When I treat the bible as a primary source, (that is a book written at a certain point in history by an eyewitness to that particular time or event) rather than a holy book lowered from above, I can see a cultural divide. Here you have ancient Ur, a Mesopotamian City with it's non-creator gods. At the zenith of the Mesopotamian civilization - where everybody is supposed to want to be, you have Abram and his wife, clearly Nomadic Herdsmen, called away. I always thought of Abe and Sarah as 'Ur'ites - folk from Ur. Now, I see them as the Nomadic herdsmen who traded with, but were not from Ur. They were wealthy, not because their business was in Ur - but because they profited from selling their flocks to the city, likely on religious holidays (this happened in India during Eid, a week before the holiday goat herders began showing up in the empty lot by our house, there were goats all over the place). That is why their nephew Lot is allowed to go with them and later, their servant runs into their extended family (Rebecca) out in the desert. They profited from that pagan-worshiping society, but they weren't actually a part of it. They had a different God. He was a worshiped God, hence Abraham running into Melchizedek. So, who was this God? The God worshiped by Shepherds? In ancient times, that would mean God was the god of the shepherds.
I think those urban gods and goddesses were new. The world was still largely Nomadic Hunter-gatherer when Ancient Mesopotamia rose from the Myst's of Time. Creator-gods were still worshiped everywhere but the urban centers. Nomads, being closer to the old way of life, worshiped the Creator-God, not as an anomaly, but as he had always been and still mostly was. It was Urbanites, with more time, possessions and an ability to accumulate wealth that began true paganism in earnest. The nomadic hunters wouldn't of have time to build multiple temples, create elaborate stories and divide period of time (I doubt they even had days or weeks) into days for each Deity.
When I read Job (the oldest written book of the bible) or Genesis, I am struck with two points. The first is, Abraham and Job are not the only God-believers. Abraham's family believes in God, Job's friends, and Melchizedek is a high priest. And second, They are all herdsmen - Job, Abraham, and Abe's extended family (Jacob's wives, Issac's wife - Rebecca). God gives Abraham Israel to herd in, not farm. Lot takes the greener valley (Sodom) and falls into the non-God fearing, Urban way (he is living in town when Judgement comes). The refrain running through these tales is: God calls his people away from the bad cities, guides them to good grazing and rescues them from the perils of Urban life. Almost sounds like a psalm (David was a shepherd as well).
Not that God was going to remain a god of the herdsmen, he gives them Israel 400 years later with rules on how to farm it (apparently they learned this skill in Egypt). They are now just another Kingdom in a shifting, battling, very pagan Middle East. But their roots are wanderers, they are not as far, religiously, from the Hunting tribes that wandered the earth for most of human history. This makes me think that God was worshiped for many Milena before written history arrived. That we are only getting a small glimpse of God's story with Humanity. That Adam and Eve are arch-types of the great shift that faced humanity - Agriculture. Who got in trouble for their offering - Cain or Abel? Why? What was wrong with grains? They were hard to grow - labour intensive, needed ploughing, sowing, reaping and watering. They were, though, Urban/Agricultural offerings. Offerings to other gods, newer gods. Long before Agriculture, back when all of us humans hunted, meat was the harder wrought offering. Gatherers could find wheat in the middle east, it grew wild - before rivers were diverted to water farms, trees were cut to make more farmland and animals were herded in large numbers to feed vast cities. Back then, hunting was the harder work, and that made meat the greater sacrifice.
I think those urban gods and goddesses were new. The world was still largely Nomadic Hunter-gatherer when Ancient Mesopotamia rose from the Myst's of Time. Creator-gods were still worshiped everywhere but the urban centers. Nomads, being closer to the old way of life, worshiped the Creator-God, not as an anomaly, but as he had always been and still mostly was. It was Urbanites, with more time, possessions and an ability to accumulate wealth that began true paganism in earnest. The nomadic hunters wouldn't of have time to build multiple temples, create elaborate stories and divide period of time (I doubt they even had days or weeks) into days for each Deity.
When I read Job (the oldest written book of the bible) or Genesis, I am struck with two points. The first is, Abraham and Job are not the only God-believers. Abraham's family believes in God, Job's friends, and Melchizedek is a high priest. And second, They are all herdsmen - Job, Abraham, and Abe's extended family (Jacob's wives, Issac's wife - Rebecca). God gives Abraham Israel to herd in, not farm. Lot takes the greener valley (Sodom) and falls into the non-God fearing, Urban way (he is living in town when Judgement comes). The refrain running through these tales is: God calls his people away from the bad cities, guides them to good grazing and rescues them from the perils of Urban life. Almost sounds like a psalm (David was a shepherd as well).
Not that God was going to remain a god of the herdsmen, he gives them Israel 400 years later with rules on how to farm it (apparently they learned this skill in Egypt). They are now just another Kingdom in a shifting, battling, very pagan Middle East. But their roots are wanderers, they are not as far, religiously, from the Hunting tribes that wandered the earth for most of human history. This makes me think that God was worshiped for many Milena before written history arrived. That we are only getting a small glimpse of God's story with Humanity. That Adam and Eve are arch-types of the great shift that faced humanity - Agriculture. Who got in trouble for their offering - Cain or Abel? Why? What was wrong with grains? They were hard to grow - labour intensive, needed ploughing, sowing, reaping and watering. They were, though, Urban/Agricultural offerings. Offerings to other gods, newer gods. Long before Agriculture, back when all of us humans hunted, meat was the harder wrought offering. Gatherers could find wheat in the middle east, it grew wild - before rivers were diverted to water farms, trees were cut to make more farmland and animals were herded in large numbers to feed vast cities. Back then, hunting was the harder work, and that made meat the greater sacrifice.
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