Sequim Community Church



“The Case For Genesis”

Ancient History Revisited

June 10, 2018

Rev. Rick Dietzman

Tying historical threads together – Is it possible?

Cultural anthropology and finding patterns of evidence

A. The development of writing

3300 BC Cuneiform system of writing developed in Mesopotamia

2900 BC Hieroglyphics comes into use in Egypt

2900 BC Indus Script matures in India

2500 BC – Papyrus used for writing in Egypt.

Observation: Cuneiform was first (debated) – Hieroglyphics and Indus emerged a few hundred years later. All three scripts dated to within 500 years of each other.

B. Monumental structures made

3400-3000 BC Ziggurats built in Mesopotamia

2700-2500 BC Pyramids and large Sphinx built in Egypt

2586 BC The temple of Sri Rangam in south India completed

Observation: 29 Ziggurats were built in Mesopotamia first. Similar structures in Egypt and India followed a few hundred years later. (Pretty much established fact. This is the standard dating from the World History Timeline - By Archeologist Tarini Carr from .)

C. The first known civilizations (all built around rivers)

3500-2000 BC Mesopotamia and Babylonia

2920-1100 BC Ancient Egypt

3000-150 BC Harappan and Vedio (India)

Observation: Mesopotamia was founded first. Egypt and India followed a few hundred years later. (Of course, some experts disagree on how early these societies formed. But these standard dates work well for our reconstruction.)

Around 3000 BC looks like a key time when new civilizations started east and west of Mesopotamia. Writing, building, and other technology emerged simultaneously in those places based on the model in Mesopotamia.

Was there any big event in Mesopotamia around 3000 B.C. that might have caused a mass exodus of people from the area?

Sargon of Akkad is identified as the first person in recorded history to rule over an empire (in the sense of the central government of a multi-ethnic territory), He promoted the use of Semitic (Akkadian) in inscriptions. He frequently called himself "king of Akkad" first, after the city of Akkad which he apparently founded. He appears to have taken over the rule of Kish at some point, and later also much of Mesopotamia, referring to himself as "Sargon, king of Akkad, overseer of Inanna, king of Kish, anointed of Anu, king of the land [Mesopotamia], governor (ensi) of Enlil During Sargon's reign, East Semitic was standardized and adapted for use with the cuneiform script previously used in the Sumerian language into what is now known as the "Akkadian language". A style of calligraphy developed in which text on clay tablets and cylinder seals was arranged amidst scenes of mythology and ritual, Some Archeologists believe that the Sumerian city of Uruk advanced the writing of cuneiform c. 3200 BCE.

During the Akkadian period, the Akkadian language became the lingua franca of the Middle East, The spread of Akkadian stretched from Syria to Elam, and even the Elamite language was temporarily written in Mesopotamian cuneiform. Akkadian texts later found their way to far-off places, from Egypt (in the Amarna Period) and Anatolia, to Persia (Behistun).

Famine and war threatened Sargon's empire during the latter years of his reign. The Chronicle of Early Kings reports that revolts broke out throughout the area under the last years of his overlordship: “Afterward in Sargon's old age all the lands revolted against him, and they besieged him in Akkad; and Sargon went onward to battle and defeated them; he accomplished their overthrow, and their widespreading host he destroyed. Because of the evil which he had committed, the great lord Marduk was angry, and he destroyed his people by famine. From the rising of the sun unto the setting of the sun they opposed him and gave him no rest.”

The empire of Akkad fell within 180 years of its founding, ushering in a "Dark Age" ,the so called “ Neo-Sumerian interruption” with no prominent imperial authority The region's political structure reverted to the status quo ante of local governance by city-states. The empire eventually collapsed outright from the invasion of barbarian peoples. until Third Dynasty of Ur. in about 2200 BC came into being and reset the empire which then lasted for close to fifteen centuries.

Source:

Observations:

No specific dating of Sargon’s reign can be identified. Those who want to downplay an association with Biblical history date him in 2300 B.C with a short Dark ages and the third Dynasty of Ur arising in 2100 B.C., In this way, his reign is just a regional event with parallel events happening elsewhere. But if his reign is placed 800 years earlier with a longer “Dark Ages” he begins to fit the legendary status he obtained through history as the first great king of the first empire who brought a unified language. (Remember, Some Archeologists believe that the Sumerian city of Uruk advanced the writing of cuneiform c. 3200 BCE!) When his great empire fell apart, people concentrated in Mesopotamia scattered all over the world because the peace and security of their lives was threatened right around 3000 BC. All that has to happen to make this plausible is to move him a bit further back by a few hundred years, and suddenly the Tower of Babel story starts to fit into actual world events.

“So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.” Genesis 11:8

Historically the Biblical Nimrod has been identified as Sargon.

Cush (Kish) was the father of Nimrod, who became the first mighty man on earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.” The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city. Genesis 10:8-12

In Hebrew and Christian tradition, Nimrod is considered the leader of those who built the Tower of Babel in the land of Shinar, though the Bible never actually states this. Nimrod's kingdom included the cities of Babel, Erech, Accad, and perhaps Calneh, in Shinar (Ge 10:10), Flavius Josephus believed that it was likely under his direction that the building of Babel and its tower began; in addition to Josephus, this is also the view found in the Talmud (Chullin 89a, Pesahim 94b, Erubin 53a, Avodah Zarah 53b), and later midrash such as Genesis Rabba.

The historian Josephus wrote around AD 95:

Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it were through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power. He also said he would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to reach. And that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers.

Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of Nimrod, and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God; and they built a tower, neither sparing any pains, nor being in any degree negligent about the work: and, by reason of the multitude of hands employed in it, it grew very high, sooner than any one could expect; but the thickness of it was so great, and it was so strongly built, that thereby its great height seemed, upon the view, to be less than it really was. It was built of burnt brick, cemented together with mortar, made of bitumen, that it might not be liable to admit water. When God saw that they acted so madly, he did not resolve to destroy them utterly, since they were not grown wiser by the destruction of the former sinners; but he caused a tumult among them, by producing in them diverse languages, and causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they should not be able to understand one another. The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon, because of the confusion of that language which they readily understood before; for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel, confusion.

Why 29 ziggurats? Was it Homeland Security?

“He also said he would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to reach. And that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers.” (Josephus) A momentous event like the flood would lead to a reaction: The consolidating of resources, settling closer together, looking for strong leadership.

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:4

Evidence for the flood and a date!

Sumerian kings list tablet is dated to around 2000 B.C. Written in cuneiform; it is a serious attempt to document, in order, with the length of each reign the rulers of Mesopotamia up to that time. After several kings are listed. The tablet says ”After the flood had swept over…”) then continues listing kings and their timelines. There are several copies of this tablet that have been found.

Abraham lived in Mesopotamia (Ur of the Chaldeans) in the same time period that this kind of tablet came into use c. 2100-2000 BC. In the early part of Genesis there are the same kinds of lists!

“This is the written account of Adam’s line!” (Genesis 5:1) a genealogy which ends with Abraham’s father Terah. (Genesis 11:26)

Was this written in 2100-2000 BC? in cuneiform script?

There is a very good reason this is the case! Abraham was called to go and establish a nation. He needed to consolidate his origins, and he did so in a culturally appropriate way. We have now potentially pushed back the earliest written Bible account from Moses (1446 BC) in Hebrew to Abraham (2100-2000 BC) in Cuneiform. We are now getting even closer to the Garden of Eden.

In fact we have an even earlier marker. An original list in Genesis ch 10 in a different style from c. 2900 BC. (By the great-great grandson of Noah, Peleg, an ancestor of Abraham) soon after the time of the dispersion of peoples with editorial comments placed several hundred years later than that by someone else. (Again, putting both these lists in to the solid written criteria by around 2100 BC)

The list in Genesis has actual years between each son, so it’s easy to set dates for the flood and dispersion within a hundred year margin of error.

3450 BC Approximate Date of the Flood

3500-3100 BC - The Uruk Period of Sumeria, people created communities in the vicinity of the rivers, writing developed, and the creation of monumental temples. Uruk become one of the most important centers in Mesopotamia. This all happened in about 400 years – three generations, according to the genealogy of Genesis ch 11 found in the Septuagint translation.

3300 BC – larger and larger Ziggurats built, Cuneiform system of writing developed.

3150 BC Sargon of Agade (Nimrod?) grows the Akkadian Empire and unites Sumer and Akkad. Cuneiform writing comes in wider use

c. 3050 BC – the Akkadian Empire with unified national language collapses (tower of Babel story) – peoples scatter - “Dark Ages for undetermined time” (I put this date earlier by several hundred years than most archeologists want to date it because they don’t want to give credence to the Babel story – Most put it at 2250 B.C so that the emergence of other cultures can pre date it- but the proliferation of large structures and writing tell a different story! Population growth from three families at max 3% over 400 years puts the population at 400,000 at this time after the flood. In another 100 years it would be 7.8 million people. No wonder they scattered at this crucial point!)

2900 BC. Table of nations list from Genesis 10 written by great- great grandson of Noah, Peleg who is in Abraham’s family line.

2300-2200 BC Third Dynasty of Ur in Babylon emerges after the Mesopotamian “Dark Ages”

2100-2000 B.C. Sumerian King’s list written in Cuneiform which makes mention of the flood over a thousand years earlier.

2100-2000 BC -family line from Adam to Terah written, Peleg’s list updated with editorial comments around this time as well

2100-2000 BC Abraham leaves Mesopotamia

The Mesopotamian flood story

From the Epic of Gilgamesh – sources dated 2100 BC- 800 BC in various versions.

Accounts of the flood, stories about it in various cultures have also been documented. What is not often noted is the extent of how this story proliferated and was remembered.

lists 261 separate flood stories found in various people groups all over the world.

Coming up:

June 17 – Day Age (old earth) view

June 24 – Creation stories, theology, and time

Watch the talk and download notes for:

CFG part 1: Ancient Hebrew Writings at

CFG part 2: Ancient History Revisited at

The audio and notes from previous sessions are available at

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