Mythinformation

There are so many myths about the Bible and Judaism, that I thought I would mention a few and clear the air.  When I hear such statements as “I don’t believe certain individuals really existed; or, I don’t think that really happened (especially miracles),” I know that I am talking to someone who has not studied the truth.

EXAMPLES:

Adam and Eve.  Was there really a first couple or is this just an allegorical example of the beginning of human beings?  It’s interesting that scientists have discovered that 99% of all human DNA is common in all humans and is called mitochondrial DNA.  This means that the differences that we have, hair color, eye color, height, head shape, etc are all contained in only 1% of our DNA structure.  Paleontologists have concluded that all humankind has descended from one woman.  Since this mitochondrial DNA is past down through the mother and is found in every man as well, they believe also that we all have descended from one man.  Paleontologists call this original couple, ready for this one, Adam and Eve.  Those scientists are so clever.  There are estimates that modern behavioral humans have been around for about 10 to 50,000 years.  Here again, scientists are getting close but don’t have the correct number since it is definitely 5772 years since Adam and Eve were created.  We will talk more about that when we compare Torah to science (coming soon to a blog near you).

What other proof do I have that the first couple was real people?  If they weren’t, then who is buried in their graves?  I happen to live about a half hour’s drive from where they are buried in Hebron in the Cave of Machpelah.  Genesis 23 records the purchase by Abraham of a plot of ground in Hebron for a burial cave for his wife Sarah.  In a deal that foreshadows many such other Middle Eastern deals; Abraham paid an outrageous 400 shekels of silver to Ephron the Hittite.  Later, along with Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah would be buried here.  Jacob’s wife Rachel is buried in Bethlehem, which happens to be about 15 minutes away.  What brought Abraham to this cave in the first place?  One day when Abraham was grazing his sheep and one went astray, he found the sheep at this cave and noticed an odor emanating from the entrance.  He entered to discover that within the cave was the entrance to the Garden of Eden which was the pleasant odor he was experiencing.  He then realized that this is the burial cave of Adam and Eve.  This is the building that was erected over the cave that is today used by thousand of visitors, especially for prayer.

There is much to be said about all this but the most important idea is the not only were Adam and Eve real people but also the patriarchs and matriarchs.  A side note is that the Garden of Eden also is real.  Throughout Israel one can see the burial spots of most of the people in the Torah and even the Bible.  The prophets, the Rabbis of the Talmud, the kings, etc are accounted for and not just legendary names, and definitely not mythical people. 

I happen to live near many of the occurrences depicted in the Bible.  Not too far from me is the valley where David fought Goliath.

This panoramic view of the Elah Valley from the south is an approximate view of what the Philistine army saw as they faced the Israelites in the battle (the highway in the middle was added later).  The Philistines were encamped on the south side of the valley and King Saul's forces occupied the hill on the northern side.  Yes, it is a real story and they were real people.

West of this area is where Samson lived and fought.  Yes, he also was real.

A controversy of the existence of the two Temples can be solved by many archeological finds.  They have found so much that they know came from the time of the Temples.  It is easier to send you to sites such as this (there are more – just Google away to your hearts content).

http://www.templeinstitute.org/archaeological_finds-2.htm

The best evidence is the fact that the Moslem Wakf has been destroying as much evidence as they can since the Arabs don’t want the truth known.  They are totally aware of what was on the Temple Mount; but, it’s not good for business or Arab propaganda if they can’t perpetuate their myth.  The biggest lie comes from the fact that Islam only dates back to the 7^th century, about 600 years after the 2^nd Temple was destroyed.  They certainly can’t lay claim to the area if they didn’t even exist.

I have always been fascinated by the myth that the Torah was coauthored by many and some of the mythinterpretation (there goes my spell check again) of what is said in the Torah.  As I had pointed out in Prayer Works (continued) 10 Apr 12, that there are many names for Hashem.  Two of the most important are L-rd and G-d (of course that is the English translation).  L-rd is the name which has a connotation of mercy – G-d is the name of judgment.  The beginning of the Torah only uses the name of judgment and later it switches to the name of mercy.  The so-called experts therefore stated that this was due to a change in writer.  They didn’t consider Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day and mercy was not needed before that.  In fact, since the first five days of creation were Hashem creating and judging that it was good, His name for judgment was appropriate.  It’s easy to make mistakes when you are a literary expert and only evaluating literary style but not an expert in the text that you are evaluating.  Then, there are those who misinterpret words to satisfy their own agenda.  The name of Hashem connoting judgment has what appears to be a plural ending.  Generally in Hebrew words are made plural by adding an “im” (for a masculine word) or “ot” (for a feminine word) to the end of the word.  The actual translation of the name used for judgment is “the G-d of many powers.”  Powers being plural gives the name a plural ending but it is definitely only talking one G-d.  This, of course, has been used by gentile clergy and missionaries for thousands of years who claim that this is proof of the trinity concept.  They say “you can see it is right in the beginning of your Torah the idea of g-ds, plural.”  The absolute proof of them making an intentional mistake is that in Hebrew, as in many languages, the verb agrees with the subject of the sentence.  Since it says G-d created the heaven and the earth and the verb created is in the first person singular form, it absolutely cannot be translated as g-ds created.  Those who say it is, are greatly sinning and have completely mythed the boat. 

There are no errors in the Torah.  If someone finds an error, it is definitely that person’s error, not Hashem’s.  There are so many misinterpretations especially if you have a translation in a different language.  People are not aware that the King James Version of the Bible has an estimated 20 to 30,000 differences than the Hebrew Jewish Bible.  Most are strictly interpretive changes but many are intentional to create prophecies that aren’t valid.  When text in Hebrew is translated into Greek and then into Latin and finally into English, many errors creep in due to the incompatibility of languages.  But when your agenda is to purposely change the text, we are back into the sinning category.  Hashem’s word is sacrosanct and not to be changed in any way.  He who does will not be happy on his or her judgment day.

I have many more myths but have decided to continue tomorrow.  If you have a myth that you have heard and are curios about, send me a comment or an Email, today, and I will try to include it in tomorrow’s post.