1

Introduction

"In the beginning God created ... " (Gen. l: 1). These words from the Hebrew

cannon have echoed throughout time to present to the reader an idea of just how

things came into existence and why things are the way that they are. The opening to

Genesis leads one upon an adventure that i::sembles other Near Eastern accounts of

creation and at the same time is very unique. Other cultures that Israel would have

mingled with and been aware of had explanations or stories that tried to explain how

creation came about. Even though the Genesis account has some parallels with some

of these Near Eastern texts, Genesis was and still is one of a kind and the God of the

Hebrews was and still is the ultimate God. This paper will not address all the creation

accounts but will select a sampling of texts and use them to draw the comparisons.

Once someone understands the cultures that the creation story is surrounded by, they

will see that the God of the bible was and is the only true God. It is necessary to

outline the different texts by the civilizations that they came from and then explore

the biblical text, analyzing the similarities and differences. The hope of the

comparisons will be that the reader can get a greater grasp of the cultures that

surrounded the biblical text as well as see how unique the God of the Hebrews really

was and still is today.

Egyptian Creation Texts

The ancient Egyptians like most other civilizations tried to answer the

questions of how the world came to be and why the world was the way that it was. It

should be noted that the questions that someone today asks about our cosmology does

not mean that theses are the questions that the Ancient Egyptians would have asked.
 2

There is also a language barrier that must be overcome if someone wants to

understand the stories that we have. The language used in ancient Egypt does not

exist anymore and the use of hieroglyphics has its own challenges as well. The subtle
1

nt)nces of the language have been lost forever, but with careful study can achieve a

grasp of what these people thought about creation. Some minor cultural background

on these people can help to get a greater understanding of their way of thinking.

The Ancient Egyptians lived in relative peace due to the harsh desert that

surrounded the river valley they came from. They kept good records in stories, but the

amount of information that is available today can be overwhelming. They believed

that the Nile River divided the known world and that it was brought to existence by

the creator god Nun.2 Their concept of the sky was that pillars on the edge of the

world held it up and that the sun traveled in the sky by day and traveled the

underworld by night. A couple of things must be kept in mind as people read creation

myths from Egypt. First, for the Ancient Egyptian everything had life to some degree,
I
even stone. So to the Ancient Egyptian the pyramids were alive and their stone statues

were alive as well. Second, even though everything had life in it most everything had
3
a life/death cycle. To them everything passed on to the other side and all life was

sacred. So keeping some of these basics in mind one can see into the world of the

Ancient Egyptian. This will become very important as their creation stories use things

that would not be considered alive to bring forth life.

1
Carmen Blacker, and Michael Loewe eds.. , Ancient Cosmologies, ( London: George Allen & Umvin Ltd.,
1975), 18-19.
2 Ibid., 24.
Ibid., 20-21
3
 4

came from the tears that Atum shed upon his arms, suggesting that humans ere in

some way brought forth into existence through flesh or possibly in the image of
5
Atum.

Another Egyptian creation epic sprang out of the necessity of promoting the

city god Ptah to prominence when his chief city Memphis became the center of

Egyptian culture. The story here is similar to that of Atum Creation Epic but there are

some fine differences that need to be looked at.

Through the heart and through the tongue something developed into Atwn s image.
And great and important is Ptah,
who gave life to all the gods and their kas as well
through this heart and this tongue
through which florus and Thoth both became Ptah ...

The eyes' seeing, the ears' hearing, the nose's breathing of air send up to the heart, and
it is what causes every conclusion to emerge;
it is the tongue that repeats what the heart plans.
So were all the gods born,
Atum and his Ennead as well,
for it is through what the heart plans and the tongue commands that every divine
speech has developed.
So were the male life-principles made
and the female life-principles set in place---
they who make all sustenance and every offering---
through that word that makes what is loved and what is hated...

It has developed that Ptah is called "He who made all and caused the gods to develop,"
since he is Ta-tenen, who gave birth to the gods,
from whom eve1ything has emerged---
food-offerings and sustenance, gods' offerings, and every perfect thing.
So is it found and recognized that his physical strength is greater than the gods'.
So has Ptah come to rest after his making everything and every divine speech as well,
having given birth to the gods,
having made their villages,
having founded their nomes,
having set the gods in their cult-places,
having made sure their bread-offerings,
having founded their shrines,
having made their bodies resemble what contents them. 6

5
Victor H. Matthews and Don C. Benjamin, Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories ji-om the Ancient
Near East., (New York: Paulist Press, 2006), 8-9.
6
Ibid, 43-44 The whole account is not presented here for a full account please refer to the reference. The
breaks in the text are signified by the spacing in the text.
 5

As someone can see here in this account Ptah creates Alum and he does so by

speaking him into existence. This concept is unique to this creation account. Ptah
.-----
creates with his heart and tongue. There is no mention of water, Nun, in this account.

Upon creating everything Ptah rests and views his creation. In the Hymn to Ptah the

Ka's or souls are made in the image of Ptah another unique characteristic of this

creation account.

In comparing the creation accounts here with the one found in the Hebrew

cannon it can be seen that there are indeed many similarities. In the first place God's

spirit moved upon the waters similar to Atum's Creation Epic. The major difference

in Genesis is that the waters do not play a major role in the creation of the world. The

Memphis account seems to be closer to the Genesis account in the fact that Ptah

speaks the created beings into existence. The idea that the souls of the gods were

made in the image of Ptah is also similar to Genesis two where God makes man in

His image. The one major difference here between the two accounts is the fact that
the God of the Hebrews is one God not a plethora of gods as are depicted in the other

creation accounts. These two examples of creation accounts in Ancient Egypt there

are some similarities with the Genesis account, but the God of Genesis is one God and

he does not create because he needs something. He is self-sustaining and needs

nothing external to satisfy any need. Creation is here not so we can serve God but so

that God can have a relationship with us. Humanity comes from God in Genesis not

the act of many gods having copulation. In the next section the creation epics of those

living in Mesopotamia will be explored. There will be many similarities between this
--- ---

culture and the Egyptian and Genesis story, but these creation accounts as well will be

lacking in many key factors that will be explained.

Mesopotamia Creation Stories

The people of Mesopotamia that this paper will concern itself with are the

Sumerians and the Babylonians or Akkadian accounts. The people groups were more

technically minded people whereas the Egyptians were more artistic. Mesopotamia

was more open to the world's influences and ideas from other cultures than were the

Egyptians. There are both written and pictorial representations of the creation stories,

but more of the former than the latter. It is from this group that one of the greatest

creation stories comes from the "Enuma Elish" from Baby Ionian culture. In this

section the different creation epics/stories will be explored some to a greater extent
7
than others and again this will only represent a sampling of the stories.

The first story comes form Sumerian history about 1600 B. C. known as the

Eridu Genesis. The account has some parallels to Genesis and makes references to the

first king as well as the great flood stories. One thing of note here is that one can

hardly speak of creation of the cosmos without speaking of the creation of the gods.

In Sumerian culture cosmogony and theogony are very much intertwined. 8 The

Mesopotamian culture as well seems preoccupied in the establishment of order to the

creation as opposed to creating something themselves. Most of the accounts deal with

the gods in question manipulating already existing material. In the Eridu Genesis

7
Blacker, 42-43
8
John H. Walton, Ancient Israelite Literature in its Cultural Context. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Publishing House, 1990), 25.
 7

account the creation of man is missing. The account does shed some light though on

the purpose of man.

Nintur was paying attention:

Let me bethink myself ofmy humankind,
all forgotten as they are;
and mindful of mine,
Nintur's creatures let me bring them back
Jet me lead the people back from their trails.

May they come and build cities and cult places,

that I may cool myself in their shade;
may they lay the bricks for the cult cities in pure spots
and may they found places for divination in pure spots!

She gave directions for purification and cries for clemency,

the things that cool divine wrath,
perfected the divine service and the august offices,
said to the surrounding regions: "Let me institute peace there!"
When An, Enlil, Enki and Ni.nhursaga
fashioned the dark-headed people
they had made the small animals that come up from out of the earth.
come from the earth in abundance
and had let there be, as it befits it, gazelles
9
wild donkeys, and four-footed beasts in the desert.

As one can see man was to build cities and cult places so that the god Nintur

could have shade. The god allows the building of these places to show off her beauty

and to show off her good graces. Man was to serve the gods and that was their

purpose for being made or created.

The Epic of Atrahasis sheds even more light on the concept of why humans

were made and just how they came into existence.

When the gods were man they did forced labor, they bore drudgery.
Great indeed was the drudgery of the gods, the forced labor was heavy, the
misery too much: the seven great A.nunna-gods were burdening the [lesser]
Igigi-gods with forced labor. The gods were digging watercourses, canals
they opened, the life of the land. The Igigi-gods were digging watercourses
canals they opened, the life of the land. The Igigi-gods dug the Tigris river
and the Euphrates thereafter.
Springs they opened from the depths, wells ... they established. They
heaped up all the mountains. years of drudgery . ... the vast marsh. They
counted years of drudgery, ... and forty years, too much! ... forced labor
they bore night and day.
They were complaining, denouncing, muttering down in the ditch:

9
Eiidu Genesis translated by Thorkild Jacobsen in The Harps that Once ... : Sumerian Poetry in Trans/a/ion,
available from http://www.pinev.com/EriduGen.html accessed on September 21, 2008.
 8

"Let us face up to our foreman the prefect, he must take off our heavy
burden upon us! En.Iii, counsellor of the gods, the warrior, come, let us
remove him from his dwelling; En1il, counsellor of the gods, the warrior,
come, let us remove him from his dwelling!"
"Now them, call for battle, battle let us join, warfare!" The gods heard his
words: they set fire to their tools, they put fire to their spaces, and flame to
their work baskets. Off they went, one and all, to the gate of the warrior
En1il's abode. It was night, half-way through the watch, the house was
surrounded, but the god did not know. It was night, half-way through the
watch, Ekur was surrounded, but Enlil did not know! Nusku opened his
gate, took his weapons and went ... Enlil. In the assembly of all the gods,
he knelt, stood up, expounded the command, "Anu, your father, your
counsellor, the warrior En1il, your prefect, Ninurta,
and your bailiff Ennugi have sent me to say: 'Who is the instigator of this
battle? Who is the instigator of these hostilities? Who declared war, that
battle has run up to the gate ofEn1il? In ... he transgressed the c01nn1and
ofEnlil."' "Everyone ofus gods has declared war; We have set ... un the
excavation, excessive drudgery has killed us, our forced labor was heavy,
the misery too much! Now, everyone ofus gods has resolved on a
reckoning with Enlil."
Ea made ready to speak, and said to the gods, his brothers: "What calumny
do we Jay to their charge? Their forced labor was heavy, their misery too
much! Every day ... the outcry was loud, we could hear the clamor. There
is ... Belet-ili, the midwife, is present. Let her create, then, a human, a man,
Let him bear the yoke! Let him bear the yoke! Let man assume the
drudgery of the god." Belet-ili, the midwife, is present. Let the midwife
create a human being!
Let man assume the drudgery ofthe god." They summoned and asked the
goddess the midwife of the gods, wise Marni: "Will you be the birth
goddess, creatress of mankind? Create a human being, that he bear the
yoke, let him bear the yoke, the task ofEnlil, let man assume the drudgery
of the god." Nintu made ready to speak, and said to the great gods: "It is
not for me to do it, the task is Enki's.
He it is lhat cleanses all, let him provide me the clay so I can do the
making." Enki made ready to speak, and said to the great gods: "On the
first, seventh, and fifteenth days of the month, let me establish a
purification, a bath. Let one god be slaughtered, then let the gods be
cleansed by immersion. Let Nintu mix clay with his flesh and blood. Let
that same god and man be thoroughly mixed in the clay.
Let us hear the drum for the rest ofthe time. From the flesh of the god let a
spirit remain, let it make the living know its sign, lest he be allowed to be
forgotten, let the spirit remain." The great Anunna-gods, who administer
destinies, answered "yes!" in the assembly.
On the first, seventh, and fifteenth days ofthe month, he established a
purification, a bath. They slaughtered Aw-ilu, who had the inspiration, in
their assembly. Nintu mixed clay with his flesh and blood. That same god
and man were thoroughly mixed in the clay. For the rest of the time they
would hear the drum. From the flesh of the god the spirit remained. It
would make the living know its sign. Lest he be allowed to be forgotten,
the spirit remained.
After she had mixed the clay, she summoned the Anunna, the great gods.
The Igigi, the great gods, spat upon the clay. Marni made ready to speak,
and said to the great gods: "You ordered me the task and I have completed
it! You have slaughtered the god, along with his inspiration. I have done
away with your heavy forced labor, I have imposed your drudgery on man.
You have bestowed clamor upon mankind. I have released the yoke, I have
made restoration." They heard this speech ofhers, they ran, free of care,
 9

and kissed her feet, saying: "Fonnerly we used to call you Mami, now let
your name be Belet-kala-ili (Mistress of all the gods)!" IO

The account here starts off with the lower gods doing all the manual labor for

the higher gods. Interesting point is how this epic opens, when the gods were forced

to do manual labor of the greater gods because man had not been created yet. The

lower gods were the servants to the seven higher gods. They devised a revolt to

release themselves of this burden, which never took plac e. Instead the greater gods

devised the plan to make man take on the burden of serving the gods. Ea speaks on

behalf of the lower gods letting the greater gods know that the burden that has been

placed upon the lesser gods is too much. His idea man then is to have the midwife

goddess make man bear the yoke of servant hood for the gods. So the point here is

that man was being created to take upon the drudgery of serving the gods. The task

ultimately falls upon Eniki and Nintu. The creation would take place after a god was

killed so that clay could be mixed with the blood and flesh of the slain god. The gods

had to go through purification by immersion in the god that was going to be slain.

Marni the midwife goddess makes the creation of man complete by having the greater

gods spit upon the clay that was mixed with the slain gods flesh and blood. Marni

finishes the task and becomes the mistress to all the gods and now the once former

yoke that was upon the lesser gods has now been placed upon man.

As one can see there are some similarities between this epic and the Genesis

creation story. The use of clay resembles the use of dust in the Genesis account. The

use of the blood resembles how man was being made in the image of God although

10
Epic of Atrahasis available from http://www.livius.org/as-at/atrahasis/atrahasis.html accessed on
September 21, 2008. For a printed account see Bill T. Arnold and Bryan E Beyer, Readings from the
Ancient Near East, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academics, 2002), 21-31
this is only a close similarity. 11 There are many points that this account differs from

the Genesis account. First, there is the concept of many gods and the Genesis account

has but one God and he is creator. Second, there is the purpose of mankind in this

epic is to take on the yoke of drudgery of the lesser gods and do all the tasks of

serving the gods. Again the purpose of man is to serve the needs and perform the

tasks that the gods do not want to do. Third, the creation comes out of conflict, which

is how many Mesopotamian creation stories happen. 12

One of the most famous of all Mesopotamian accounts of creation comes from

the Enuma Elish or when on high. In this account mankind is brought about again by

the slaying of a god but a further more detailed account of how the world came into

existence comes out. A close look at this document and one can see many similarities

with the Genesis account but at the same time there are many unique elements to both

this creation account and that of Genesis. It will be necessary in this section to break

up this document by tablet and deal with each tablet as it pertains to the creation

story. The background as well as the content that draws direct parallel wi11 be

explored here.

Tablet 1

WHEN on high the Heavens had not been named, Finn ground below had not
been called by name, Nothing but 'Primordial Apsu' the Begetter, [Fresh Water]
and 'Mummu Tiamat', She Who Bore them All, [Salt Water] -their waters
commingling as a single body- No reed hut had been matted, no marsh land had
appeared, Uncalled by name, their destinies undetem1ined- THEN it was that the
Gods were formed within Them. Lahmu ['mud'] and Lahamu ('Mrs. Mud'] were
brought forth, by name they were called Before they had grown in age and stature.
Anshar ['Upper Firmament'] and Kishar ['Lower Finnament'] were
fom1ed, surpassing the others. They prolonged the days, added on the years.
Anu was their heir, the rival of his fathers: Yes, Anu, Anshar·s first-born, was his

11 Walton, 28.
12
John H. Walton and Andrew E. Hill, Old Testament Today, (Grand Rapids: Zonderv an Publishing,
2004), 55.
 11

equal. He begot in his image Nudimmud [ Ea]. This Nudinunud was the master of
his fathers; Of broad wisdom, understanding, mighty in strength, Mightier by far
than his grandfather Anshar. He had no rival among the gods, his brothers.
The divine brothers banded together, They disturbed Tiarnat as the surged back
and forth, Yes, they troubled the mood ofTiamat By their hilarity in the Abode of
Heaven. Apsu could not lessen their clamor And Tiamat was speechless al their
ways. Their doings were loathsome to [ ]. Unsavory were their ways; they were
oYerbearing. Then Apsu, the Begetter of the Great Gods, Cried out, addressing
Mummu his Vizier: "0 Mummu, my Vizier, who makes my spirit rejoice,
Come hither and let us go to Tiamat!" They went and sat down before Tiamat,
Exchanging counsel about the gods, their children. Apsu, opening his mouth, said
to Resplendent Tiamat: "Their ways are truly loathsome to me, By day 1 find no
relief, nor sleep al night. I will destroy, I will wreck their ways, So that quiet may
be restored. Let us have rest!" As soon as Tiamat heard this, She was angry and
called out to her husband; she cried out aggrieved as she raged all alone, Injecting
woe into her mood: "What? Should we destroy that which we have built? Their
ways indeed are most troublesome, but let us attend kindly!" Then answered
Mummu, giving counsel to Apsu; Ill-wishing and ungracious was Mummu's
advice: "Do destroy, my father, the mutinous ways. Then you will have relief by
day and rest at night!" When Apsu heard this, his face grew radiant Because of the
evil he planned against the gods his sons. As for Mummu, he embraced him by the
neck As he sat down on his knees to kiss him. Now all that they had planned
between them was repeated lo the Gods, their children. When the Gods heard,
they were upset, then they lapsed into silence and remained speechless. Ea­
Nuddimud, surpassing in wisdom, accomplished, resourceful, Ea the All-Wise,
saw through their scheme. A master design against it he devised and set up, Made
artful his spell against it... ...-Having fettered Apsu he slew him... [Tiamat
appoints Kingu to be her champion lo avenge Apsu and conquer the Younger
Gods. The Younger Gods respond by deciding to seek their O\\-TI leader and
Champion.]... 13

In tablet one of this epic, opens by explaining that there was nothing but the

Primordial waters, Apsu the fresh water and Tiarnat the salt water. The story

continues into an argument that basically comes down to the fact that the husband of

Tiamat, Apsu, is killed and she chooses Kingu to avenge the death of Apsu from

the younger gods. Here again in another creation account there is water to contend

with similar to the Genesis story.

Tablet 2

. All the Anunnaki gathered; their lips closed tight they sat in silence, "No god (they
thought) can go to battle and Facing Tiamat. escape with his life." Lord Anshar. Father of
the Gods, arose in grandeur, And, having pondered in his heart, said to the Anunnaki:
"He whose strength is potent shall be our Avenger, He who is keen in battle, Marduk, the
Hero!" ..
Marduk replies to the invitation:]

13
Enuma Elish, available from http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/t.!numa.htm: Internet, Accessed on
September 21, 2008
 14

This tablet opens with the ceremony that will establish Marduk as the king of

the gods. A close look at this resembles the story of Jesus being established above

all for the work that he did on the cross. In the New Testament it is established that

Jesus voluntarily decided to take on flesh and battle the enemy of God and once and

for all end Satan's hold on mankind. This story resembles that in the fact that

Marduk chooses to accept the role of the one that will battle and intimately defeat

Tiamat.

The establishment of Marduk's word being able to make things appear and

disappear is the part that solidifies that even his word is supreme. He establishes

himself before he goes out to battle the great dragon, Tiamat. The gods relinquish

their power and establish Marduk's authority above all in this statement:

" ... In thy power shall it be to exalt and to abase. Established

shall be the word of thy mouth, irresistible shall be thy
command,
None among the gods shall transgress thy boundary. Abundance,
the desire of the shrines of the gods, Shall be established in thy
sanctuar y, even though they lack offorings.
0 Marduk, thou art our avenger! We give thee sovereignty over
the whole world ... "

This statement as well establishes Marduk a supreme lord.

"May thy fate, 0 lord, be supreme among the gods, To destroy
and to create; speak thou the word, and thy command shall be
fulfilled. Command now and let the garment vanish; And speak
the word again and let the garment reappear! Then he spake witl1
his mouth, and the gannent vanished;
A gain he commanded it. and. the garment reappeared. When the
gods, his fathers, beheld the fulfillment of his word, They
rejoiced, and they did homage unto him, saying, Marduk is
11

king! They bestowed upon him the scepter , and t he throne, and
11

the ring, They give him an invincible wcapony which

overwhelmeth the foe ... "

The point here is that the other gods came together to establish his power in

the cosmos. This is unlike the Genesis account since Yahweh is one. It is interesting
 16

seen in that Marduk rested upon completing the act just as God did in Genesis after

the creation act. The difference here is that the creation act in the Enuma Eli sh

account has not been fulfilled yet. In contrast to the Genesis account Marduk uses the

carcass ofTiamat to make the Earth and the Heavens. He splits her in half creating

both of these.

Marduk and Ea in the next tablet discuss the creation of humans. Ea suggests

that humans be brought forth out of one of the rebellious gods that sided with Tiamat.

Marduk brings the divine assembly together to discuss the idea and settles on Kingu

who was the planner of the revolt ofTiamat. Marduk has Kingu arrested and tried.

Kingu is found guilty and put to death. Ea brings forth aborigines from Kingu's

blood. The purpose of humans was so that the divine counsel could be set free from

their task of serving t\e �ratJ gods. Marduk places that burden now upon humans.

The idea here is that once again the purpose of humans is to serve the gods and to
I
make their lives better. 16
As someone can see this creation account com(s very close �
o the Genesis - v
\

account and had at times been referred to as the Babylo;ian Genesis. The story has
-- -----..........
many parallels but there are so e striking differenc'es as well. Even so the Enuma

Elish must be studied if one is to get a grasp of how the Ancient Near East viewed

their world and how things came into existence. The interesting thing to note here in

this story is that it was developed to explain how Babylon was now becoming a

prominent city in Mesopotamia and they needed a reason that their god, Marduk,

would be viewed as the supreme god. Another interesting point is that the concept of

16
Matthews, 18
 17

a supreme being really comes out in this story, but to any biblical scholar this should

not be surprising since the Bible was culturally written to a people group, namely

Israel, but that it is culturally relevant to all cultures. In other words even though the

Bible was written to a particular people it holds all people in its scope.

Looking at these different creation accounts someone might be asking what

this has to do with the Genesis account? As the Genesis account of creation is looked

at people should keep in mind the culture that it came from and the worldview of

those people groups that were co-inhabitants with Gods chosen people. A look at

Genesis will solidify though the reason that this account is unlike any other creation

story despite the parallels. As a person reads the Genesis account one will quickly tell

that this is not the worldview of the cultures that surround Israel and should allow one

to see that the God of Genesis is very unique.

Genesis Creation Account

When looking at Genesis creation account one has to look in the first two

chapters. Chapter one deals primarily with the creation as a whole, while chapter two

specifically looks at the creation of humans. Each one of these will be dealt with here

in turn. The first part will include the first three verses of chapter two for thought flow

purposes. 17
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.2 And the earth was without
form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And
God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And
God called the light Day. and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the
morning were the first day. 6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the
7
waters, and let it divide the waters from the ·waters. And God made the firmament, and
divided the waters. which were under the firmament from the waters. which were above
the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the finnament Heaven. And the evening

17
Chapter breaks in the Bible do not always line up with the train of thought being considered. Genesis
chapter one and two is just one such case.
 19

man is the culmination of the creative act. Humans' role in Genesis is to subdue the
world or be its caretaker not like the other creation stories where the purpose of

humans is to serve the gods.

(
The similarities between this story and the other Ancient Near East stories can

be seen as well. First, God's spirit moves upon the waters, which is similar to the other

creation stories but in this case there is no co-mingling to bring about the existence of

creation such as there is in the Enuma Elish. God seems to bring about order from

chaos, which the other stories are concerned with. The Genesis account has the creation

coming about in an orderly fashion with each day something being created.

In Genesis chapter two we turn to the actual creation of man and woman and

their role that they are to play.

4These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the
day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5And every plant of the field
before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God
had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (KJV)

The Genesis account here is unique in the fact that God created man and then

with his very breath gave him life. The very essence of God was used to create man. It

is also interesting that man even though being created in the image of God was not

created by slaying a god to make him. It is easy to see how given the disposition of

mankind toward doing that which is evil that those trying to explain how man came to

be that they would choose to create him from the leader of the rebellious gods.

The following is an excerpt from Genesis two,

15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to
keep it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:
for in the day that thou eatesl thereof thou shalt surely die. 18And the LORD God said, It is not
 20

good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19And out of the
ground the LORD God fonned every beast of the field. and every fowl of the air: and brought
1/iem unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living
creature, that was the name thereof. 20And Adam gave names to all cattle. and to the fowl of
the air. and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of
his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22And the rib, which the LORD God had taken
from man. made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23And Adam said, This is now
bone ofmy bones, and flesh ofmy flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken
out of Man. 24Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother. and shall cleave unto his
wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25And they were both naked. the man and his wife. and were
not ashamed. (KJV)

In the preceding passages we get a glimpse of the reason that man was created

and it wasn't to serve other gods as in many of the Ancient Near East stories. Man

was created to be the culmination of creation. He was created to have dominion over

and watch over all the creation. God's creation of man was not to place heavy burden

upon him but was to have fellowship with him. The problem with most of the rest of

the creation stories of the Ancient Near East is that they do not account for the fall of

man into sin. The stories are written from the perspective of this fallen world, but do

not adequately describe how it came to be this way. In the Ancient Near East stories

the gods are not benevolent but are at best neutral and at worst manevolent.

Conclusion

When looking at the Ancient Near East creation accounts it is easy to see that

there are man similarities with the Genesis account. The idea that order coming from

chaos for example draws upon the concept that before the creation there was no order.

In the Ancient Near East accounts, they all try to explain how the universe operates

and how everything came into existence. To the people from these cultures the

existence of all things came about by the gods having some form of relations with

either each other (i.e. Enuma Elish) or the elements"ie. Atum's creation of both Shu
�- --
and Tefnut). Even though there are parallels between the different stories it is the

Ov·.
 21

differences that make the Genesis account really stand out. The story in Genesis has a

purpose of mankind being the overseeing of the whole creation. This differs

drastically from the Ancient Near East accounts where man is seen as a servant to the

gods. Man is given the burden that once belonged to the lesser gods. Also in the

Genesis account God creates out of nothing, nowhere is this concept represented in

the other creation accounts. In the Ancient Near East accounts gods represent all that

is created (i.e. Sun, Moon, Wind, etc.). In the Genesis account there is only one God

and he creates everything. As someone can see, the God of the Genesis story is the

ultimate God that brings about creation for a purpose and has hope that seems to be

missing from the Ancient Near East stories.

 List of Works Consulted

Arnold, Bill T. and Beyer, Bryan E. eds. Readings.from the Ancient Near East. Grand
Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002.
Blacker, Carmen and Loewe, Michael, eds. Ancient Cosmologies. London: George
Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1975.
Epic of Atrahasis available from http://www.livius.org/as-at/atrahasis/atrahasis.html
accessed September 21, 2008.
Jacobsen, Thorkild. The Harps that Once ... : Sumerian Poetry in Translation.
Avaliable at http://www.piney.com/EriduGen.html. Accessed on September 21,
2008.
Hamilton, Victor P. Handbook on the Pentateuch Second EdWon. Grand Rapids:
Baker Academics, 2005.
Matthews, Victor H. and Benjamin, Don C. Old Testament Parallels: Lm11s and
Stories.from the Ancient Near East. New York: Paulist Press, 2006.
Pritchard, James B. The Ancient Near East Volume I: An Anthology of Texts and
Pictures. New Jersey: Princeton Press, 1973.
Thomas, D. Winton. Documents from Old Testament Times. New York: Harper and
Row, 1961.
Walton, John H. Ancient ls'raelite Literature in its Cultural Context. Grand Rapids:
Zondervan Publishing, 1989.
Walton, John H. and Hill Andrew. Old Testament Today. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Publishing, 2004.