Gunkel recognized this fact when he commented, “How incomparably superior the Hebrew legend is to the Babylonian!… And this also we may say, that the Babylonian legend strongly impresses us by its barbaric character, whereas the Hebrew legend is far nearer and more human to us.”2 Although I sharply disagree with Gunkel’s portrayal of Hebrew writing as legend, I affirm his statement of the unique Hebrew conception of the universe and its workings. Polemical theology is one way in which the biblical