Biblical myths: briefly about the main thing. Biblical Myths and Legends

The Holy Book of the two religions of the world - Christianity and Judaism - is the Bible. It was composed by different people, prophets, priests and even rulers for centuries, and maybe even millennia. If we open and flip through its pages, then we will find there a lot of texts that have completely different themes and meanings. Among them, there are prophecies, teachings, historical reports, as well as biblical myths. It is the latter that people read, as practice shows, most willingly. They are simple in understanding, easily compiled and have a bright plot. Well, let's also touch these myths and try to comprehend their sacred meaning.

Briefly about the contents of the Bible

It is known that the Bible is the Holy Scripture, which is conditionally divided into two parts: the Old and New Testaments. The first tells how God created our earth, how the holy people led to prosperity and prosperity - the ancient Jews. The pages of this part of the book contain the most ancient biblical myths in the world, which were mainly composed of Semitic peoples. As for the New Testament, he was categorically rejected by the Jews. For them, the only God's Word is still the Old Testament, which they call Tanach. And the New Testament already tells us about how Jesus Christ lived, that is, the Messiah, what labors he left behind and what he managed to teach his neighbors. It was on the basis of all these events that the more modern biblical myths were composed, so to speak. The summary of each of them will be described below, which will give an opportunity to understand what exactly this book can teach.

A Brief Characteristic of the Sacred Legends

The conditional separation of the Holy Letter into two parts is accompanied not only by the division of faith into Christianity and Judaism. Reading this book, you can clearly note the differences in style in the transition from the first part to the second. With complete certainty it can be stated that the biblical myths and legends that are located on the pages of the Tanakh are the most instructive and life stories. In addition, in this part of the Scripture such tales have been collected a lot. But the most important thing is that not everyone is able to comprehend their truth, alas, not everyone. The New Testament contains biblical myths that are much easier to understand. They tell us about the holidays already familiar to us, about friendship, mutual assistance, about peace and relations between people. These stories will be extremely useful for children of any age.

When nothing happened

As you guessed, the first biblical myth is about the creation of the world. Its meaning is known to everyone, even a toddler, therefore, in order to order everything, we simply list the days that have become decisive for further life on Earth:

• Day one - from darkness and emptiness, God created the heavens and the earth. Nothing happened, only the water over which the Spirit of God flew. That is why the Creator separated the darkness from the light and called them night and day.
• Day two - God divided the sea by a certain firmament. One part of the water remained under it, and the second - above it. This firmament was called the sky.
• On the third day the Lord gathered all the water in one place, so that the land was formed. On its expanses, he grew shrubs, flowers and trees.
• The Creator dedicated the fourth day to the creation of the stars. In the daytime the earth was illuminated by the bright Sun, and at night by the duller moon.
• On the fifth day God created living beings: reptiles, mammals, butterflies and insects. In a word, everyone who inhabited the world.
• And on the sixth day the Lord created man in his image and likeness. The first was a man, and after him appeared a woman.
• On the seventh day, the Creator did nothing.

Adam and Eve. Forbidden Apple

The biblical myth of the creation of the world continues with a description of the life of the first people on the planet - Adam and Eve. Having created them, the Lord gave them everything they can dream about. They lived in a garden of Eden, they did not need anything and could talk with animals. You could eat all the trees except one - the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, or the Tree of Life. Once the insidious Serpent persuaded Eve to eat the fruit from the forbidden branch. She broke the prohibition and inclined Adam to it. Because of disobedience, God expelled people from paradise and cursed the Serpent. In addition, he condemned the woman to childbirth in agony, and the man - to constant difficulties in obtaining food. The serpent was doomed to constant crawling on his stomach.

Kainova print

The first children of Adam and Eve were two sons - Cain and Abel. The first was a farmer, and the second - a cattleman. Once they decided to sacrifice their gifts to God. Cain burned the fruits of his plants on the altar. And Abel sacrificed a lamb. On the actions of the first brother, the Lord did not even pay attention, but a tribute in the form of an animal interested him. Out of envy, Cain killed his brother, which God soon learned. For this elder brother was sentenced to the fact that he would be killed first counter. In addition, the Creator put a seal on him. What exactly it was - no one knows.

Another God's punishment

One of the most interesting and exciting is the biblical myth of the Flood. After mankind spent a certain number of centuries on the planet, it managed to fall into all serious sins. People stole, deceived, killed. For this God decided to open all the celestial and terrestrial windows and let out water from them, in order to erase from the land all that is living on it. Only Noah and his family, who did not commit sins, the Almighty ordered to build the ark. On his board this man, in addition to his sons and his wife, also took "every creature in pairs." They were animals, insects, birds, reptiles. After everyone had climbed into the ark, God tightly closed his door and opened all the heavenly windows. Water completely covered the earth, and even the highest mountains remained under its thickness. From time to time, Noah let go of the pigeon to find at least one piece of land, but the bird always returned to the ark. Once the dove flew away and did not return, which gave people the opportunity to understand that the land began to show through. She was reached by the whole family of Noah, after which his sons left a great offspring: the son of Japheth became the ancestor of the northern peoples, Ham - African, and Sim - Semitic.

"You will not hear each other again ..."

The biblical myth of the Tower of Babel can also be considered a very important historical source. It all starts with the fact that after the descendants of Noah settled on land, they all spoke the same language. Gradually, people descended from the mountains to the plains, formed settlements. One of the most fertile lands at that time was the sandy valley, which stretched between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, known to us as Mesopotamia. As biblical myths and legends say, it is on these lands that the first people on the Earth settled (among other things, historians also tend to this). They built houses, cities, city-states and adjacent villages were formed. But one day people wanted to get to the skies (we recall that the Bible defines heaven as something solid), and they decided to build an incredible tower. All the workers of this region gathered at the construction site, and they managed to erect a very tall building, which had a step structure. God saw all this and, suspecting people of the next stupidity, shared them. Everyone began to speak their own language, and the builders could no longer work together. The city in which they lived, was called Babylon, which means "confusion".

Teaching children the Word of God

If you want to open your child a world of sacral knowledge, it is recommended that you start reading the biblical myths that are contained in the New Testament. They are more simple to perceive, and also do not have such a global and large-scale semantic load as the old Semitic ones. The stories that are on the pages of the New Testament teach us humanity, friendship, love, they call to understand our neighbor and help him. Therefore, below are briefly described biblical myths for children, which can be read to them simply as fairy tales. Gradually the child will absorb the necessary information, and in the future it will become important for his worldview.

The Temptations of Jesus in the Desert

After the rite of baptism, the Messiah was cast by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, so that he could overcome the devil's temptations. After spending forty days there, Jesus felt hungry. Then the Devil appeared and said to him: "If You are the Son of God, turn the stones into bread." To which the answer was: "Man will not eat with all bread, but with God's Word." After this, Satan raised Jesus to the roof of the temple and said: "If You are the Son of God, throw yourself down and the angels will take you." The Messiah replied, "Do not tempt God." In the end, Satan raised him above all the cities, gardens and fields and said that if only Jesus would bow to him, then all this will get into his possession. In response, he heard that for man there is only one God, and only to him he will worship.

Wealth of the madman

One of the most important sermons of Jesus was this: "Do not seek material wealth in this world, for your life does not depend on it." This statement was followed by a parable. The essence of it was that one rich man had a good harvest in the field. But he had nowhere to collect his fruits. He built bigger and bigger houses to keep his wealth there, and he did not think of anything else. Once the Lord appeared to him and said: "After you die, where do you get all your money? To whom will they now belong? "From this it follows that one does not need to be enriched with money and gifts, but with God's word. And all the rest will follow by itself.

Conclusion

We have presented to you only the most famous and accessible for the perception of biblical myths. The summary of each of them is an opportunity to quickly understand God's plan, to discover something new and truly wise. Unfortunately, they do not disclose the full meaning that is in the Holy Scripture. Reading the very Bible - the occupation is much more productive, but it takes time.