Sunday, October 19, 2008

And Who Is Arrogant?

One C. Alex Alexander has this opinion, after reading an interview with Edgar Bronfman, Keeping the Faith (October 5, 2008):-

...the intellectual arrogance of most Westerners like him who may still believe in the creation myth of the Book of Genesis. The best scholarly estimate of Moses’s existence is dated around 1400-1500 B.C.E., while we know that the Code of Hammurabi preceded the Ten Commandments. Besides, the Vedas of Hindus (1500 B.C.E.) influenced the laws of precolonial India; the sayings of Confucius (fifth century B.C.E.) and Taoism (fourth century B.C.E.) formed the basis of the civilizations and laws of the Far Eastern countries.


Hmmm.

Let's look at the second law of Hammurabi's Code which reads, "If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser."

Would the Laws of Moses be a bit more palpable? Even better? Who is being aarogant?

Of course, while the 10 Commandments were given to Moses, Jewish practices were already evolving from the time of Abraham, if not before. The obligation of circumcision predates Mt. Sinai.

If Mr. Alexander wishes to be an athiest or whatever, fine. Just don't go around arrogantly bashing the religious.

1 comment:

Suzanne Pomeranz said...

Shabbat also predates the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai (see Genesis 1).