Mythology and the First Creation Account

Summary: The first creation account in the Bible is seen as a polemic against Mesopotamian creation myths, using some of their structure but ultimately opposing their views. 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 resemblances between the First Creation story and Mesopotamian creation myths.

There are a number of approaches to this. One approach, probably the most common among bible readers, is to ignore it. The Torah is a guide to a virtuous life. Mesopotamian myth has nothing to say about virtue. Especially for religious Jews, only midrashic interpretations and the words of the Jewish sages provide relevance to understanding the words of the Torah.

A second approach, more common among academics, is to postulate that any new religion at that historic period needed to have a creation story for its very legitimacy. This would mean that the creation story has no particular value in and of itself. Against this is the fact that the first biblical creation account is not a stand-alone story, but part of a continuous narrative that continues until the end of the Torah.

A third approach is that of Nahum Sarna who suggests that both creation stories, as well as the story of Noah, were written as polemics against common Mesopotamian ideas, and were therefore written with somewhat of a mythological format.1 This is the approach I consider to be the most valid approach to the text.

People in the ancient world were familiar with the creation myths of the surrounding cultures. The biblical creation accounts introduced new ideas into the ancient world in opposition to mythological accounts. In effect, the Torah’s creation accounts can be regarded as anti-myths. The Bible also used the science of these mythological accounts to explain the development of the world, since this was the science that people were familiar with.

If one is prepared to accept this thesis, it means that for a full understanding of the biblical account of creation its mythological associations should not be ignored.

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

Looking at the natural world around them, the Mesopotamians 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 but a logical step to assume that each aspect of nature was controlled by a god.

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 could lead to damage to towns and villages along these rivers. Droughts could lead to famine. The authors of these myths also saw tension, conflict, and violence within their villages and cities. It was but a logical step to conclude that conflict was part of the fabric of the universe. This ethos was incorporated into their creation myths in their describing conflict between the gods that determined the cosmic order and conspiracies and violence besetting the origins of the pantheons.

The consequences of this way of thinking would be far-reaching. Creation myths functioned not only as the blueprint for the order of the cosmos, but also 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 in doing so had 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 about 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 of conflict being the basis of the universe and power and violence its arbitrator.

This is not to say that the 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 Bible, 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, now in modern-day Iraq. This is one of the oldest known libraries and 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. 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 their chief god Marduk. The ethos of Enuma Elish supported the power structure of Babylon and despotic rule based on power.

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.

It is helpful at this stage to summarize the major differences between the Bible’s creation story and Enuma Elish and these are shown in table 1. The details will be thrashed out in the subsequent discussion. What is very apparent is how radical were the ideas of the biblical creation account in comparison to the popular ideas of that time.

The violent creation of the world 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 narrative.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. A major aspect of creation in both 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 represents the forces of chaos. Her husband Apsu is the god of subterranean sweet waters from which fresh water springs arise.

The 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, and even a person, at that historic period 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 (Genesis 1:1-10). These realms of the universe will now remain exclusively under His control.

In Enuma Elish, subsequent generations of gods arise by sexual union, and 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 and Kishar, the sky father god and earth mother god.

A violent soap opera now ensues, and it is only when the younger god Marduk defeats the older gods that he is able to create order within the universe.

The tablets tell us that Apsu was disturbed by the noise of the younger gods and he decided to kill 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 and they disturbed the tranquility of their parents. At this point in the myth, Tiamat informed the younger gods about her husband’s plot against them, and the younger gods killed her husband Apsu.

Marduk now flaunted his ability to control whirlwinds and flood-waves. This was annoying to some of the other gods and they persuaded Tiamat to take revenge for her husband’s death and kill the younger gods. Tiamat formed a coalition, elevated Kingu her new husband to a position of power and created monsters to help in the forthcoming struggle against the younger gods.

The younger gods now approached Marduk to save them, and he agreed to do so provided they appointed him as their permanent leader. Marduk challenged Tiamat to combat. Marduk representing the forces of order confronted Tiamat representing the forces of chaos in a momentous battle. Marduk prevailed 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 created 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 cosmic universe that the Torah would confront, and the first chapter of Genesis was its opening protest.

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 mankind. This was achieved initially by the formation of order from chaos. Facets of chaos are described in the Bible 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 referring 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 “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 creations within these domains. All His creative activity expresses the order, purposefulness and perfection He has ordained.

On day 2, Elokim formed a firmament or space that separated between the “deep waters” below and water above the firmament. It would appear 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. On its corresponding day 5, Elohim filled these two domains. He created fish to swarm in the seas and fowl to fly within that part of the firmament that was in proximity to the earth. Great monsters were also placed within the watery domain.

On day 3, dry land arose from within the “deep seas” (tehom), while the waters around the dry land gathered together as seas. Vegetation sprouted from the earth. On its corresponding day 6, the earth domain became 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: “and God saw that it was good (tov in Hebrew).” In other words, each of God’s creative acts fulfilled the purpose for which it was intended. Unlike the contentious pagan world described by Enuma Elis, Elohim’s universe is in complete harmony from its very beginning.

Apparent from the above table are two omissions in expressions of perfection. Day 2 is not declared “good” since 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 also not described as “good,” since man is not intrinsically good. However, by the end of the sixth day, by which time all creative activity had been completed, Elohim “saw all that he had made, and behold it was extremely good (tov me’od in Hebrew)” (Genesis 1:31).

It is of interest that 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 he has completed the heavens and earth is to create the constellations, sun, and 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, and after 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 direct contrast to 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 and Tigris seasonally overflow their banks and deposit silt. This provides fertile soil for crop cultivation but necessitates the laborious construction of ditches and irrigation channels to subsequently bring water to the fields.

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

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. The creation of man as a workhorse for the gods is quite subsidiary to the myth’s theogony, since 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 Marduk’s supremacy and provide him with 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

The creation of man and woman described in Genesis chapters I and II presents a stark contrast to this pagan account. The entire universe is created for the sake of man. Man is not a non-entity to be exploited by the gods but akin to God Himself, being created “in the image of Elohim and in His likeness.”

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 large chapter, but some additional points are added 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 at this point.

Man is given his own day of creation on day 6.

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

Man is given dominion over the earth and everything that Elohim has 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 It is these physical and intellectual attributes that will enable him to assert his role as caretaker of the world.

However. the medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides had put much effort into moving the Jewish people away from a physical conception of God, and it would have been inconceivable to him that man should be thought of in any way as a physical image of God. Rather, Maimonides see the image of God in humanity as referring to his intellect and 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 broader approach and wrote:

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 implications of the Bible’s description of the creation of man in terms of the progress of humanity cannot be underestimated. In pagan Mesopotamian thought man is a non-entity and a slave to the gods. Therefore, there is no challenge for man to improve the world around him and no driving force to animate mankind’s 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 as the master of a perfectly functioning world created specifically for him. The Bible has thereby placed mankind on a pedestal and 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).

Conclusions

The creation story of Genesis I is not a scientific account of creation, but an allegorical poem with imagery that would have been familiar and understandable to the generation receiving the Torah. Moreover, the ideas contained in this one biblical chapter to the progress of mankind have been inestimable.

Man is not a slave to the gods but a dignified being to whom God has handed over the keys to the direction of the world. He can now develop or damage the world with the physical and intellectual powers God has bestowed upon him. Man does have a sense of right and wrong, but this will not be enough to save the world from a flood. A moral code for humanity will also be neccesary.

God controlled all aspects of creation during creation and it is but a logical step to assume that He controls all aspects of nature in an ongoing way. This will also be the message of the Ten Plagues in Egypt during the time of Moses. This means that God has the power to provide material benefit in accord with man’s behavior and to all who walk in His way. This will subsequently become one of the paradigms for God’s reward and punishment.

God has created a perfect universe with design and not a random universe determined by the results of conflict between the gods. There is thus consistency to the laws of nature. Without this foundation, science could never have progressed.

Conflict is not ingrained in the universe that Elohim created. There is conflict, but it can be overcome by appropriate social laws and by a moral code. Surprisingly, this is still an issue in the world today. The work of the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel saw a dialectic of domination and oppression involving every human interaction. Karl Marx picked up on this idea with his recognition of an exploitive class struggle between capitalists and the proletariat; and from this came the ideas of communism. More recently the ideas of wokeism, particularly in relation to race, see oppression as a natural feature of society. The creation story indicates that this is not so.

Finally, in contrast to Enuma Elish, there is no request by Elohim in Creation I for reverence, homage, and praise. His only request is that He be recognized as Creator of the universe. This man can do by ceasing from creative activity for 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 1ªaº 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” and the Kuzari as “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 Genesis1:26.
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.