” in Babylonian and Persian art murals (6).

I have visited the great museums of London, Paris, and Berlin, and have seen the Assyrian and Babylonian collections. Both the British and Louvre museums have the colossal winged bulls with human faces and winged humans or spirits on exhibit. They are gigantic three dimensional solid stone sculptures measuring 20 feet high by 20 feet long. In the permanent collections of the museums, the winged bulls with human faces can be seen to guard the entrances of the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian palaces and temples, just like the cherubs of Genesis guarded the entrance to the tree of life.

The Pergamon museum in Berlin has the original Ishtar gate of Babylon. Its walls are made of glazed blue bricks with figures of bulls, serpents with legs called dragons, and winged lions guarding the entrance to the city.

To complete the picture on cherub parallels, also consider “the fabulous griffens” of the Greeks, which were “usually represented as having the heads and wings of an eagle and the body and hindquarters of a lion” (6). The griffens “were believed by the Greeks to inhabit Scythia, and to keep jealous watch over the gold of that country” (6).

Now think for a moment the striking parallel between these winged animals and the descriptions of the cherubs in Exekiel 1 and Revelation 4. Ezekiel calls them “living creatures” and John in Revelation refers to them as “beasts”. The Bible cherubs or living creatures were described as being supernatural, having wings, and being part human and part animal. Four cherubs or beasts arc mentioned in the Bible: the winged lion, the winged ox or calf, the winged man or angel, and the winged eagle as forming part of God’s living throne.

“As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. And everyone had four faces, and every one had four wings.” Ezekie! 1:10, 6. “And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.” Revelation 4:7.

The only other cherub is Lucifer who is later depicted in Scripture as being the old serpent with legs and wings also known as the great dragon. “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan…” Revelation 12:9.

Thus, the cherubs described in Ezekiel and Revelation, and mentioned in Genesis, also appear in the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Greek mythology and art. This serves as another example of a common origin of pagan myths and the book of Genesis. Both are derived from one original source: the oral Bible. The Hebrews like the ancient Babylonians believed in cherubs. But there is strikingly more detail, beauty, and majesty in the Biblical version than what is depicted in the Babylonian art, because Genesis is closer to the original source: the oral Bible,

It seems that many pagan myths are extractions, dilutions, and cross-contaminations of the oral Genesis history. Like the tree of good and evil in Eden, the pagan myths are a blend of truths and falsehoods.

Multiple Towers of Babel

To further substantiate the evidence of the oral tradition of elements of the oral Bible passed from generation to generation, consider the pyramids. The pyramids of the Egyptians, like the pyramids of the Mayans, and the ziggurats of the Assyrians and Babylonians are nothing less than little towers of Babel. The generation dispersed while building the tower of Babel and carried in their minds the ideas of that prototype pyramid. They later constructed little towers of Babel in every corner of the earth – Egypt, Iraq, India, Mexico, and Peru. Around their pyramids they worshipped the sun, offered animal sacrifices on altars, brought food offerings, prayed to the gods, communed with evil spirits, and held idolatrous feasts; all of which was a perversion or a degradation of the great oral Bible truths later registered in the book of Genesis.

The Logos

The last book of the Bible to have been written is believed to be the book of the gospel of John. John probably wrote his gospel after being liberated from Patmos around 96-97A.D., during the reign of the Roman Emperor Nerva (7). John starts out his account of the life of Jesus by calling Him the “Logos”. The King James Version translated the Greek work “Logos” as the “Word”. What “Word”? The Word which was present at creation and Who pronounced the words of Genesis to Adam. The Word, which was passed on from generation to generation from Adam to Noah. The Word, which was later passed on from Noah to Abraham, and finally put on a scroll by Moses. That Word later became incarnate in the son of Mary, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus upheld the teachings of Genesis as reliable history. He was the son of Adam, and of Noah. He spoke of the “beginning” and made many references to the book of Genesis in His ministry. “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female.” Matthew 19:4.

Archaeologists continue to heap evidence establishing the Bible’s reliability and external validity. The stones are crying out. Are you listening?

Many will nevertheless choose to adopt the tenets of the culture of disbelief, but God has provided enough facts to build a solid faith, which will endure time and eternity. And as Daniel recorded, the faithful will understand, but the ungodly will not. “…None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Daniel 12:10. AMEN.

References

1. Pearsall, J., and Trumble, B. (1995). The Oxford English Reference Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, p. 957.
2. Encyclopaedia Britannica (1979). Myth and mythology. Micropedia vol. VII. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, p.
154.
3. Wells, H.G. (1949). Outline of History, vol. 1. Garden City, NY: Garden City Books, p. 254.
4. Gates, J. (1979). Babylon. London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd., p. 168,169.
5. Brown, F. et al (1979). The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, p. 500.
6. Orr, J. (Ed.) et al. (1949). The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol.1. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., p. 603,604.
Eusebius Pamphilus (324 A.D., reprinted in 1990). The Ecclesiastical History. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book
House, pp. 103-105