The first creation account as a polemic against its mythological counterparts

Summary: The first creation account in the Bible can be viewed as a polemic against Mesopotamian creation myths, using some of their structure but ultimately opposing their ideas. While Mesopotamian myths, such as Enuma Elish, describe the gods as violent and in constant conflict, the Bible presents God as bringing order peacefully through separation and differentiation. The creation of man in Enuma Elish depicts humans as laborers for the gods, made from the blood of a slain deity, while the Bible portrays humans as being made in God's image, with dignity and purpose. The biblical account emphasizes the peaceful, harmonious creation of the world for humanity, contrasting with the violent, hierarchical order depicted in Mesopotamian myths. The Bible’s creation narrative serves as a protest against pagan ideologies, particularly their endorsement of power and violence.

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There are textual similarities between the ideas of the first creation story and those of Mesopotamian creation myths.

How can a believer in the authenticity of the Bible deal with this?

One approach, and probably the most common among bible readers, is to ignore it.

Another approach, and the one I favor, is that of Nahum Sarna who argues that the creation stories, and also the story of Noah, were written as polemics against prevalent Mesopotamian ideas.1

The Torah introduced new ideas into the ancient world that were in opposition to the ideas of mythology. This means that the Bible’s two creation accounts can be regarded as anti-myths The way the Torah did this, was to use the basic format of mythology. It also retained the “science” of these mythological accounts, since this is how people understood the world they lived in.

The function of Mesopotamian creation myths was to describe how the different gods came into being, how they received their function, how they constructed the universe, and the nature of their relationship with mankind.

Looking at the natural world around them, the Mesopotamian people saw powerful forces determining their lives. Each day the sun moved across the sky. In spring, seeds germinated to produce crops. What controlled these forces of nature? It was logical to assume that each aspect of nature was controlled by a god that inhered within nature.

It was also evident to the authors of these creation myths that the forces of nature were often in conflict with each other. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers were prone to flooding that left destruction in their wake. Fierce storms led to damage to towns and villages along these rivers. Droughts could lead to famine. These authors also saw tension, conflict, and violence in their villages and cities. It was logical to conclude, therefore, that conflict was part of the fabric of the universe. Thus, conspiracies and violence would characterize the origins of the pantheons and conflict between the gods was the order of the cosmos.

The consequences of this way of thinking would be far-reaching. Creation myths were not only the blueprint for the design of the universe, but they also functioned as models for societal behavior and governance.

In effect, what these writers had done was to take cues from their perception of the world around them and legitimized power as the arbiter of discord and the hierarchical structures of their cities. It is not surprising, therefore, that the history of the ancient world is replete with conflicts between great empires, and predatory empires arising on the ruins of the old.

The Torah can be regarded not only as a protest against paganism, but as a protest against the notion that conflict is the basis of the universe, and power and violence its determinants.

This is not to say that Mesopotamians had no respect for goodness and justice. Accounts of Mesopotamian monarchs make mention of the works they did to improve the lives of their subjects. The Mesopotamian king Hammurabi recorded a system of justice for his empire. Nevertheless, until the advent of the Torah, there was no philosophical underpinning for goodness and justice in the world, other than for the exigencies of an ordered society.

A number of creation myths were written in Mesopotamia, but one creation myth in particular was widely known. Enuma Elish was written in Babylon between about 1,500 to 1,700 BCE, and therefore predated the Torah by several hundred years. The name Enuma Elish means “when the skies” and comes from the first words of the myth. The clay tablet on which it was written was discovered in the 19th century by archaeologists working at the site of the ruins of the ancient Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, the ancient capital of Assyria, and now in modern-day Iraq. This is one of the oldest known libraries and it contained thousands of clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform script.

Enuma Elish describes the ascendancy of the fourth-generation god Marduk to become chief god of Babylon and the myth was narrated publicly on the Babylonian New Year. There were political reasons for doing this. The king of the city ruled by divine appointment. He, in turn, built temples for the gods and appointed a priestly class responsible for offering sacrifices and propitiating the chief god Marduk. The ethos of Enuma Elish supported the power structure in Babylon and legitimized its despotic ruler.

It is difficult to say categorically that the first chapter of Genesis had this myth in mind when it was written but there are sufficient similarities and counterpoints to Enuma Elish to suggest that it was either directed at this myth or others similar to it.

A summary of the major differences between the Torah’s creation story and Enuma Elish is shown in table 1. The details will be elaborated upon in the subsequent discussion. What is very apparent, however, is how radical were the ideas of the biblical creation account compared to the ideas of that time.

The creation of the world through violence according to Enuma Elish

An examination of selected passages from the Enuma Elish creation epic reveals the similarities as well as polar differences to the biblical account.1

In Emuna Elish, the heavens and earth are already in existence at the beginning of creation, whereas in Genesis I the heavens and earth are created by Elohim. Nevertheless, a major aspect of both creation accounts is the molding of order from chaos.

The primordial aspects of creation in the Enuma Elish myth are the goddess Tiamat and her husband god Apsu. Tiamat is the goddess of the deep-sea waters and she represents the forces of chaos. Her husband Apsu is the god of subterranean sweet waters from which fresh water springs arise.

The Emuna Elish myth opens as follows:

When skies above were not yet named [by the gods]

Nor earth below pronounced by name,

Apsu, the first one, their begetter

And maker Tiamat, who bore them all

Had mixed their waters together………

Then gods were born within them

Lahmu and Lahamu emerged, their names pronounced.3

To “name” an object, material, or person at that time meant to define its essence and have dominion over it. This is probably also its meaning in Genesis I when Elohim “calls to” and thereby defines the domains of day, night, heavens, sea, and earth and claims dominion over them (Genesis 1:1-10).

In Enuma Elish, subsequent generations of gods arise by sexual union. Hence, in the above passage Tiamat and Apsu “mix their waters together” to form the gods, Lahmu and Lahamu. These siblings will stand at the end of the earth to hold up the heavens. They are also the parents of Anshar, the sky father god, Kishar, the earth mother god, and Ea.

A violent soap opera now ensues, and it is only when a third-generation god Marduk, the son of Ea, defeats the older gods that he is able to establish order within the universe.

The tablets tell us that Apsu is disturbed by the noise made by the younger gods and he decides to eliminate them. It may well be, parenthetically, that Mesopotamian cities were noisy places, and without movie theaters, bowling allies and youth centers the young people had no place to go such that they disturbed the tranquility of the city. At this point in the myth, Tiamat informs the younger gods about her husband’s plot against them, and the younger gods kill her husband Apsu.

Marduk now flaunts his ability to control whirlwinds and flood-waves. This is annoying to some of the other gods and they persuade Tiamat to take revenge for her husband’s death and kill the younger gods. Tiamat forms a coalition, elevates her new husband Kingu to a position of power, and creates monsters to help in the forthcoming struggle against the younger gods.

The younger gods approach Marduk to save them, and he agrees to do so on the condition that they appoint him as their permanent leader. Marduk challenges Tiamat to combat. Marduk, representing the forces of order, confronts Tiamat representing the forces of chaos in a momentous battle. Marduk prevails in a scene of gruesome violence:

He shot an arrow which pierced her belly,

Split her down the middle and slit her heart,

Vanquished her and extinguished her life.3

The next tablet describes how Marduk creates the earth and heavens by slicing Tiamat in two:4

The lord rested, and inspected her corpse.

He divided the monstrous shape and created marvels (from it). . . .

He sliced her in half like a fish for drying:

Half of her he put to roof the sky,

Drew a bolt across and made a guard hold.

Her waters he arranged so that they could not escape.5

This was the violent origins of the universe that the Torah confronted. The first chapter of Genesis was its opening challenge.

Elohim’s creation of a harmonious world

The purpose of creation in the Mesopotamian creation myths was a world for the activities of the gods. The purpose of Elohim’s creations was a harmonious world for the activities of man. This was achieved by the formation of order from chaos. Facets of chaos are described in the Torah by the Hebrew words tohu and vohu and the presence of darkness:

And the earth was without form (tohu), and void (vohu); and darkness was upon the face of the deep; but the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2).

The exact meaning of the words “tohu” and “vohu” is unclear, as they are not used elsewhere in the Bible other than in reference to creation. They are usually thought of as expressing the desolation and disorganization of early planet earth.2 In the ancient world, darkness was considered a distinct creation rather than being the absence of light, and it probably has this significance in this sentence too. As an eagle hovering over its offspring, Elohim is now “hovering” over the primeval waters to orchestrate the formation of order.

As discussed in the previous chapter, in Genesis I Elohim oversees the development of domains on the different days of creation and subsequently forms moving entities within these domains. His creative activity expresses the order, purposefulness and perfection He has ordained.

Thus, on day 2, Elohim forms a firmament or space that separates between the “deep waters” below and water above the firmament. It would seem that people in those days were unaware of the rain cycle and considered the waters above as a permanent feature of the earth. This firmament is called heavens (shomayim) and would correspond to what we would regard today as a combination of the earth’s atmosphere and outer space. Hence, on its corresponding day 5, Elohim fills these two domains by creating fish to swarm in the seas and fowl to fly within that part of the firmament in proximity to earth. Great monsters are also placed within the watery domain.

On day 3, dry land arises from within the “deep seas” (tehom), while the waters around the dry land gather together as seas. Vegetation sprouts from the earth. On its corresponding day 6, the earth domain becomes habited by animals, man and woman.

The perfection of God’s creative activity in producing a flawless world for mankind is emphasized by a literary form seen at the end of each day of creation, namely “and God saw that it was good (tov).” In other words, each of God’s creative acts fulfilled the purpose for which it was intended. Unlike the contentious universe described in Enuma Elis, Elohim’s universe is in complete harmony from its very beginnings.

It is apparent from the above table is that there are two omissions in expressions of perfection. Day 2 is not declared “good,” since the fate of the watery domain remains incomplete until dry land appears and oceans are formed. However, day 3 is declared “good’ twice, once for the completion of the work of the second day and again for that of the third day.15 Alternatively, once with the formation of the dry land and seas, and again with the formation of vegetation.

In anticipation of the Garden of Eden story, man’s creation is not described as “good,” since man is not intrinsically good. However, by the end of the sixth day, by which time all of His creative activity has been completed, Elohim “saw all that he had made, and behold it was extremely good (tov me’od)” (Genesis 1:31).

The Torah’s creation narrative is modeled to a degree on the “science” described in the Babylonian creation myths. Hence, once Marduk has assumed supremacy, his first act after completing the heavens and earth is to create the constellations, the sun, and the moon:

As for the stars, he set up constellations corresponding to them.

He designed the years and marked out its divisions,

Apportioned three stars each to the twelve months.

He founded the stand of Neberu (the planet Juniper) to mark out their courses

So that none of them could go wrong or stray.

. . . . . .

He made the crescent moon appear, entrusted night [to it]

And designated it the jewel of the night to mark out the days.

“Go forth every month without fail in a corona,

At the beginning of the month, to glow over the land.6

There is no description of the creation of the sun as this particular tablet has been damaged. However, the presumption is that its creation by Marduk would have been similar to that of the other constellations. This would explain the creation of the heavenly bodies in the biblical account as a late creation on day 4, when the earth and its vegetation have already been formed on the third day.

A comparison of the creation of man in Enuma Elish and Genesis I

The description of man’s creation in Enuma Elish is in marked contrast with the description in the Torah. Following their creation of the world, the gods who pledged their allegiance to Tiamat (i.e., the losing side) are forced into laboring for those who sided with Marduk. The presumption is that this would have been primarily agricultural work. The Euphrates seasonally overflows its banks and deposits silt. This provides fertile soil for crop cultivation but requires the laborious construction of ditches and irrigation channels to bring water to the fields.

Marduk has an idea. To free the gods from this labor, he will create human beings to do this work. Marduk kills Tiamat's husband, Kingu, and from his blood creates a human being:

When Marduk heard the speech of the gods,

He made up his mind to perform miracles.

He spoke his utterance to Ea,

And communicated to him the plan that he was considering.

“Let me put blood together, and make bones too.

Let me set up primeval man: Man shall be his name.

Let me create a primeval man.

The work of the gods shall be imposed (on him),

And so they shall be at leisure….

Let one who is hostile to them be surrendered [up]

Let him be destroyed, and let people be created [from him] …

It was Kingu who started the war,

He who incited Tiamat and gathered an army!”

They bound him and held him in front of Ea,

Imposed the penalty on him and cut off his blood.

He created mankind from his blood.

Imposed the toil of the gods [on man] and released the gods from it.7

There is nothing dignified in Enuma Elish about the creation of man. He is almost an afterthought in the creation story. Rather, the focus of Enuma Elish is the supremacy of Marduck amongst the other gods. There is, perhaps, a spark of divinity in man’s creation but it comes from the blood of the forces of chaos.

In gratitude for being created, Marduk requires of man that he recognize his supremacy and provide him appropriate reverence:

Let him [Marduk] act as a shepherd over the black-headed people, his creation.

Let his ways be proclaimed in future days, never forgotten. . . .

Let him designate the black-headed people to revere him,

That mankind may be mindful of him, and name him as their god.8

By contrast, in the Torah, the entire universe is created for the sake of man. Man is not a non-entity to be exploited by the gods but is created “in the image of Elohim and in His likeness” and is akin to God Himself:

And Elohim said: “Let us make Man in Our image, after Our likeness. They shall rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and over the animals, the whole earth, and every moving thing that treads upon the earth”. So, Elohim created man in His image, in the image of Elohim He created him, male and female He created them. Elohim blessed them and Elohim said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every living thing that treads upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28)

The topic of man being in the image and likeness of Elohim was discussed in the previous chapter, but some additional points are mentioned here.

The Torah distinguishes between the creation of man and all other aspects of creation by a number of literary forms that emphasize man’s dignity and autonomy:

Elohim brings the Biblical reader into His thought processes. Speaking previously in the singular, He now speaks in the plural – “Let us make man!” (Genesis 1:26).

The entirety of chapter I is in a poetic format, but the Bible waxes particularly poetic when describing the creation of man.

Man is made in the “image and likeness of God.”

Man is given dominion over the earth and everything that Elohim created.

Elohim blesses man and urges him to be fruitful.

The medieval biblical commentator Rashi explains that although God has no physical form, man is, nevertheless, a physical representation of the attributes of God.9 These physical and intellectual characteristics will enable him to assert his role as caretaker of the world.

On the other hand, the medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides had put much effort into moving the Jewish people away from a physical conception of God and it was inconceivable to him that man should be thought of as a physical image of God. Rather, he viewed humanity being in “the image of God” as referring to its intellect. He writes:

On this account, i.e., on account of the Divine intellect with which man has been endowed, he is said to have been made in the form and likeness of the Almighty, but far from it be the notion that the Supreme Being is corporeal, having a material form.10

R’ Samson Raphael Hirsch writing in the 19th century took an even bolder approach:

Bezalmenu – in our sheath, i.e., if all the compassion and love, the truth and equity and holiness of the Divine Rule wished to appear cased in an exterior visible form, it would appear in the figure in which the Creator gave man.”11

The consequences of this biblical description of the creation of man with respect to the progress of humanity cannot be underestimated. In pagan Mesopotamian thought man is a non-entity and a slave to the gods. No challenge therefore exists for man to improve the world around him and driving force to animate his intellectual progress. It is not surprising, therefore, that historians describe Mesopotamian culture as a pessimistic one. By contrast, in the Genesis I account, man is designated to be the master of a perfectly functioning world created specially for him. Mankind has been placed on a pedestal and on a trajectory for intellectual, social and scientific progress.

Psalm 8 beautifully summarizes what Genesis I has achieved for man:

What is frail man that thou You should remember him?

And the son of mortal man that You should be mindful of him?

Yet You have made him slightly less than the angels,

And with glory and honor You have crowned him.

You gave him dominion over Your handiwork.

You placed everything under his feet:

Sheep and cattle, all of them, even the beasts of the field . . . .

YHWH our Master, how mighty is your Name throughout the earth (Psalm 8:5-10).

Summary

The creation story of Genesis I is not a scientific account of the creation of the universe but an allegorical poem using imagery that would have been familiar to the generation receiving the Torah.

Man is not a slave to the gods but a dignified being to whom God has handed over the keys to this world. Mankind can now develop or damage it with all the physical and intellectual powers that God has bestowed upon him.

Conflict is not ingrained into our universe. Conflict is certainly possible, but can be overcome by social laws and a moral code.

God designed a purposeful universe of perfection. Our universe is not a random one determined by conflict between the gods or a spin of the dice. There is therefore a consistency to the laws of nature. Without this consistency, there could be no such thing as science.

The God-like nature of man will enable the scientific and social progress of mankind.

God controlled all aspects of creation. It is but logical to assume, therefore, that He similarly controls in an ongoing way all aspects of nature.

As the Creator of the universe, God can also create the moral framework for the world.

Finally, in contrast to Enuma Elish, Elohim makes no demand on man for reverence, homage, and praise. His only desire is to be recognized as Creator of the universe. In other words, for there to be general recognition of chapter 1 of the Torah. This man can do by ceasing from creative activity on one day of the week, on the Sabbath.

References

Creation, Genesis 1-4 in Understanding Genesis in The Heritage of Biblical Israel by Nahum M. Sarna, p4, Schoken Books, New York, 1970.
ArtScroll Tanach Series. Bereishis. Genesis/ A New Translation with a Commentary Anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic and Rabbinic Sources. Volume 1(a) by Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz. P36. Mesorah Publications, Ltd. Hence, Rashi following a midrash translates it as “astonishment and amazement” or “astonishingly empty,” this being the reaction a person would have at the void. Targum Yonasan translates the words as “emptiness and desolation.” The Kuzari proposes “absence of form and order.”
The Epic of Creation, Tablet 1 in Myths from Mesopotamia. Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh and Others by Stephanie Dalley, p233. Oxford University Press, 2008.
The Epic of Creation, Tablet 4 in Myths from Mesopotamia. Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh and Others by Stephanie Dalley, p253. Oxford University Press, 2008.
The Epic of Creation, Tablet 4 in Myths from Mesopotamia. Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh and Others by Stephanie Dalley. p254-255. Oxford University Press, 2008.
The Epic of Creation. Tablet 5 in Myths from Mesopotamia. Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh and Others by Stephanie Dalley. p255-256. Oxford University Press, 2008.
Myths from Mesopotamia. Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh and Others by Stephanie Dalley, The Epic of Creation. Tablet 6, p260-261. Oxford University Press, 2008.
Myths from Mesopotamia. Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh and Others by Stephanie Dalley, The Epic of Creation. Tablet 6, Oxford University Press, 2008, p 264.
Rashi on Genesis 1:26.
Chapter 1 in Moses Maimonides: The Guide for the Perplexed by M. Friedlander, second edition, p14. Dover Publications, Inc. New York.
Hirsch in his commentary to Genesis 1:26.