Atheist Bible Study 1: Genesis

[GrandizerII]

There is reason to think that modern evangelicals take the text more literally (in some respects) than did the early Israelites. Sure Deuteronomy was a law they lived under, one that supposedly had divine origins. But the ideas of strict literal interpretations (for example: all scripture is inerrant) came much later. You also have to take into account that many of the early Israelites couldn't read, and got many of these stories via an oral tradition. When received this way, listeners undoubtedly encountered variance in the stories when they heard them away from home. If you travel two towns over and hear the story of Abraham being told with certain details being different, you might know better than to take one particular telling of the story literally.

The way I see it, for believers, inerrantism is just one type of literalism. I agree with you that the early Israelites would not have been inerrantists, but it doesn't mean they were allegorists at the same time either. Still, they may have thought the guys two towns over may have got it slightly wrong.

Allegorical interpretations, from my limited reading and understanding, often tend to be later "post hoc" interpretations rather than the original author's intent.