ANCIENT TEXTS AND ARTIFACTS Ancient Creation Stories

The Sumerian Eridu Genesis tablet, pictured here, tells how Enlil, chief of the gods, and An, humanity with a flood. But Enki, the god of subterranean waters, sends a vision to Ziusudra, him that he must build a boat to survive the disaster. After a deluge lasting seven days, Ziusudra vessel to let in the light of Utu the sun god. Ziusudra then sacrifices oxen, sheep, and barley cakes eventually rewarded with eternal life for saving ed to create substitute workers. Enlil instructs Belet-ili, the goddess of birth, to build the first human being to “carry the yoke, the task of Enlil. Let humans take over the drag of the gods” (l. 195-197). With the help of Enki, the god of wisdom, Belet-ili slaughters a lower god and mixes his blood with clay to create humans. However, later the noise from all the people disturbs the gods, and Enlil orders a global flood to destroy them, but Atrahasis and his family survive with the help of the god Ea. fin Text Spell 76) or by masturbation (Pyramid Texts 527), the creator forms the lesser gods and goddesses, each personifying an aspect of nature (e.g., wind, atmosphere, earth, heaven).

Although the biblical account of Creation in Genesis 1 and 2 belongs to the oldest part of the Bible, it is by no means the earliest literature of the ancient Near East on the subject. Archeologists have found numerous other creation stories coming from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Ancient Egypt

Egypt had many views on cosmology and creation, mainly because its people had many local gods during its long history. But one theme that unites the various Egyptian conceptions of cosmology is the process of separation. A creator god divides elements that originally belonged together: light and darkness, heaven and earth, land and water. The various accounts about the origin of the cosmos reveal some basic concepts: creation emerges from Nun, the primordial waters. At first, the creator god Atum (other texts speak of AmunRa) rises from the waters through an act of self-creation (Pyramid Texts 587). By sneezing or spitting out (Cof- and forms Marduk, his son, in it (I. 73-84). The death of Apsu fills Tiamat with rage, and none can withstand her (I. 108-III 54), except Marduk, who battles her on the condition that the other gods recognize him as supreme (III. 55-IV 59). during the second millennium cance of the Bible is that they against which the unique traits account stand out. The most the biblical version of creation and noble, and His creation, including thus reflect that nature. The main biblical image of God that come lowing: for the concept of rest. Also, they contain only sparse references to the creation of humans, who, in a few passing references, arose from the tears of the sun god Re, whereas in the biblical account, the creation of humankind occupies a central position.

The Sumerian “Eridu Genesis” (ca. eighth century BC; oldest fragment from ca. 1600 BC) also resembles the tripartite structure of creation, antediluvian time, and the flood. Its five tablets each present their own creation myth, of which the following three are signif- icant: In the story “Enki and the World Order,” the god Enki creates plants, animals, and humans in different creative acts and appoints gods over the various created areas. “Enki and Nunhursag” describe Dilmun as a paradise-like land in which no evil exists. The story “Enki and Ninmah” is about the creation of humanity as replacement workers for the gods. Some lines in these texts use sexual imagery to describe Enki’s activity of creation.

Mesopotamia

The oldest creation text so far discovered comes from Abu Salabikh (twenty-sixth century BC) and speaks about the god Enlil “who separated the heaven from earth, and the earth from heaven.” Of the many other ancient texts recovered, the following three are the most important.

The best-known Akkadian creation myth is called Enûma Elish (“When on High”), named from its first two words. A. H. Layard, in 1849, discovered it in the remains of Ashurbanipal’s library at ancient Nineveh, and G. Smith first published it in 1876. It consists of seven clay tablets with a total of about 1,100 lines. Although the tablets date to the seventh century BC, the myth is older, often dated to the twelfth-eleventh century BC. Several copies of Enûma Elish have turned

Different cult centers in Egypt developed various ideas about creation. The so-called “Memphite Theology,” recorded on the Shabaka Stone (inscribed eighth century BC), dates back to ca. 2400 BC. Here the creation myth revolves around the god Ptah. He created the other gods (also the sun god Atum, which opposes the Atum cult in Heliopolis), plants, animals, and humans through the word of his mouth without any struggle. At the end of his acts of creation, Ptah is fully satisfied. The resemblance to the biblical account is apparent. However, it also has striking differences. The Egyptian tradition is mainly interested in the origins of the gods (theogony), which does not play a role in Genesis 1 and 2, in which God is not part of the cosmos but stands above it. Egyptian texts have no equivalent for the biblical division of creation into seven days or

1. God exists before the beginning. ony in the biblical account. It God, not many. In contrast, the ern creation stories explain how came into existence.

2. God is sovereign, independent, ancient Near Eastern creation stories tic: they know several different es, none of whom is fully sovereign dent. Because they are rivals, the result of divine combat.

The Uniqueness Of The Biblical Creation Account

At the climax of the fierce battle, Marduk kills Tiamat with an arrow, which he shoots into her throat and which tears her abdomen (IV. 88-104). He splits her body in half and forms heaven and earth from it (IV. 128-140), placing sun, moon, and stars in the heaven to determine the times on earth (V. 1-22), also a fifteenth day of the month, the full moon or shapattu day (V. 18). Finally, Marduk solemnly declares: “I shall compact blood, I shall cause bones to be, I shall make stand a human being, ‘Man’ be its name. I shall create humankind, they shall bear the gods’ burden that those may rest” (VI. 5-8). He then creates humans as servants of the gods from the blood of the demon god Kingu, Tiamat’s ally (VI. 31-40). In return, Marduk receives the temple Esagila in Babylon (VI. 45-67), making Babylon the chief city of the realm (VI. 72-73), and 50 honorary titles (VII. 143-144). The Assyrian version of the story replaces Marduk with Assur, who is hailed as the great god.

The ancient creation stories reveal which ideas of creation were widespread in the ancient Near East

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Enûma Elish is the most extensive creation myth from the ancient Near East. Similarities to the biblical account comprise the basic order of the creative acts

3. God is not a sexual being. There were and goddesses in the pantheistic Mesopotamia, Canaan, and Egypt, associated creation with sexual activity.

4. God is an artist-designer, not a ble portrays Him as a level-headed through the power of His word, creates nious masterpiece in space and time.

Biblical Languages

moon, and stars–humans), the separation of heaven and earth, the separation of water in heaven and on earth, the formation of humans (reported on the sixth tablet) and the rest for the gods. This should not lead to the conclusion that the biblical account is literarily dependent on the Babylonian myth because the differences are even more striking: the polytheistic nature of Enûma Elish, the violence, and conflict in the act of creation, and the creation of humans to be slave workers.

The Atrahasis epic is another early creation tradition of Mesopotamia (ca. eighteenth-seventeenth stance, Hebrew is description of creation, of the nal language word that may have a variety of connota- tions. This means that readers familiar with the biblical languages have access to significantly more depth meaning when exploring the Scriptures.

The Bible consists of ancient documents written in the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages. Learning about the languages of the people involved in the production of the Bible brings the text alive in multiple ways. All languages provide windows into the conceptual world of their speakers.