Before Genesis: What the Old Testament Borrowed from Mesopotamian Stories

Episode Outline:
00:00 – Introducing the cultural background of the Old Testament
00:36 – How Bart once understood biblical history
02:08 – Megan’s background in Assyriology and Mesopotamian studies
06:00 – How Mesopotamian history predates ancient Israel
07:34 – Uruk, writing, and the world’s first city
10:59 – How scholars date ancient tablets and archaeological finds
12:21 – Megan’s course: Before the Bible
15:28 – Mesopotamian flood stories and Genesis
19:39 – Legal traditions, Hammurabi, and the Old Testament
21:06 – Israel among the “Great Powers” of the ancient world
24:18 – Why Israel’s location made it vulnerable to empires
26:03 – How ancient cultures interpreted politics through theology
29:41 – Israelite religion, Canaanite culture, and Yahweh
32:25 – Where biblical history and Mesopotamian records differ
36:30 – Bonus segment: Bart quizzes Megan on ancient Mesopotamia

Episode Description

Have you ever wondered how much the Old Testament owes to cultures and civilizations outside ancient Israel? In this fascinating conversation, biblical scholar Bart Ehrman and assyriologist Megan Lewis explore the cultural and historical backdrop of the Hebrew Bible. Connecting the Bible with Mesopotamian myth, legal codes, and political realities, they reveal just how “plugged in” Israelite writers were to the vibrant world around them.

The episode opens with a candid look at childhood perceptions of biblical history versus ancient history “out there.” Bart shares how, growing up, he saw the Bible as the only real history, with little sense of the powerful nations and stories unfolding at the same time — or even centuries before — biblical events. Megan recalls how her upbringing exposed her early to mythology, history, and ancient civilizations before university gave her the framework to situate the Bible chronologically and culturally.

Megan then explains her background in Assyriology, emphasizing that Mesopotamian history — with city-states, empires, and writing systems — stretches back thousands of years before Israel appears in the historical record. Uruk, for example, reached city-size and developed writing by the mid-4th millennium BCE, more than two thousand years before the first historical mentions of Israel.
Together, Bart and Megan explore how myths like the Flood story, legal codes like “an eye for an eye,” and even political and religious worldviews in the Old Testament were shaped by Mesopotamian antecedents. But these borrowings were not mere “copying.” Israelite writers often adapted earlier traditions to reflect their own theological and cultural priorities.

The episode also explores the political landscape of the ancient Near East, including the “Great Powers Club” of Egypt, the Mitanni, the Hittites, Assyria, and Babylonia. Israel was a small player facing immense pressure from all sides, located along trade routes coveted by powerful empires. This helps contextualize biblical narratives of conquest, exile, and divine punishment within a reality of repeated invasion.

Challenging common assumptions, the hosts discuss recent scholarship showing cultural and religious continuity between the Israelites and their Canaanite neighbors.

To round out the discussion, Bart quizzes Megan on cuneiform writing, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the earliest written records in Mesopotamia, adding historical perspective and some light-hearted moments.

3 Key Takeaways
- The Old Testament was written within a rich and complex cultural matrix: Israel existed alongside (and was deeply influenced by) older, powerful civilizations like Egypt and Mesopotamia.
- Biblical stories, laws, and myths often have clear precursors or analogues: The Flood narrative, legal codes, and city laments in the Bible are rooted in much earlier Mesopotamian texts — but were creatively adapted to new purposes.
- The image of Israel’s distinctiveness is often a later construction: Archaeological and historical evidence shows substantive cultural overlap and continuity between the Israelites and their neighbors.

Also watch these episodes:

Finding Jesus in Genesis
Finding Jesus in Genesis

Does Genesis 1 Contradict Genesis 2?
Does Genesis 1 Contradict Genesis 2?

The Bible Says So: What We Get Right and Wrong About the Bible
The Bible Says So: What We Get Right and Wrong About the Bible