Discourse: Abraham and Lot

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was shared. That is because we are trying to look at those elements that may simply be part of the cultural heritage of the ancient Near East. That heritage may be reflected in various pieces of literature, but the Israelites need not have had knowledge of, or been influenced by, those pieces of literature. They simply are a part of the common cultural matrix. God’s process of revelation required that he condescend to us, that he accommodate our humanity, that he express himself in familiar language and metaphors. It should be no surprise then that many of the common elements of the culture of the day were adopted, at times adapted, at times totally converted or transformed, but nevertheless used to accomplish God’s purposes. Indeed, we would be surprised if this were not the case. Communication requires a shared circle of common conventions and understandings. When we speak of “daylight- saving time” we assume the person we are speaking to understands this strictly cultural ...

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to help interpret the passage but perhaps only to provide data that may be pertinent to interpreting the passage. So information in Job 38 about mythological images of creation in the ancient Near East does not serve as a suggestion that the thinking in Job should be thought of in the same terms. The data are simply being provided for comparison.
For the lay reader, it is possible that the information will occasion some confusion. It was our objective to provide information, not to go into detail to show how that information should be used or what it proves or does not prove. The reader may well often ask, What am I to do with that information? In many cases there may not be anything ...

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