Talk:Old Testament

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OT Template

I'm wondering why neither Template:Tanakh OT nor Template:Old Testament are featured on the page, despite their obvious relevancy. Not sure if there's a reason for this that I am unaware of, but if not I feel at least one of them should be linked, especially considering the current inclusion of Template:Bible sidebar and Template:Christianity sidebar. SwensonJ (talk) 17:43, 28 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Misleading early scholarship

Under early scholarship, the claim that "American science writer Homer W. Smith points out similarities between the Genesis creation narrative and that of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, such as the inclusion of the creation of the first man (Adam/Enkidu) in the Garden of Eden, a tree of knowledge, a tree of life, and a deceptive serpent" is made. For a reader who has not actually read the Epic of Gilgamesh, this statement may be misleading.

1. "the creation of the first man (Adam/Enkidu) in the Garden of Eden."
The Epic of Gilgamesh does not claim that Enkidu was the first man or that he was in a "Garden of Eden." The epic states that Enkidu was created as a counterpart to kill the King of Uruk, Gilgamesh. Having been created after Gilgamesh and the people of his city, Enkidu could not have been the first man created.
While Enkidu was created in the wilderness, at peace with all the beasts of the land, he was not placed in a "special garden" without death, as we can observe by the presence of a trapper.

2. "a tree of knowledge"
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, there is no real tree of knowledge. The trapper sends in a harlot to "tame" wild Enkidu. When Enkidu sleeps with the harlot, the beasts of the wild reject him, because he was given wisdom by sleeping with the woman. The presence of the harlot could be interpreted as a "fruit of the tree of knowledge," but the wording is misleading. It would be better to present this as a "revelation of knowledge."

3. "a tree of life"
The final tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh center around gaining eternal life. When Gilgamesh reaches Utnapishtim after a long journey, Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that if he remains awake for 6 days, he will become immortal. Gilgamesh fails and does not achieve immortality, but Utnapishtim tells him about a herb that can restore his youth. While there is the common theme of being given a chance for immortality, calling this quest simply "a tree of life" is misleading. Rewording would be good.

4. "and a deceptive serpent"
I'm not sure what this is referring to. It may be referring to the snake that steals Gilgamesh's herb of youth. This is a good example of how a snake steals Gilgamesh's last shot at becoming eternally young (as long as the herb does not run out), however this serpent does not deceive Gilgamesh. It simply takes the herb.

Some of the interpretations presented are valid, but simplifying these complex events into Biblical allegories is misleading to an unknowing reader.[1] 173.198.129.18 (talk) 16:35, 27 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Greek

Septugint which is the oldest form of the manuscript is in greek why is it on there 93.106.183.243 (talk) 06:11, 16 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

BANREVERT material worth keeping?

Since the recent addition to the lead was made by a community-banned sock, I wanted to poll here to see if it and its equivalents posted across related article leads are worth keeping in whole or in part. Remsense ‥ 论 08:19, 25 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]