Alcohol and Criticism
791 words by jbunton
Alcohol played a major role in ancient religions. One of the most popular alcoholic beverages was beer. Beer was widely used because it was rich in carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins. It was also consumed because it was safer than drinking water, the alcohol in beer killed many dangerous microorganisms. Similar to people of today beer was associated with people of the lower or working class and wine was more common among the elite class. This was because cereals and grains were more easy to come by and grapes were more of a luxury. Beer was used as a commodity to pay workers and as a bride gift. Beer and wine were often used in celebrations. Jesus’ first miracle was turning water in wine.
Textual criticism and source criticism are both very valuable tools. Textual criticism is the examination of the actual texts. This form of criticism is used to remove errors from the text in an attempt to make the work as close to the original text as possible. For example one version may have longer lines than another, but this is because the person during the translating or rewriting may have felt compelled to add words for clarification purposes or because they just thought it sounded better. This form of criticism can also be used to determine which text is more accurate, like the books of Joshua and Judges.
Source criticism is used to determine who the possible authors of a text or passage are. This is done by examining the language used which helps determine the time period of the author. This type of criticism gives the reader insight on why some stories were told more than once and why some of the information in the Bible seems contradictory.
There is confusion about whether Moses wrote the Torah because of word choice. In Hebrew law is torah and in Genesis it says that Moses wrote the law. Moses really only wrote about the ten commandments which are laws established by God. Evidence proving that Moses did not right the Torah is that the word torah appears in other books of the Bible, but it only means law in these passages.
J is for Jahweh which is German for Yahweh. This author lived in Judah and is thought to be a woman because “she” writes about women and women’s issues. The author includes many talking animals, dreams, and sex in her writing.
E is for Elohim. E is a Mushite priest, or descendant of Moses. This author is not a fan of Aaron and condemns him and his descendants, but makes Moses and Joshua look like heroes.
P represents the priestly author. This author tells readers that God is just and worth worshiping and if they disobey him they must sacrifice, repent, and be punished. Unlike the author, E, P likes Aaron.
D is for the Deutoromistic authors, D1 and D2. Like author E, D1 is a Mushite priest. There is evidence that this author may have written other books in the Torah. Author D2 is similar to author D1, but he is just writing during a later time period. Author D2 writes about hope for the Judean exiles.
R stands for Redactor which is for Ezra, an Aaronoid priest who is believed to have combined the writings of authors J, E, P, and D to make up the five books of the Torah.
Q is for Quelle. Q is the non-Markian shared material in Matthew and Luke, mostly the sayings of Jesus.
After 586 B.C.E. until the time of Jesus’ birth many things happened. The first and most important event was the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. In 538 B.C.E. the Persian king, Cyrus the Great issued a decree allowing all people who were in exile to return to their ancestral homes. According to the Bible for Dummies, the Jews led by Zerubbabel begin rebuilding the Temple in 520 B.C.E. In 458 B.C.E. Ezra begins religious reforms because he finds that the people of Jerusalem are not aware of their religious heritage. He begins by teaching them the Law of Moses. The next major event was the Greeks taking over the land of Israel under the leadership of Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great was called so because he conquered a vast amount of territory in a small amount of time. Upon his death his empire was left to his son. Being too young to rule an empire it was taken and split between two generals, Ptolemy and Seleucus in 323 B.C.E. Herod the Great’s reign began in 37 B.C.E. and it was during his reign that Jesus was born.