Misquoting Moses with Joel Baden
Sep 25, 2026 · 55 min · 13 segments
The creation of the world out of primordial chaos. A catastrophic global flood that ends when birds confirm the re-emergence of dry land. A baby cast into the river in a basket sealed with bitumen…
Joel BadenHost
Megan CraigHost
That's too broad, but many cultures, especially in that part of the world, had one.
Certainly for the immediate context of the ancient Israelites, the culture that really had not just a but multiple flood stories were the Mesopotamians.
And even before we get going into the real details, I always like to start by reminding everyone that there is some logic to which places had flood stories.
whereas in Mesopotamia flooding of the Tigris and the Euphrates was constant problem.
It was also very good for them, but it, you know, there's a watery part of that area and a not watery part of the area.
And the flood story in the Bible is essentially unique in, in the Bible as you know, this divine watery destruction, uh, in Israel, uh, And before we discovered that they had them in Mesopotamia, it was just, that was the way it was.
And then in the 19th century, when we discovered, you know, Mesopotamia and its literature and its culture, it was like, oh, that's where a flood story makes sense, right? In a place where watery destruction was common even.
So the fact that ancient Israel was, has a flood story doesn't mean that they actually experienced a flood in their life.
We're not purporting that there ever really was a historical flood that covered the entire earth or any portion of it.
That's too broad, but many cultures, especially in that part of the world, had one.
Certainly for the immediate context of the ancient Israelites, the culture that really had not just a but multiple flood stories were the Mesopotamians.
And even before we get going into the real details, I always like to start by reminding everyone that there is some logic to which places had flood stories.
whereas in Mesopotamia flooding of the Tigris and the Euphrates was constant problem.
It was also very good for them, but it, you know, there's a watery part of that area and a not watery part of the area.
And the flood story in the Bible is essentially unique in, in the Bible as you know, this divine watery destruction, uh, in Israel, uh, And before we discovered that they had them in Mesopotamia, it was just, that was the way it was.
And then in the 19th century, when we discovered, you know, Mesopotamia and its literature and its culture, it was like, oh, that's where a flood story makes sense, right? In a place where watery destruction was common even.
So the fact that ancient Israel was, has a flood story doesn't mean that they actually experienced a flood in their life.
We're not purporting that there ever really was a historical flood that covered the entire earth or any portion of it.
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