101 Myths of the Bible: how ancient scribes - Conscious Evolution TV

124 101 Myths of the Bible
1. Several members of Abraham’s family have names associated with territories that
didn’t come into existence until hundreds of years after the time of Abraham;
2. Abraham and Lot moved to Beth-el, which, according to the Bible, didn’t have
that name until the time of Jacob, Abraham’s grandson; and
3. Abraham rescued Lot from the territory of Dan, which didn’t have that name
until long after the Exodus from Egypt.
4. Other anachronisms are discussed in Myth #52, which profiles Lot’s two sons,
who are identified as the founders of the nations of Moab and Ammon.
No historical records provide evidence for the existence of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The name “Sodom” comes from a root word meaning “scorched,” a name that would
have arisen only after its alleged destruction, not before. That fact, together with the
many anachronisms associated with events in Lot’s life, shows that the story of Sodom
and Gomorrah achieved its present written form late in the first millennium B.C.,
based on legends about earlier times.
In addition, the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah bears a suspicious
parallel to another legendary story in the Book of Judges, concerning the
destruction of the Tribe of Benjamin (see Judg. 19–21). That story concerns a Levite
priest traveling with his concubine who passed through Gibeah, where an elderly
Ephramite came out of the fields and saw him. The Ephramite offered the priest the
hospitality of his home. While entertaining his guests and offering them some bread and
wine, some citizens of the town approached the Ephramite’s house and demanded that
the guest come out so that the men “may know him.” The host pointed out that the
man was his guest and offered up his own daughter and the priest’s concubine as an
alternative. The townsfolk took the concubine and abused her to death.
The priest took her body, cut it into twelve pieces and sent one part to each of the
Israelite tribes, demanding revenge on the city. With God’s help, the city, belonging to
the tribe of Benjamin, was destroyed and,“when the flame began to arise up out of the
city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the flame
of the city ascended up to heaven” ( Judg. 20:40).
This is the same scene witnessed by Abraham after the destruction of Sodom.
Subsequently, the Israelites wiped out almost the entire tribe of Benjamin, with but a