If Genesis Borrowed from Babylonian Epic, why an Egyptian ‘loan word’ for Noah’s Ark?
by Damien F. Mackey Pan-Babylonianism is a far too one-dimensional approach to the study of the ancient Scriptures. Professor A. Yahuda ( The Language of the Pentateuch in its Relation to Egyptian , Oxford, 1933) dealt a shock blow to both the documentary theory and to the related Pan-Babylonianism. Yahuda, unlike P. J. Wiseman ( New Discoveries in Babylonia about Genesis, Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1936) , was an expert in his field. His profound knowledge of Egyptian and Hebrew combined - not to mention Akkadian - gave him a distinct advantage over fellow Egyptologists unacquainted with Hebrew, who could thus not discern any appreciable Egyptian influence on the Pentateuch. Yahuda, however, realized that the Pentateuch was absolutely saturated with Egyptian – not only for the periods associated with Egypt, most notably the Joseph narrative including Israel’s sojourn in Egypt, but even for the p...