The Epic Nature of the Bible

As a society, we often try to categorize mythology into small, concise stories.  Many of us who were raised in the Christian church remember Sunday School as a series of little Bible stories, most of which were completely isolated and disconnected from the rest of the Bible.  For some reason we as humans prefer to view mythology in small chunks.  As a result, more often than not, we have an idea of ancient literature as simply "a group of fairy tales" that have no place in our modern rational thinking.  Isolated myths become silly superstitions in our minds. 

But this is not how most mythology is written.  The Bible, for example, is not a series of stories but a complete narrative.  In this case, The Exodus doesn't even start with the birth of Moses (Exodus 1), for that doesn't explain how the Jews came to be in Egypt in the first place.  For that, we would need to read the story of Joseph and his brothers, found in Genesis, chapters 37 - 50.  And how did Joseph come to exist?  Well, for that you would need to go back earlier and read of Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel. 

The Exodus itself, of course, doesn't end in Chapter 14, where many movies and books end it, but continues on through the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  But even with the death of Moses at the end of Deuteronomy, we still have a nation preparing to enter Canaan under a new leader, Joshua.  If we really consider the implications of the Exodus - an event in the history of a nation - then the story really continues to this day as Israel still struggles to find an identity.  The point is that mythology isn't always a series of isolated incidents, but a long and complicated history, which narrates the lives, origins, and outcomes of a specific group of people. 

The 13th-century Icelandic epic, Njall's Saga, covers approximately sixty years of history.  While there are incidents and stories within the narrative, each incident is either a direct or indirect result of a prior incident; to truly grasp each story's significance, one needs a complete understanding of the work as a whole.

I suppose that what I'm driving at is that we need to be careful when we begin to lump ancient literature into small groups of "fairy tales."  While this is certainly possible in some cases, most cultures shared their beliefs in terms of longer, more complex narratives.  The story of Phaethon meeting Apollo is not an isolated story in Ovid's work, but is a continuation of a previous narrative.  The incident - Phaethon crashing his father's sun-chariot - is merely an incident that stems from and leads to other incidents.

So when I speak to people who say, "The Bible is just a collection of fairy tales," my first question back is, "Have you read it?"  The story of Noah is about the destruction of mankind, not about cute fuzzy animals on a pleasure cruise.  The story of David and Goliath isn't about the underdog overcoming obstacles, but is about a war between two countries, and a champion who is killed when his head is broken open by a rock.  Jesus' resurrection only happens after his torture and execution.  None of these stories are pleasant and cheerful.  But more than that, all of these stories are connected to each other in a long narrative that includes The Exodus, an exile into Babylon, and 400 years of stagnant silence from God as Israel is prepared for her long-awaited Messiah.

So, lest we be too quick to judge a society based on a few stories, perhaps we should take the time to look at their literary works in totality.  Perhaps we should read through the entire Bible before jumping to conclusions about the historicity of certain events told in it.  What do you all think:  is history more accurately viewed as a series of isolated events, or a stream of constant change and movement, punctuated by bursts of activity and meaning?