Options for Bible-Believers with Difficulties in Interpretation of ANE

One of the difficulties of interpreting the Bible in the post-Enlightenment age is comprehending how ancient cultures communicated reality to one another. And the farther back you go the more bizarre the cultural communication can seem to modern minds.

One example of this is how Jewish religious authors from 200 BCE to 100 CE used apocalyptic literature. This ancient genre uses symbolism, poetic language, cataclysmic imagery, fantastical creatures, and both a truncated and an expanded and even an overlapping account of history in order to give a spiritual interpretation of historical events. More often than not modern minds will respond in two ways: 1) they will accept this genre but interpret it too literally or 2) they will reject it because they can’t interpret it literally.

But if we go back even further into ancient near eastern literature things get even more bizarre.

The Egyptians, as well as the other cultures of the Ancient Near East (ANE), often exaggerated, allegorized and symbolized certain aspects of their concrete world in order to make important points. Often these non-literal techniques were applied to religious and historical reality to make important theological, political and ethnic points.

Such methods of interpreting reality were common in all the cultures of the Ancient Near East. In fact, they appear to be common to most ancient cultures from the Chinese to the Mayans. To this end, we have Egyptian, Mayan, Chinese, Sumerian, and Assyrian kings with exceptionally long reigns.

Here are some examples from the Early Dynastic I period of the Sumerian kings list:

• Alulim of Eridug: (28800 years)
• Alalgar of Eridug: (36000 years)
• En-Men-Lu-Ana of Bad-Tibira: (43200 years)
• En-Men-Gal-Ana of Bad-Tibira: (28800 years)
• Dumuzi of Bad-Tibira, the shepherd: (36000 years)
• En-Sipad-Zid-Ana of Larag: (28800 years)
• En-Men-Dur-Ana of Zimbir: (21000 years)
• Ubara-Tutu of Shuruppag: (18600 years)

Now when we turn to the Bible we read of the exceptionally long lives of people like Adam, Enoch, Noah, and Methuselah. How are we to interpret and/or understand something that seems so foreign to our contemporary understanding or reality? I think believers who hold the Scriptures to be high authority have three options:

1)      They can say, “I don’t know what other ancient cultures were doing, but I believe what the Bible says is true and people used to live hundreds of years.”

2)      They can say, “I understand there is something quite culturally foreign to my understanding going on here. People probably did not live hundreds of years but that’s not the point the Bible is trying to make. I still believe what the Bible says is true, but I’m going to interpret in light of its contemporary culture and not my own.”

3)      They can say, “I have no idea what is going on here. I don’t know what to believe. However, I trust God and believe the Bible. I don’t have to make a definite decision on something like this in order to be a fully formed follower of Christ.”

I’m not advocating any particular option above the others. I think all three of these are perfectly acceptable approaches for the purposes of personal growth and Kingdom expansion. My point was just to point out one of the difficulties of Biblical interpretation and how different Bible-believing Christians can approach this problem.