Christians: Is it just coincidence that the story of Moses as a baby ...?

Question

(mother casting the baby off in a floating basket, rescue by women downstream who raise child as their own, etc. etc.)

is almost precisely the same as a Babylonian myth that predates the old testament by several hundred years?

"Well actually there are many stories of babies being put in baskets and exposed or put in water. This was an ancient way of putting a child out to the fate of the gods. Today people put babies in baskets and put them on church doorsteps."
Jim Hoffmeier, Egyptologist

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/history/moses_3.shtml

Mark, Sargon of Akkad, or Sargon the Great (Akkadian Šarukinu, "the true king", reigned 2334 BC - 2279 BC, short chronology)

predates Bible

Answer 1

Not a coincidence at all.

Answer 2

I can see why you'd raise an eyebrow.

It's not the only OT story to be replicated in the cultures of the surrounding people... the flood for example is found in almost every ancient near eastern people group.

However I think your sources aren't completely reliable on this one.
Firstly if you strip it down to it's bear essentials like that it's not that unusual a story in general - it's also in Greek Lit etc... and this is probably the case because of the society where male children were so precious but so likely to be attacked either by power hungry people (like in the Bible) or by evil spiritual forces (as in the Babylonian myth that I think you're refering to)

Secondly when the Babylonians captured Israel (in 500BCE -Daniels time) one of their kings was interested in the Jewish religion, got the scribes to translate it into Greek (the Septuagan) and adopted a lot of their traditions into the Babylonian religion... an act that was punnishable by death if you did it into the Jewish religion but was common (even considered kind) by benevolent conquerors.

Thirdly the Babylonian civilisation didn't evolve until about 700BCE a couple of hundred of years after the supposed event of Moses.

Hope this is helpful

Answer 3

There are many Babylonian stories, that are written on clay tablets that closely mirror the Bible. Babylon has there own flood story too. The Myth is that they predate the Bible, they don't. Most things in the world start as one story and then the story branches out and is taken by others as their own. The fact is that there are many tablets found that predate Babylon speaking of belief in one God. See University of Pennsylvania archeology Dept. Tablets found in the ancient cities of Ur

Answer 4

Fiona, Cher asked me what I knew with regard to using blood in Jewish sacrifice. it incredibly is been virtually 2 thousand years for the reason that we final did that, so we don't talk approximately it lots. Prayer (our time and interest) is the sacrifice now, so we talk approximately that and words. possibly between the Orthodox individuals can be able to handle this greater particularly. i'll jot down greater from the attitude of an anthropologist. between the flaws that outsiders locate unfathomable approximately Judaism is that we don't throw out texts or practices while circumstances have replaced lots that their applicability is at ultimate oblique. instead we've usual techniques of integrating, adapting and determining how they're ultimate utilized for this time. An occasion is the way that our calendar includes components of our time residing among the two Canaanites and Babylonians. It is sensible to us through fact we see it as a totality, metaphorically that we've been all at Sinai. Blood sacrifice originates in prehistory. we don't be conscious of how or why all of it began. seen in connection with their neighbour's practices, Hebraicism/ Judaism is continually a help of severity. by the point we get to the 1st century CE, Judaism had decreased its very own severity to the factor of challenge that any animals sacrificed be killed as painlessly as accessible. in assessment, Christianity's doctrine of human sacrifice (and a son no much less), is taking sacrifice authentic back to pre-Hebraic strata. it incredibly is in all threat why the blood ingredient is so significant to that doctrine. despite if it incredibly is not in Judaism. it incredibly is nonetheless there, through fact we don't throw issues out. those days in spite of the undeniable fact that, like various sacrifice, we use it allegorically. Blood sacrifice substitute into never required for atonement, nor did it have magical saving powers. It substitute right into a ritual close to to a psychological and social technique. those days we sacrifice from the main useful of our commodities -- our time, interest and attempt.

Answer 5

Moses at Exodus 857 to Promised Land 897 years after the flood, Abraham had come out of Ur, 430 and 470 years ago. At Babel about 163 years after the flood, Nimrod could have only had 4,000 men of age to help him with the tower, when God separated them and those outside Abraham being in the midst of land pirates and them trying to claim the flood favor, and as the Pharisees, claim favor from Abraham as relatives, was doing just that, the bible on these for God, Heb.11:1-40,12:1,2; Acts 7:1-60 is true. These are the genealogy of Jesus, the priest line, the judges line and those with respect for God, and not land pirates, but given the right after God feed and took care of them, to take the land.

Answer 6

"Sargon, might King of Akkad, am I. My mother was of mixed blood; I never knew my father...My city is Azupiranu, on the banks of the Euphrates. My mother conceived and she secretly bore me. She put me into a basket of rushes, and sealed its lid with tar. She cast me into the river which did not drown me. The river swept me to Akiki, the drawer of water. Akiki, the drawer of water scooped me up in his pitcher. Akiki, the drawer of water raised me as his son."

Babylonian Cunieform tablet depicting the legend of Sargon, long predating the earliest records of the Hebrew scriptures, which were composed during the Babylonian exile.

Answer 7

Where is the proof of this myth.?
As to the reason that Moses was set adrift...Pharoah was worried that the Jewish slaves were breeding too fast and might soon become so numerous as to overthrow him. So he ordered all Jewish baby boys to be killed at birth but all the girls born to be allowed to live.
In obeying their God, Jehovah, the Jewish midwives refused to comply with Pharoah's order.
So Moses' mother and midwife set him adrift in the hope he would float downstream and be rescued and saved when away from Pharoah's immediate area.
As we all know, he was rescued by none other than Pharoah's daughter, and was brought up as a prince of Egypt.
It is a matter of obeying God rather than men. no matter how powerful they may be.

Answer 8

Post the Babylonian myth,I have never heard it, I know the epic of Gilgamesh.Moses was taken by Pharaohs daughter, a very big deal,and it was Moses birth mother Pharaohs daughter had brought in to care for Him.

Answer 9

Yes of course that's where God got his idea for Moses silly. God read the first story and said what a great idea I'll just do baby Moses the same way then I will have a great leader for Abraham's people don't you see. God picked up most of his ideas like that.
Hisszzzzzzzzzzzz

Answer 10

Tell me, are you actually reading the Bible, or do you just get these supposed "contradictions" off some atheist website?

To answer your question, the enemy gleefully has been perverting the truth since time began. The Old Testament stories were handed down in an oral tradition LONG before they were written down, so they predate the Babylonian myth. It's same thing as the Baal/Ishtar myth about her giving virgin birth to a son/half god guy. It's the same thing as the epic of Gilgamesh where he meets a guy named "Noh" who tells him about a worldwide flood. Demons will forever try to pervert the facts to ensnare the doubting human.

Not that you will believe me anyway.

Answer 11

....not gonna get too deep into it, but with the belief adam and eve's offspring populated the entire world, there had to be some between their existence and abraham....where judaism essentially started.

If you follow how religions go, people deviate....they can take some of the previous religion and change it to their will.

ANyways, again with teh assumption of adam and eve....god had to have given them some "religion". Even to Noah...again if he repopulated the world...depends how widespread you think the flood was......still some considerable time between him and abraham. There had to be some previous religions and as they deviated, prophets were sent...some people listened and otehrs didn't.

Again, just to see how the religions have changed. When cain and abel gave their sacrifices to god, abel's sacrifice was consumed in flames. After abraham, your sacrifices to god weren't consumed in flame to prove god accepted it.

More primitive forms of religion was probalby given to more primative people and the stories/phrophecies from them would probalby continue into the deviant religions/cultures. Of course absolutly no proof of this. Comes down to faith.