What Difference Can a Literal Translation Make– Part Six

Last updated on: December 27, 2024 at 1:40 am by Ben Witherington

What Difference Can a Literal Translation Make– Part Six 2024-12-22T08:46:13-05:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The beginning of Gen. 6 includes one of the most controversial passages in the whole book, a passage speculated about throughout Biblical history, including in the NT (see e.g. Jude, and 2 Pet. 2, and my lengthy study on this passage and its ongoing influence in Jesus the Seer). The early Jewish interpretation of this passage is important. The text, in Alter’s translation reads as follows: “as humankind began to multiply. over the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were comely and they took themselves wives however they chose. And the Lord said “My breath will not abide in the human forever, for he is but flesh. Let his days be a hundred and twenty years. The Nephilim were then on the earth, and afterwards as well, the sons of God having come to bed with the daughters of man who bore them children, they are the heroes of yore, the men of renown. And the Lord saw that the evil of the human creature was great on the earth and every scheme of his heart’s devising was only, perpetually evil. And the Lord regretted having made the human on earth and was grieved to the heart. And the Lord said ‘I will wipe out the human race I created from the face of the earth from humans to cattle etc. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. This is the lineage of Noah–who was a righteous man, he was blameless in his time. Noah walked with God….”

This of course is the backstory to the story of the flood which carries on through to the end of Gen. 8. What is the story in Gen. 6.1-4 really all about? Most early Jewish interpreters, including the NT writers, take the phrase ‘sons of God’ to refer to angels, in this case wicked angels who mate with human women of God’s chosen people. And the end result is that they have offspring who are giants, the Nephilim, who show up again in the story of the conquest of Canaan. They are mighty men, even war heroes for someone, like Goliath of the Philistines. What God is upset about is the cross-breeding between humans and angels, which is viewed as a disastrous violation of God’s intended creation order, just as would be humans cross-breeding with animals. This leads to God regretting he made humans in the first place, and resolving to wipe out humanity except for Noah and his family. Notice the reference to widespread and profound evil, and only evil is being continually being devised in the hearts of humans. Profound sin leads to deep corruption and wicked behavior. One of the more creative dealings with this chapter and its sequel in Joshua is Mike Heiser’s The Unseen Realm. He argues that the conquest of Canaan was not about wiping out just anyone and everyone in the holy land that stood in the way of God’s people settling there. Rather it was about doing away with the Nephilim and their descendants. Joshua was to wage a holy war against them, not against just any pagans in the land. This changes the way one looks at holy war, and in a sense, it would be seen as completing the task the flood was meant to accomplish– namely wipe out wicked, cross-breeding humanity. I’m inclined to think Mike is right (cf. the book of Enoch which definitely interprets Gen. 6.1-4 and its sequel this way, but also see the reference to the Nephilim in Num.13.33, and cf. Ezek. 32.22 -32 especially vs.27 and in various inter-testamental books such as Judith, Sirach, Wis. Sol.). Thus Jude and 2 Pet. and cf. 1 Pet. 3 are talking about the judgment on these fallen angels involving Christ.

As most will know, there are a variety of flood stories from the ANE, not just in Gen. 6-8. The Babylonian Genesis story known as Enuma Elish, has some similarities to the Gen. 1-2 story except it involves pre-existing matter and dueling deities. It’s clear the Genesis story did not derive from the seventh century B.C. story found in the palace of Ashurbanipal. But there is also the Gilgamesh epic in which Utnapishtim tells how he survived the great flood, but this story is in fact based on a yet earlier account called the Atrahasis epic from Babylon dating to about 1600 B.C. The retelling of the latter epic by Berossus 280 B.C. is known to Josephus, and there are some close parallels between the Genesis story and this earlier epic. Now the proper conclusion to draw, since there are various ANE flood stories is that there was indeed a giant flood, known to various ANE peoples, and the stories are similar enough to make clear something drastic happened. Most recently, Nat Geo has taken up the story and evidence of an ancient civilization and a fresh water lake buried at the bottom of the Black Sea just north of Turkey which provides more evidence of a giant flood. The point is that these stories are about ‘the then known world’ not the whole world as we know it. If indeed an ark was built which landed in ancient Armenia, then called Urartu, or as the Bible says it, on the mountains of Ararat in southeastern Turkey it would have been a massive flood indeed. And there may even be evidence at Gobeckli Tepe, a high place dating to 8000-10000 B.C. for a lot of river sand has been found that covered the stone columns and circles found there beginning in the 1990s. In other words, the story of Noah has a historical basis in the large regional flood that various ancient cultures recorded. Here’s a brief sample of one of these old tales that is like the Genesis account….

“The flood story recounted by Utanapishti runs as follows.The god Ea warned Utanapishti of an imminent flood and instructed him to build a boat to preserve life. The chief god, Enlil, then brought a flood upon the world which lasted six days and seven nights, following which the ark landed on Mt Nimush[9] (in modern Iraqi Kurdistan).

After another seven days, Utanapishti released a dove, which returned, then a swallow, which also returned, and finally a raven, which did not return. The flood clearly now over, Utanapishti offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and the gods gathered round like flies to savor the smell of the sacrifice. Finally, Utanapishti was made immortal.”

The story of Noah became so famous that there were actually coins minted of Mr. and Mrs. Noah for tourists coming to Mt. Ararat.

This coin, depicting the events of the story of Noah’s Ark related in Genesis 6–8, is the only coin-type known to bear a Biblical scene.

Apameia Kibotos was a Phrygian city established by Antiochus I (280–261 B.C.) who named it after his mother, Apameia. At that time, there were at least two other cities in the region named Apameia, one in Bithynia (northern Turkey) and the other in Syria. The addition of the word kibotos, which means “ark” in Greek, differentiates this particular Apameia from the others.

The Jewish community in Apameia was probably as old as the city’s foundation in the third century B.C.1 The legend of Noah seems to have been localized at Apameia Kibotos, and the Jewish element in Apameia was strong enough, as early as the time of Jesus, to give the city the name, Kibotos, derived from the Biblical story.

On the Israel Museum ark coin three portions of the flood story are depicted on one side. In the center of the coin, the head and shoulders of Noah and his wife protrude from the ark, perhaps to see if the rain has stopped. The ark, depicted as a box with an open lid, floats on water while its lid shelters Noah and his wife from the rain. The side of the ark is inscribed with the three Greek letters NWE (Noah).

The second portion of the flood story is shown above the ark’s lid. A dove, the olive spray in its beak symbolizing the subsidence of the waters and the end of the flood, lands on the ark cover.

The third episode in the story is shown just to the right of the ark: Noah and his wife stand with arms upraised in an attitude of grateful prayer for their salvation.

The Greek inscription on the lower part (exergue) of the coin (APAMEWN) means “Of the people of Apameia.” The inscription at the upper edge of the coin (PAR KL APOLINARIOU) translates as “by KL [Claudius?] Apolinarious” and refers to a person, unknown to us, who may have been the magistrate of the mint or the head of local games.

The vessel may be shaped like a box rather than a boat because Greek artists had already used box-forms to represent boats. The Jewish artist who engraved Noah’s Ark on this coin-medallion may have used Greek examples as his model. In depictions of the Greek myths of Danae and Perseus and of Auge and Telephos, Danae and Auge each floated across the sea in a box. Another explanation for the representation of the ark as a box on this coin-medallion is that one of the meanings of the Hebrew word teva is “box,” “chest” or “coffer.” Teva also means “vessel,” “boat” or “ark.” The Hebrew Bible uses the word teva to describe both Noah’s Ark and the vessel made of bulrushes in which Miriam placed her son, Moses. In the Septuagint, the third century B.C. Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, teva is translated as kibotos, a word which means “box” as well as “ark.” Noah’s vessel may, therefore, appear to be a box because of these meanings of kibotos and teva.

On the obverse side of the coin, the Roman Emperor Trebonianus Gallus is portrayed.

History and Religion

Education and Religion

Previous Post

December 26, 2024

The Secret

Next Post

December 28, 2024 What Difference Can a Literal Translation Make-- Part Seven

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz