The Garden of Eden as recast Mesopotamian Myth

[kudzu]

The Garden of Eden as recast Mesopotamian Myth
by Walter R. Mattfeld
(Millbury, MA)

Some Liberal PhD scholars trained in biblical studies and ancient Mesopotamian myths understand that the Garden of Eden story is a Hebrew recast of Mesopotamian myths which explained how man came to be created and where, and how he acquired godly-forbidden knowledge but was denied immortality.

All this was figured out over 100 years ago and published (in 1887 by Professor A.H. Sayce of Oxford University). Man was created to care for the gods' city-gardens surrounded by a plain called edin in the Sumerian language.

The gods had built cities to live in _before_ man's creation. The gods had bodies of flesh and could die if they did not eat food grown in their city-gardens watered by irrigation canals from the Euphrates and Tigris.

They tired of this work, it was back-breaking! So they created man to bear the back-breaking work in their gardens of edin! Man is portrayed in Sumerian art forms as working in their gardens in a state of nakedness like Adam.

The gods didn't want man at first to possess their knowledge, the Sumerian _me_ (pronounced may)the secret workings of Heaven and Earth including laws about good and evil, right and wrong. At Eridu in Sumer, next door to Ur of the Chaldees where Abraham lived and Ea was worshiped, a man (Adapa) is warned by his god

Ea "not to eat of food of death or he will die," prefiguring Yahweh's warning to Adam. Both men, Adapa and Adam, are blamed for losing out on obtaining immortality for themselves and for mankind.

The warning "don't eat" was given in (1) Eridu and recast by the Hebrews (Abraham?)as being given in the Garden of Eden.

Thus Eridu is a pre-biblical prototype of Eden's garden. But Eridu is not exclusively the one location behind Eden's garden, there are other locations in the myths: (2) Nippur, where "Man" (the Igigi gods being called euphemistically "man") are expelled for an act of rebellion against Enlil the god of Nippur, recast at Adam rebelling and being expelled from Eden's garden;

The Igigi at Eridu rebel against Enki/Ea and are expelled from that city-garden too and man is created to replace them as garden-laborers.

continued

http://www.israel-a-history-of.com/t...mian-myth.html

[kudzu]

[Ralph]

Troll much MUSLIM? The only moderate Muslim is one that has his weapons removed. Reality: Its a most difficult thing to establish facts in evidence.....from a period of time that predates history. All the creation stories are a matter of oral history. That fact that all the nations of the world actually promote pre history creation stories reveals only one truth. Creation itself is a faith held by all the nations on earth. Just like there is a flood oral history from all the nations....there is a garden oral history among all the nations. Myths and Legends are developed from some common source.

If you want to know the truth....simply commit yourself to looking for the ONE RELIGION that has never been debunked by Science or History Actual. There is only one throughout the entire world.

[kudzu]

Troll much MUSLIM? The only moderate Muslim is one that has his weapons removed.

What are you talking about? A Dutch team of ASI archaeologists excavated the ancient burial mounds in Hamad in 1983 .

[Ralph]

What are you talking about? A Dutch team of ASI archaeologists excavated the ancient burial mounds in Hamad in 1983 .

And? The world's topography changed...during and after the great flood. There are evidences on the highest mountain peaks that reveal excavation of sea life. There is no why to find a historical place that does not exist. The Garden could be located at the bottom of the deepest trench on the sea floor today. We will never know some of the mysteries of pre-history. Simply because there is an oral history of something.....no amount of modern digs can present any evidence to disprove the negative that you are ignoring.....almost ALL the peoples of the world have pre-history ORAL legends concerning, creation, the garden, and the flood. You can't prove or disprove anything by NOT FINDING something. Keep digging....perhaps you can dig up something from all the world's cultures and make a compartive analysis....THEN AND ONLY THEN CAN YOU "PROVE" YOUR NEGATIVE.

[ThatOwlWoman]

And? The world's topography changed...during and after the great flood. There evidences on the highest mountain peaks that reveal excavation of sea life. There is no why to find a historical place that does not exist. The Garden could be located at the bottom of the deepest trench on the sea floor today. We will never know some of the mysteries of pre-history.

So therefore we shouldn't even try to find out anything about prehistoric times? God might get pissed off?

[kudzu]

And? The world's topography changed...during and after the great flood. There are evidences on the highest mountain peaks that reveal excavation of sea life. There is no why to find a historical place that does not exist. The Garden could be located at the bottom of the deepest trench on the sea floor today. We will never know some of the mysteries of pre-history. Simply because there is an oral history of something.....no amount of modern digs can present any evidence to disprove the negative that you are ignoring.....almost ALL the peoples of the world have pre-history ORAL legends concerning, creation, the garden, and the flood. You can't prove or disprove anything by NOT FINDING something.

LOLOL.. no.. This only dates to 2000 BC.. There was no flood and Bahrain has changed very little. The Arabian Peninsula is still slowly tipping towards the east because of the Arabian Plate... and its still moving away from Africa little by little as the Red Sea gets wider.

[Ralph]

So therefore we shouldn't even try to find out anything about prehistoric times? God might get pissed off?

As I pointed out.....YOU CANNOT FIND what does not exist. Not finding something proves what? Its a simple thing.....God locked away the knowledge concerning the Garden and forbid man from ever entering again. The evidence that the entire world has been under water at some point of world history is clear. There is no evidence of Eden....there is only Oral Histories. As I also said....if you want to know the truth simply study all the world religions and find the one and only that has never been debunked by history actual or application of real science. There is only one.

"Then the Lord God, "Behold the man has become as one of Us....knowing good and evil: and now he might stretch forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever" -- therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to cultivate the ground from which he was taken; So He drove the man out and at the east of the garden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life." -- Genesis 3:22-24.

The proof that God will never allow man to find the garden and the knowledge of the tree of life? Man has never found the garden as man can never find something that no longer exists. The World Changed during and after the great flood....as science proves there is not one inch of earth that has not been under water...not one inch. As the Bible declares, the mountains sank and the valley's rose during this time period.

Secular logic? Because something is not found proves that it never existed....and that's science? Really? I thought that OWLS were wise?

[kudzu]

So therefore we shouldn't even try to find out anything about prehistoric times? God might get pissed off?

A myth didn't change the topography of anything...…...

[kudzu]

As I pointed out.....YOU CANNOT FIND what does not exist. Not finding something proves what? Its a simple thing.....God locked away the knowledge concerning the Garden and forbid man from ever entering again. The evidence that the entire world has been under water at some point of world history is clear. There is no evidence of Eden....there is only Oral Histories. As I also said....if you want to know the truth simply study all the world religions and find the one and only that has never been debunked by history actual or application of real science. There is only one.

"Then the Lord God, "Behold the man has become as one of Us....knowing good and evil: and now he might stretch forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever" -- therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to cultivate the ground from which he was taken; So He drove the man out and at the east of the garden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life." -- Genesis 3:22-24.

The proof that God will never allow man to find the garden and the knowledge of the tree of life? Man has never found the garden as man can never find something that no longer exists. The World Changed during and after the great flood....as science proves there is not one inch of earth that has not been under water...not one inch. As the Bible declares, the mountains sank and the valley's rose during this time period.

Secular logic? Because something is not found proves that it never existed....and that's science? Really? I thought that OWLS were wise?

The "Edin" story from Babylon is set in Dilmun and on the north east coast of Saudi Arabia.. Bahrain is just full of sweetwater springs.

[Mason Michaels]

Adam was Black,Eve was White,the mark of Cain is asian eyes.
Eden was located on the East Shore of present Maumee River,Holy Toledo .Toledo means Sword,an Angel with a flaming Sword(Toledo)was left to guard The Tree of Life(Marijuana)

[ThatOwlWoman]

A myth didn't change the topography of anything...…...

It's interesting that many creation stories around the world contain a flood as part of the story. Even some western hemisphere indigenous groups' mythology contains a story of a great flood in humanity's beginning times. That being said, scholars suspect that in some cases (for instance, up here near Canada in Anishinaabe'aki (Ojibwe tribal homelands), the original stories changed due to the influence of missionaries from Europe. I've found at least three versions. In one, a flood comes as a punishment (very Biblical, eh?). In another the world was created covered with water, so Kichi-Manidoo (Great Mystery/Great Spirit) lets down his daughter Giizhigkwe (Sky Woman), who uses mud brought up by Wazhask (Muskrat) to form Turtle Island, where we live today. In yet another, there is the Earth and only one human, First Man, Nanaboozhoo. The waters come up and cover the Earth, so Nanaboozhoo saves all the animals by building a new earth on the back of Miskwaadesi (Painted Turtle) to again form Turtle Island.

One part I like a lot about these Native creation stories is that in almost all of them, human beings -- male and female -- are created at the same time and as opposites yet equals. So there's none of that Western theological nonsense that man is better than woman and meant to be her superior because he came first. Nor is Woman blamed for messing it all up by eating a fruit and coercing Man into doing the same.

[kudzu]

It's interesting that many creation stories around the world contain a flood as part of the story. Even some western hemisphere indigenous groups' mythology contains a story of a great flood in humanity's beginning times. That being said, scholars suspect that in some cases (for instance, up here near Canada in Anishinaabe'aki (Ojibwe tribal homelands), the original stories changed due to the influence of missionaries from Europe. I've found at least three versions. In one, a flood comes as a punishment (very Biblical, eh?). In another the world was created covered with water, so Kichi-Manidoo (Great Mystery/Great Spirit) lets down his daughter Giizhigkwe (Sky Woman), who uses mud brought up by Wazhask (Muskrat) to form Turtle Island, where we live today. In yet another, there is the Earth and only one human, First Man, Nanaboozhoo. The waters come up and cover the Earth, so Nanaboozhoo saves all the animals by building a new earth on the back of Miskwaadesi (Painted Turtle) to again form Turtle Island.

One part I like a lot about these Native creation stories is that in almost all of them, human beings -- male and female -- are created at the same time and as opposites yet equals. So there's none of that Western theological nonsense that man is better than woman and meant to be her superior because he came first. Nor is Woman blamed for messing it all up by eating a fruit and coercing Man into doing the same.

Jews and Muslims don't blame Eve for the Fall, and neither believes in original sin (inherited sin)... That's strictly Christian.

[Mason Michaels]

It's interesting that many creation stories around the world contain a flood as part of the story. Even some western hemisphere indigenous groups' mythology contains a story of a great flood in humanity's beginning times. That being said, scholars suspect that in some cases (for instance, up here near Canada in Anishinaabe'aki (Ojibwe tribal homelands), the original stories changed due to the influence of missionaries from Europe. I've found at least three versions. In one, a flood comes as a punishment (very Biblical, eh?). In another the world was created covered with water, so Kichi-Manidoo (Great Mystery/Great Spirit) lets down his daughter Giizhigkwe (Sky Woman), who uses mud brought up by Wazhask (Muskrat) to form Turtle Island, where we live today. In yet another, there is the Earth and only one human, First Man, Nanaboozhoo. The waters come up and cover the Earth, so Nanaboozhoo saves all the animals by building a new earth on the back of Miskwaadesi (Painted Turtle) to again form Turtle Island.

One part I like a lot about these Native creation stories is that in almost all of them, human beings -- male and female -- are created at the same time and as opposites yet equals. So there's none of that Western theological nonsense that man is better than woman and meant to be her superior because he came first. Nor is Woman blamed for messing it all up by eating a fruit and coercing Man into doing the same.

Why do men have nipples?

[ThatOwlWoman]

Why do men have nipples?

Take a Bio 101 class and find out. :~)