The Hebrew Bible as Myth (E.J. Niles)

The Hebrew Bible as Myth (E.J. Niles)

1. The concept of history as we know it today did not exist at the time of the writing of the Hebrew Bible.
2. Most of the stories in the Hebrew Bible were written from 1200 to 800 years after the events were to have taken place.
3. Many of the stories were written at an earlier time and re-written at a later time to reflect changes in thinking.
4. The stories themselves were written and re-written for political reasons.
5. The later stories reflect the Israelite people’s contact with other religious cultures.
6. Most of the characters in the stories in the Hebrew Bible, in all likelihood, did not exist.
   Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel and Noah are allegorical characters.
   Some of them, such as Abraham and Moses, may be composites of different “hero” characters.
   Some of the kings probably existed but they also may be credited with things they did not do.
   David was probably a real character but he probably didn’t do all the things attributed to him.