Editing Old Testament (section)

=== Early scholarship ===
Some of the stories of the Pentateuch may derive from older sources.  Scholars such as [[Andrew R. George]] point out the similarity between the [[Genesis flood narrative]] and the [[Gilgamesh flood myth]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=George |first=A. R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=21xxZ_gUy_wC&pg=PA70 |title=The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-927841-1 |page=70}}</ref>{{efn|The latter [[flood myth]] appears in a Babylonian copy dating to 700&nbsp;BC,<ref>{{cite book |last=Cline |first=Eric H. |year=2007 |title=From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible |publisher=National Geographic |isbn=978-1-4262-0084-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJW-zhffwk4C&pg=PA20|pages=20–27}}</ref> though many scholars believe that this was probably copied from the {{nowrap|{{langx|akk-Latn|[[Atra-Hasis]]}}}}, which dates to the 18th century&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tigay |first=Jeffrey H. |author-link= Jeffrey H. Tigay | title=The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic | publisher=Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers |year=2002 |orig-date=1982 |isbn=9780865165465 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cxjuHTH6I2sC |pages=23, 218, 224, 238}}</ref> George points out that the modern version of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' was compiled by [[Sîn-lēqi-unninni]], who lived sometime between 1300 and 1000 BC.<ref>{{cite book|translator=Andrew R. George|year=2003|orig-date=1999|title=The Epic of Gilgamesh|edition=reprinted|publisher=Penguin Books|location=London|isbn=0-14-044919-1|pages=ii, xxiv–v}}</ref>}} Similarities between the origin story of [[Moses]] and that of [[Sargon of Akkad]] were noted by psychoanalyst [[Otto Rank]] in 1909<ref>{{cite book |title=The myth of the birth of the hero: a psychological interpretation of mythology |author=Otto Rank |year=1914 |url=https://archive.org/details/mythofbirthofher1914rank |others=English translation by F. Robbins and Smith Ely Jelliffe |publisher=The Journal of nervous and mental disease publishing company |location=New York}}</ref> and popularized by 20th-century writers, such as [[H. G. Wells]] and [[Joseph Campbell]].<ref name="Wells">{{cite book |last=Wells |first=H. G. |title=The Outline of History: Volume&nbsp;1 |year=1961 |orig-date=1937 |publisher=Doubleday |pages=206, 208, 210, 212}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Joseph |title=The Masks of God, Vol. 3: Occidental Mythology |year=1964 |page=127}}</ref> [[Jacob Bronowski]] writes that, "the Bible is ... part folklore and part record. History is ... written by the victors, and the [[Israelites|Israelis]], when they burst through <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Jericho]] ({{Circa|1400 BC}})], became the carriers of history."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bronowski|first=Jacob|url=http://archive.org/details/ascentofman0000bron_y1z2|title=The Ascent of Man|publisher=BBC Books|year=1990|isbn=978-0-563-20900-3|location=London|pages=72–73, 77|orig-date=1973}}</ref>