Civilization

As I stated in a previous blog, the evolution of civilization is depicted in the early chapters of Genesis.  I wonder if someone in that time, the early moments of the dawn of civilization, around 5,500 years ago, would, first, have been able to write down their account of it.  Second, time, as we measure it in periods today, moved very slower then.  The Bronze Age, the early historical period depicted in most of Genesis through Judges, was over 2,000 years.  The stories from those books fit, according to some, me included, into this period, the Bronze Age, perfectly.  So whoever began the stories' traditions was either from that period, or new it very well.

In the book of Samuel, iron replaces bronze, and a new age and a new era begins.  The kingdoms of Judah and Israel emerge in this period, the Iron Age.  If the early stories in Genesis were written in this period, their originator was from the Iron Age and knew the Bronze Age well, probably through oral traditions.  We see a development in technology, from Adam to the Iron Age, from clothes to cover a basic nakedness, to advanced weapons of iron.  We see the birth of cities in the story of Cain, metallurgy, animal husbandry, and music in the story of the sons of Lemech.

Social historians seem to picture human progress in pretty much the same terms.  There were steps to civilization.  The most important of them was writing.  The ancient Israelites did not invent writing.  That started in Sumeria, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.  It spread north to Babylon and Assyria, west to the Arameans and Phoenicians, and then to Greece.   A different version of writing developed in Egypt, India, and China.  Written records were essential for the maintenance of a kingdom.  It was essential for commerce as well.  

Archaeologists debate how literate the ancient Israelite society was, and, how many texts were actually available.  Writing on web clay and then burning it hard was cumbersome.  Papyrus in Egypt worked, because the air was dry and the copies survived.  They did not last as long in the humidity of the land of Israel.  The scribes themselves were very clever.  Just like the metal workers, scribes kept their art a secret.  Since no one else could do it, scribes and metal workers were protected.  Some scholars speculate that the mark of Cain was the sign of metalworkers, a tribe later known as the Kenites.

If our author or authors of the early history of civilization in Genesis Chapters 1-11, was telling the story of the evolution of civilization correctly, then our author had a sense of development.  He did not see stagnation.  The cycle of time was repeated each year at the New Year Festival in Babylon.  The cycle of time must be the, and the festival assured that.  Nothing changes, as Ecclesiastes proclaims.  Yet our author saw change and development.  If we cannot grant him divine status, which means we don't believe God told Moses what to write, we have to grant our author a keen historical sense.  That to me makes it closer to being true.

Judaism was described by Mordechai Kaplan as a civilization.   Unlike all other civilizations, it was a landless one for 2,00 years.  I am part of that civilization.  As I also stated earlier, I am part of American civilization.  I think I can be loyal to both.  I like to believe that the American civilization is built on the foundation of tolerance.  I hope it is.  My future depends on it.