In this week's #Torah portion, we are introduced to several supernatural entities, one of which is called "Rephaim".

Keep in mind that "Rephaim" is older than the OT and is an appropriated word from the Canaanites.

So what were they in ANE literature?

#Devarim
#EBAMeme

1/5
In ANE religions lie the OT, death was dreary and undesirable. It is a lonely existence unless you were deserving in life, meaning, a great hero or leader. In such a case you could serve the Gods, interact with the living, making you one of the Rephaim.

#Devarim
#EBAMeme

2/5
We see this from the author of the Divine War story in Genesis 14 or Joshua 9-13, where the Rephaim of the Goddess Ashteroth are participants.

And in Job where the Rephaim are mentioned as being distinct from the other residents of Sheol.

#Devarim
#EBAMeme

3/5
Remember, the #Torah has many contributors, and each one had his own view about the Rephaim. This is why the Deuteronomist(s), who was obsessed with giants, made his Rephaim gigantic while others did not.

In killing them, Yahweh eliminated competition.

#Devarim
#EBAMeme

4/5
To confuse things further, the Deuteronomist(s) gave the Rephaim different names, depending upon which tribe they were from, and corrupted one of the names used by the Genesis authors.

Did they exist?

Of course not.

But they are a fun literary device!

#Devarim
#EBAMeme

5/5

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More from @Elishabenabuya

11 Jul
This week begins the Book of Deuteronomy. It's a collection of narratives with views/legends that are distinct from the others, and are often are at odds with Gen-Num.

Deuteronomy also has several anachronisms that could only have been written much later.

#Devarim
#EBAMeme

1/4
The opening verses of Deut. provides us with a list of places that the other books didn't mention,, but where the Hebrews apparently traveled, but the point of view is from someone in the future living in Israel.

#Devarim
#EBAMeme

2/4
Ibn Ezra, one of the more honest classical Jewish commentators, notes that these anachronisms could not have been written by Moses, but won't cross the line into true heresy!

#Devarim
#EBAMeme

3/4
Read 5 tweets
27 Oct 20
Here's a short thread about Hagar who appears in Genesis 16 and 25.

As with Sarai, we don't have any background information in the text. Legends say she was a princess, an Egyptian. And another says that she became Abraham's wife after Sarah died.

1/5

#EBAMeme
#Lech_Lecha
The plain text tells us that she was a slavegirl, a shifcha. We see this term also apply to Bilha and Zilpah, who served Rachael and Leah:

2/5

#EBAMeme
#Lech_Lecha
Sarai cannot get pregnant, and has Hagar fulfill her duties as an intermediary birther, which she immediately regrets and hates the haughty pregnant slave:

3/5

#EBAMeme
#Lech_Lecha
Read 5 tweets
25 Oct 20
[Sarai thread]

Let's talk about Sarah, who is first appears in Genesis 11 as Sarai.

The text gives very little information about her.

And many people assume that in Chapter 12, she is 65 years old.

But is she?

#EBAMeme
#Lech_Lecha

1/5
The first time we have ANY reference about her age is many chapters later in a tale about a miraculous birth.

It is an often used error to assume that the details in one story by one author will carry over into other stories by other authors.

#EBAMeme
#Lech_Lecha

2/5
But nowhere in chapter 12 do we have any indication that she is anything but the most beautiful and desirable woman in all of Egypt.

That men would be falling all over themselves to sleep with her seems to indicate a young, rather than an old women.

#EBAMeme
#Lech_Lecha

3/5
Read 5 tweets
24 Oct 20
This week's Torah portion begins with a man named by his father as "Esteemed Patriarch" or "High Father" (AvRam). The text doesn't give his age. Commentators like to use "75", making his wife, Sarai, 65.

They're also the first characters to own slaves.

#EBAMeme
#Lech_Lecha

1/5 Image
The very first verse of the passage comes with a problem: why is Yahweh telling Abram to go from the land of his birth when he already did that a long time ago?

#EBAMeme
#Lech_Lecha

2/5 Image
Another issue that we come across, and we are only at the 6th verse, is that it gives us a time-frame that is based on the view that the Canaanites were no longer in the land, long after the time of Joshua.

#EBAMeme
#Lech_Lecha

3/5 Image
Read 6 tweets
11 Aug 19
[thread]

I got an email from a fan of Chabad (perhaps a member) to "suggest" (he indicated that he's a lawyer) that I stop mocking their goofy religious teachings on Twitter.

So, in response to that, here are a few of my "Stupid things about Chabad and their Rebbe" memes.

1/8
While having claimed to have an engineering degree (which cannot be confirmed by the university), the Rebbe would often write letters (which are collected in bound volumes and revered by his followers) to try to explain science.

This is one example of "Geocentrism is true".
In his letter explaining why Evolution is not science, and why scientists won't accept the Genesis account as true:

3/8
Read 8 tweets
5 Mar 18
In this thread, I will be posting several links to posts that I have written concerning the so-called "fulfilled prophecies" of Jesus. Hopefully they will be of some interest to you. The purpose of this is to make a pinned Tweet thread for later on.

So let's begin...
In this first link, I cover several (6) of the Psalms that Christians claim that Jesus fulfilled, and show how he didn't fulfilled them.

apikoris.blogspot.co.il/2017/11/the-fa…
In this second link, I explain how Jesus did not fulfill Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, nor 35:5

apikoris.blogspot.co.il/2017/12/the-fa…
Read 6 tweets

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