"All our mass-culture narratives … have the same structure: good guys battle bad guys for the moral future of society. These tropes are all over our movies and comic books. And yet they don’t exist in any folktales, myths or ancient epics."https://aeon.co/essays/why-is-pop-culture-obsessed-with-battles-between-good-and-evil …
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I interpreted "You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" as an endorsement of moral good. Granted, my interpretation might be clouded by modern Christian Sklavenmoral.
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Read the article. It doesn't say that ancient stories don't favor some morals over others. It says they aren't battles between team good and team evil.
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Based on what? According to the Bible, the Caananites were wicked and the Israelites were, if not righteous, at least better. Genesis 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. Also see Ex 34:11-16
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See Deut 12:29-32 and 7:1-11, especially vv 6-8. Deuteronomy 8:19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
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Deuteronomy 8:20 As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.
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Deuteronomy 9:4 Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.
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Deuteronomy 9:5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy ...
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. . . fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Furthermore, it's clear that, when the Israelites are faithful to their covenant with God, they prosper, and when they depart from it, they suffer. See the golden calf incident (Ex 32 & 33), the sin of Achan (Josh 7)
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Also see Judges 1:1-2:3 Judges 2:2 And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? 2:3 Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall ...
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be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. It may be a bit more sophisticated than modern good vs evil stories, but the core ideas of a conflict between good and evil, with good triumphing, are there. Even the heal-face turn, with Rahab, is present.
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I'm thinking of the Old Testament prophets.
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There are some points in the Torah where God tells the Israelites to remember how badly they were treated in Egypt and make sure to treat strangers in there own midst better. "So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt." Duet 10;19
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In Deuteronomy God tells the Israelites that he's giving them the land not because they're good, but because the Canaanites are so evil. There's lots of values, good and evil, most blatantly in the proto-apocalyptic like the Book of Daniel.
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Noah and his fam v. the world “obviously” doesn’t qualify as a battle for the moral future of society??
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Even ignoring monotheism, and all the "you were slaves/strangers in Egypt treat slaves/servants/strangers well", *and* all the "Israel breaks the commandments, lose God's favour" bits in the desert. Exodus 1:8-17, 3:7-9, 5:1-23 etc. are all about how bad and unfair Egyptians are.
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There's certainly a strong ethonationist-y amoral "Us vs Them" current AS WELL, but it is also clearly depicted as a battle to escape evil.
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This seems to beg the question. From a religious perspective, following god is the good. Following the wrong god is evil.
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