OT Posting Board

Has the reading of these ancient Near Eastern documents raised specific questions or difficulties concerning your understanding of the OT or how we as Christians are to read the OT?

It's always so funny to me when I have a question raise in my mind about something God says in Scripture or a time where I just don't understand something and then God allows me to answer my own question through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. He is the revealer of all TRUTH!
While reading the creation and flood accounts of the ANE, questions about the validity and the originality of the OT were raised in my mind. What documents came first? Did the other civilizations copy the OT or did Moses "borrow" material from the other writings of the ANE? If Moses did reference material from another source, does that really effect the inerrancy of the accounts? I was a bit unsettled.
I spent time in prayer and thought about those questions while continuing to read and compare. The conclusion I came to was that the other writings of the ANE did nothing other than to solidify my belief in the Pentateuch as the Word of God. These events REALLY happened! The very existence of other accounts only ground the events in history! Men were trying to answer the questions of why the flood occurred...how were were made...where man came from...MEN were trying to answer those questions. The gods that the ANE wrote about where not God-like. They acted as men. They even depended upon men to an extent (Epic of Gilgamesh and the sacrifice of Utnapishtim). They quarreled...all of this points to god-men, not God. GOD answered those questions through his servant, Moses. God is in control...He has no equal. He always acts in love toward His children.
The documents and culture of the ANE plays a part in how we read the OT. The context is so very important...the context of the text AND the culture. I love the illustration of this in "Introduction to the Old Testament" by Longman and Dillard. Song of Songs 1:9 states, "I liken you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh's chariot horses." I read that the first time and went...HUH!? Upon learning a bit of the culture, however, there is a bigger picture in this passage. Egypt never used mares to pull their chariots, they only used stallions. A stallion is VERY distracted by a mare because of procreation! There was an actual battle tactic of setting loose mares amongst chariots to distract the stallions and throw the enemy into a bit of confusion. Solomon is basically saying, "Honey, you're so hot that I can't even think about work!"
While I hope this brings a smile to your face...the need for context is greatly seen here. Placing the OT in its context allows us to more fully understand what Moses meant, grounds the historical records of the OT in our history and allows us to better apply God's Words to our lives today.