Creation Stories
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It is very common to be able to relate stories from the Hebrew Bible with stories from ancient societies such as Mesopotamia and Egypt. Creation is a topic that humankind cannot be certain of, and with uncertainty comes stories from different cultures and societies. Two creation epics that I would like to compare are Enuma Elish and the first creation story of Genesis in the Old Testament. These two stories share several similarities, and one could think that there might be a relationship between the two epics. But on the other hand, the stories truly spin off in opposite directions leading one to believe that it may just be a coincidence.
A Babylonian epic myth, Enuma Elish, was approximately written in the sixteenth century B.C.E., although groups of others think otherwise. Enuma Elish is a story of creation through warfare and violence, and was written on seven clay tablets. The main focus of this epic is on the origin and hierarchy of the gods. Before any creation, there were two vast bodies of water, Apsu – the freshwater ocean, and Tiamat – the saltwater ocean. Through the fusion of these two bodies of water came of the creation of the gods. Marduk, who becomes the king of all gods by defeating Tiamat, becomes the creator of the heavens and of earth by using Tiamats body. Through reading this epic you learn the worldview of the Babylonian society at this time frame, which shows the importance of their gods and mankind servicing these gods.
The creation story in Genesis chapter one of the Hebrew Bible is today known to be from the P source, which are the authors from the priestly tradition. This story explains the creation of Earth and humankind, which was completed by Elohim in six days. On the first day God created light, on the second created water and sky divided, on the third land and vegetation, on the fourth day he created the sun, moon, and stars, on the fifth created fish and birds, on the sixth he created land, animals, and mankind, and on the seventh day he declared rest, and named it a Sabbath day. Creation in the Hebrew Bible, considering all creation stories within Genesis, is solely the work of Elohim, or Yahweh as he would be named in chapters 2 and 3 of Genesis, and written by the J source. God is the sole creator of Earth and humankind.
There are several similarities between Enuma Elish and the story of creation in Genesis chapter one. To start off, Enuma Elish and Genesis show creation of earth and humankind by an extreme power. Gods and Goddesses were the creators in Enuma Elish, and Elohim, or God, was the creator in Genesis. In both stories, water is the primeval element. In Enuma Elish, “And the primeval Apsu, who begat them, and chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both their waters were mingled together.” Apsu and Tiamat represent the two bodies of primeval water. Genesis 1: vv 1-2 speaks, “When God began to create heaven and earth – the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water.” In this case the deep illustrates the water that is also the primeval object. Similarities also show up between the initial states of earth. Both accounts highlight the comparison among darkness, which symbolizes non-existence and waste. Another similarity that is evident is that Enuma Elish has seven tablets included in its story, while Genesis chapter one accounts for seven days of creation. The Babylonian myth has six generations of gods, and Elohim creates life in six days, and rests on the seventh. Also among similarities, rest becomes a common theme in both stories. In Enuma Elish, Marduk creates man as a slave so that the gods can rest, and in Genesis, Elohim rests on the seventh day, and declares it holy. Although Enuma Elish doesnt have an exact time frame for creation occurring, the order of events of creation that took place was very similar to one another. The first development in both accounts was light. In Genesis chapter one Elohim says, “Let there be light.” In Enuma Elish, light emanates from the Gods. Both stories end their creation with mankind.
Along with the many similarities that fall between the two creation stories, there are also several differences between the two. The biggest difference that I see is that Enuma Elish has a polytheistic view where as in Genesis, and the entire bible,