In recent discussions and in looking at online forums, blogs, social networking sites, etc., I have encountered a lot of people talking about parallels between the Old Testament and other Ancient Near Eastern Literature. Some of these discussions are very helpful, for instance the blog post by G. Brooke Lester entitled Why Do They Have to Be All Wrong. However, in many areas, it seems that people have very little idea what they are actually talking about. This likely has to do with religious (or a-religious) sentiment.

In general, I have found that for certain groups of religious believers talking about parallels with the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible makes them feel uncomfortable.  It makes them feel as though their sacred writings are made-up and in some way not true.  On the other hand, those antagonistic to religious believers love bringing up parallels with other ancient literature for this very reason; however, their knowledge of the actual parallels seems limited at best.  They are only acquainted with the similarities and not with the differences, which gives one the feeling that they have never actually read the parallels but are reciting something from a secondary source.

I do not want to attempt to solve this dilemma here, namely the theological implications of Old Testament parallels. But, I do think that one thing is necessary in either case.  People actually need to read the parallels.  For one group, parallels can help one to understand the message of the Old Testament and help them to understand the nature of the parallels.  For instance, saying that the Epic of Gilgamesh provides parallels to the story of Noah does not mean that the Epic of Gilgamesh is the story of Noah.  And, for another group, reading the parallels will help them to dialogue with religious believers in an intellectually respectable manner.  For introductory materials for Old Testament parallels one might check out:

I include these links because the books provide a considerable number of primary sources in translation.