The Christ story is true because the Bible tells me so. Like Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator, we ask “what is truth?” Is this scientific truth? No. A peak experience in our life, like falling in love is true, but not scientifically verifiable. There are different contexts for truth. There is a difference between truth in court and truth in a laboratory. There are different kinds of truth. We say, “So help me, God.” Stories, like the parable of the Good Samaritan, are true stories, but do we have to say every part happened exactly the way that the gospel story says that it did. We are influenced by our culture and education. Thus, we share our culture. Otherwise there is no trust, only disbelief. Is truth always black and white? There are degrees, levels, and kinds of truth.
influenced
The common language at the time of Jesus
After the Babylonian captivity, Aramaic replaced Biblical Hebrew as the everyday language in Israel. However, Biblical Hebrew was still used for religious purposes. After Alexander the Great, the Ptolemies and the Seleucids ruled Israel for almost two hundred years. Thus, the Jewish culture was heavily influenced by this Hellenistic culture. Koine Greek was used not only for international communication, but also as the first language of some Jews. This development was furthered complicated by the fact that the largest Jewish community in the world lived in Ptolemaic Alexandria, Egypt. Many of these diaspora Jews would have Greek as their first language. Thus, first the Torah, and then other Hebrew scriptures, were translated into standard Koine Greek, the Septuagint.
The second message to King Hezekiah (Isa 37:9-37:13)
“When King Sennacherib heard it,
He sent messengers
To King Hezekiah.
‘Thus shall you speak
To King Hezekiah of Judah.
Do not let your God,
On whom you rely,
Deceive you
By promising
That Jerusalem will not be given
Into the hand of the king of Assyria.
See!
You have heard
What the kings of Assyria
Have done to all lands,
Destroying them utterly.
Shall you be delivered?
Have the gods of the other nations delivered them?
My predecessors destroyed these nations,
Gozan,
Haran,
Rezeph,
Also the people of Eden
Who were in Telassar.
Where is the king of Hamath?
Where is the king of Arpad?
Where is the king of the city of Sepharvaim?
Where is the king of Hena?
Where is the king of Ivvah?’”
Once again, this is almost word for word from 2 Kings, chapter 19, almost repeating the speech of Rabshakeh in the preceding chapter. These messengers of King Sennacherib of Assyria were to present almost the same message. Do not rely on your God. See what has happened to those places that relied on their gods, since the various kings of Assyria have destroyed them. How have their gods defended them? He repeated what had happened to the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah. Most of these towns were in Babylon or Syria. He also added the cities of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and Eden. Gozan was where the northern Israelites were sent in their captivity. Haran was in Mesopotamia, a town where Abraham had stopped. Rezeph was near Hamath. Eden in Telassar probably refers to some place in Mesopotamia, thus giving further credence to Mesopotamia as the original place of the Garden of Eden. At least at this time, nearly 2700 years ago, this place was called Eden, which might have also influenced the biblical writers.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 