This work is set within the wider framework of an argument defending the thesis that the image of the ark of gopher wood is to be understood as a mythological representation of the Jerusalem temple. The objective of the resent...
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This work is set within the wider framework of an argument defending the thesis that the image of the ark of gopher wood is to be understood as a mythological representation of the Jerusalem temple. The objective of the resent article therefore is to explore a single piece of literary evidence which shall, in an accumulative manner, assists in the substantiation of the whole. By a thorough examination of the translation of k'ni'm (Genesis 6:14b) it shall be shown that its somewhat anomalous rendering as ‘rooms’ or compartments’ betrays an ancient error in translation. Such an inaccuracy, is shall be argued, is most likely due to the gradual loss of the mythological presuppositions of the author. Consequently this work shall survey both the
traditions of translation and the mythological background of the biblical flood narrative in order to demonstrate that the primordial reed hut temple of Mesopotamian tradition is preserved in the Genesis account. The presence of which shall be shown to be evinced in the k'ni'm vocabulary.
In order to achieve this end there shall follow a comprehensive look at the numerous parallels between the Genesis redaction and the earlier Mesopotamian accounts in the Gilgamesh Epic and the myth of Atrahasis. Such, it is hoped, shall establish firmly the notion that the Genesis account follows the same method of ark construction as was already established in its
Mesopotamian antecedents. In conclusion this article shall provide contemporary readers with evidence sufficient to reconstruct an allusion to the reed hut Urheiligtum at the heart of the Genesis redaction of the flood myth.
