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22 October 24, 1975
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Harsh 'Folklore in the Old Testament'
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By PAUL MASSERMAN
"Folklore in the Old Tes-
tament," by James George
Frazer, published by Hart
Publishing Co., is a reprint
of a classical anthropologi-
cal work written and com-
piled nearly 90 years ago.
It was one of the products
of the period when Biblical
criticism flourished, when
scholars, influenced by
"scientific thought," sought
to examine the Bible in the
light of anthropological dis-
coveries.
The work is especially
harsh on the Old Testament
and on the character of
some of the Patriarchs and
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Matriarchs. Frazer treats
the Old Testament accounts
as if they were myths and
legends.
Nearly a score of paral-
lels are cited to the ac-
count of Creation, in Gene-
sis, including the
Babylonian and Egyptian
parallels, the Greek legend
of the creation, Australian
and Maori stories, Tahi-
tian tradition, Melanesian
legends; Indian legends,
stories told by the Dyaks
of Borneo, African stories
of the creation of man and
American Indian legends
of creation. These paral-
lels only heighten the ma-
jesty of the account of the
Creation in the Bible.
Nahum Sarna, in his
book, "Understanding Gene-
sis," explains: "The Hebrew
cosmology represents a re-
volutionary break with the
contemporary world, a part-
ing of the spiritual ways
that involved the undermin-
ing of the entire prevailing
mythological world-view.
These new ideas of Israel
transcended by far, the
range of the religious con-
cepts of the ancient world.
Israel's monotheism consti-
tuted a new creation, a revo-
lution in religion, a sudden
transformation . . . The
Near Eastern parallels pro-
ject Israel's originality in ev-
ery sharper focus.
". . . Israel alone, was
able to withstand and over-
come the powerful erosive
and homoginizing forces of
contemporary paganism to
develop a unique religio-
moral civilization of univer-
sal and eternal value."
There are innumerable
accounts of the Flo.od —
from the Babylonian Gilga-
mesh epic to stories of the
Flood from every part of the
world. The author claims
that the Hebrew narrative
was derived from the Baby-
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Ionian account and that the
flood depicted probably oc-
curred in Mesopotamia, in
the valley of the Euphrates
and Tigris.
The Tower of Babel ac-
count is also found in other
lands and is probably a
reminiscence. Two such
ruined temple-towers
were found in Babylon,
according to the book. The
author cites stories told by
African tribes about the
"confusion of tongues,"
the story of the pyramid of
Cholulu in Mexico and
accounts from Greece, As-
sam, Australia and Amer-
ica.
In the account of the Pa-
triarchs, the author dwells
at length and unfavorably
on Jacob. Frazer writes:
"If Abraham is the type
of the Semitic sheikh, brave
and hospitable, dignified
and courteous, Jacob is the
type of the Semitic trader,
supple and acute, fertile in
expedients, with a keen eye
to gain, compassing his ends
not by force but by craft
"Like all the events of his
life, the birth of Moses is en-
circled in tradition with a
halo of romance," writes
James George Frazer.
"While this story of the
birth and upbringing of
Moses is free from all super-
natural elements, it nev-
ertheless presents_ features
which may be suspected of
belonging to the realm of
folklore rather than of his-
tory.
"In order apparently to
enhance the wonder of his
hero's career, the storyteller
loves to relate how the great
man or woman was exposed
at birth, and was only res-
cued from imminent death
by what may seem to vulgar
eyes an accident, but what
really proved to be the fin-
ger of Fate interposed to
preserve the helpless babe
for the high destiny that
awaited him."
The book cites many
parallels to the story of the
exposure and preservation
of the infant Moses. Ac-
cording to Roman tradi-
tion the founder of Rome
himself was exposed in his
infancy and might have
perished if it had not been
for the interposition of a
she-wolf.
The first Semitic king to
rein over Babylonia, 2600
BCE, was Sargon the Elder.
The story of the exposure of
the infant Sargon in a bas-
ket of rushes on the river
closely resembles the story
of the exposure of the infant
Moses, according to Frazer.
There is also a similar story
in the Indian epic, Mahab-
harata and in that of the
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One of the factors is the
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The largest beneficiaries
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the European countries.
tribes living in the Himala-
yas.
Samson is described as a
"roystering swashbuckler,
who sallied forth from time
to time as a solitary palla-
din or knight-errant and
mowed them (the Philis-
tines) down with the jaw-
bone of an ass or any other
equally serviceable weapon
that came to his hand . . . It
is only redeemed by the ele-
ments of supernatural
strength, headlong valor
and a certain grim humor."
Frazer cites many paral-
lels to the belief that the
hero's strength was in his
hair.
Frazer spends a great
deal of space on the topic
"Not to seethe a kid in its
mother's milk," and cites
this prohibition in other
lands and cultures. He also
deals with "The Witch of
Endor," "The Sin of a Cen-
sus," "Sacred Oaks and Ter-
ebinths," "The High Place of
Israel," "Cuttings from the
Dead," "The Ox That
Gores," and other topics.
Frazer is not of the ex-
treme school of Biblical
criticism which holds
"that little of the so-called
Mo4aic legislation in the
Pentateuch can be proved
to have emanated, from
Moses." Frazer refutes
this, saying:
"The origin of Israel and
Judaism without Moses
would be hardly more intel-
ligible than the origin of
Buddhism. without Buddha,
the origin of Christianity
without Christ, or the origin
of Mohammedanism with-
out Mohammed. Moses . . .
may justly be ranked as the
founder of Israel . . . He
rallied the Israelites against
their oppressors in Egypt,
led them to freedom in the
wilderness, molded them
into a nation, impressed on
their civil and religious in-
stitutions the stamp of his
own remarkable genius, and
having guided them to
Moab, he died in sight of the
Promised Land which he
was not to enter."
Sarna, whom we quoted
earlier, has an answer to
some of the problems raised
by Frazer. Sarna writes:
"Moreover, in dealing
with the problem of paral-
lels, there are other remark-
able factors to be consid-
ered. First among these is
the extraordinary con-
sciousness of difference
which characterized ancient
Israel . . . Israel saw its
fate as unique. It felt itself
to be 'a people that dwells
apart, not reckoned among
the nations (Num. 23:9).'
"Miraculous it indeed is
that in all of history, Israel
alone, a foreigner in the
land, managed to establish a
nation on this soil, to con-
vert it into a 'Holy Land'
and inextricably to bind up
its own destiny with it fbr
evermore."
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