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Course 6 · Lesson 1.3

Genesis 1 to 3 beside other ancient creation accounts

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 6 outline

Module 1: Israel in the Ancient Near East

  1. Egypt, Mesopotamia and Canaan: the world of the Old Testament
  2. What archaeology and ancient texts can and cannot show
  3. Genesis 1 to 3 beside other ancient creation accounts
  4. Ancient cosmology and how Christians and Jews read Genesis

Module 2: Covenant: Abraham and Moses

  1. What a covenant is, and covenant forms in the ancient world
  2. The covenants with Noah and Abraham
  3. The exodus and the covenant at Sinai
  4. The Torah: law, worship and the tabernacle
  5. Covenant in Jewish, Catholic, Orthodox and Reformed thought

Module 3: Kingship in Israel

  1. From the judges to the first kings
  2. David, Jerusalem and the promise of a lasting house
  3. Solomon, the temple and the divided kingdom
  4. How Samuel and Kings tell the story: sources and purpose

Module 4: The Prophets, Exile and Restoration

  1. What a prophet was in Israel and in the ancient world
  2. Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Micah: justice, loyalty and judgment
  3. Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the fall of Jerusalem
  4. The return, Ezra, Nehemiah and the rebuilt temple
  5. How the prophetic books were formed: the debate over Isaiah and others

Module 5: Wisdom and Apocalyptic Writing

  1. Proverbs and the way of the wise
  2. Job and Ecclesiastes: wisdom that questions
  3. What apocalyptic writing is: Daniel and its setting
  4. Reading apocalyptic images responsibly

Module 6: Second Temple Judaism and the Development of Jewish Thought

  1. Persian, Greek and Maccabean periods
  2. Temple, synagogue and the main groups in Jewish life
  3. Development in Jewish thought: angels, resurrection, wisdom and law
  4. Sources: the Dead Sea Scrolls, the deuterocanonical books and Josephus

Module 7: Messianic Expectation and the Shape of the Covenants

  1. Anointed ones in the Old Testament: king, priest, prophet
  2. Messianic texts in the prophets and psalms
  3. How Jews and Christians read the messianic texts
  4. The promise of a new covenant
  5. Mapping the development of covenant across the Old Testament

All courses

Program / Course 6: Old Testament Theology and History / Lesson 1.3

What you will learn

  • Summarize the main claims of Genesis 1, 2 and 3.
  • Describe at least two non-biblical ancient accounts of origins and what they claim about gods and humans.
  • Identify real points of resemblance and real points of difference without overstating either.
  • Explain why scholars and believers draw different conclusions from the same comparison.

The big idea

The opening chapters of Genesis belong to a world that told many stories about how things began. Babylonian, Egyptian and Canaanite texts speak of gods struggling, of humans made to serve the gods, and of a flood. Genesis shares some images with them but makes sharply different claims: one God, a good creation, and human beings made in God’s image. Comparison clarifies what Genesis is saying, and it leaves open how a reader should receive it as Scripture.

Key terms

Cosmogony
An account of how the world and the gods came to be.
Enuma Elish
A Babylonian poem, named for its first words, in which the god Marduk defeats the sea goddess Tiamat and forms the world from her body.
Atrahasis
A Mesopotamian epic about the creation of humans to do the gods’ labor, a divine decision to send a flood, and the survival of one man.
Image of God
The phrase in Genesis 1:26 and 27 for the dignity and role given to human beings. Its exact meaning is discussed in several ways.
Chaoskampf
A German term for the myth of a god fighting a monster of chaos, often a sea monster, to establish order.
Monotheism
Belief that there is only one God.
Source criticism
The study of the possible earlier sources and editing behind a biblical text.

Background

Genesis opens with two accounts of origins placed side by side. Genesis 1:1 to 2:3 tells of God creating the heavens and the earth in an ordered sequence of days, ending in a day of rest. Genesis 2:4 to 3:24 tells of the garden, the first man and woman, and their loss of the garden. The style differs: the first is formal and repeats a pattern, while the second is a vivid story. Jewish and Christian traditions have long read them together, and many modern scholars think they came from different sources joined by an editor. Others see one author using two modes.

Mesopotamian and Egyptian writers also told how the world began. These accounts were discovered in modern times, mostly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and they set off a lively debate. Some people at first concluded that Genesis had simply copied them. Further study found a more complex picture, with shared images and very different claims.

The aim here is not to rank the texts. It is to see what Genesis says by hearing it beside other voices of its world, and to describe fairly the conclusions that Jewish and Christian readers draw.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: What Genesis 1 to 3 claims

Genesis 1 presents God speaking and things coming to be. God separates light from darkness, waters from waters, land from sea, and fills each realm: lights in the sky, creatures in the sea and air, animals and humans on land. Over and over the text says that God saw that it was good. Human beings are made male and female in God’s image and are given a role of care over creation. The seventh day is blessed and set apart.

Genesis 2 and 3 narrow the focus. God forms the man from the dust, places him in a garden, and gives a command about one tree. A woman is made as a partner. A serpent questions God’s word, they eat, and they are sent from the garden. The story has long been read as an account of the origin of human sin and of the trouble in the world, though Jewish and Christian readers interpret it in several ways.

Step 2: Mesopotamian accounts

In the Enuma Elish, the oldest gods are divided, and the young god Marduk defeats Tiamat and splits her body to make heaven and earth. He then has humans made from the blood of a defeated god so that they will do the work of the gods. In the Atrahasis epic, lesser gods tire of labor and humans are made to take it over. When human noise disturbs the gods’ sleep, they send plague, famine and finally a flood. A flood story also appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

These texts give the world a violent birth and give humans a job as servants of the gods. Scholars date the surviving copies from the early second millennium BC onward, but they debate how old the contents are.

Step 3: Egyptian and Canaanite voices

Egyptian texts offer several accounts. In one tradition from Memphis, the god Ptah creates by thought and speech, which some readers compare to God’s speaking in Genesis 1. In another, the sun god emerges from the waters of chaos. Canaanite texts from Ugarit tell of Baal’s struggle with the sea. The Old Testament sometimes uses such imagery for the Lord, in poetic passages such as Psalm 74 and Job 26, while presenting the sea as under God’s command and not as a rival.

Step 4: Likeness and difference

Likenesses include the watery beginning, the ordered separation of realms, divine speech, the creation of humans from earth, and the flood. The Hebrew word for the deep in Genesis 1:2 resembles the name Tiamat, and scholars debate whether this reflects a direct link or only a shared word root in related languages.

Differences are marked. Genesis has one God and no divine genealogy of rivals. There is no battle: God speaks and it is so. The sun and moon are lights God makes, not gods. Humans are not servants made to relieve the gods of labor, but bearers of God’s image, and the image is given to all humans, whereas in Egypt and Mesopotamia the image language is often used of the king. The world is called good. Many scholars see these differences as deliberate, a quiet argument against the stories of neighbors.

  1. What does Genesis 1 say about God’s relation to the world?
  2. How do Genesis 1 and the Enuma Elish differ in the way they describe the origin of the heavens and the earth?
  3. What is said about human beings in Genesis, and how does it differ from Atrahasis?
  4. Which resemblances between the texts seem strongest, and which seem weak?
  5. Does a resemblance show that one text copied another? What else could explain it?
  6. What conclusion would a Jewish or Christian reader draw about Scripture from this comparison, and what other conclusions are possible?

Examples

The creation of humans

In Atrahasis, humans are made to take over the gods’ labor. In Genesis 1, they are made in God’s image and told to fill the earth and care for it. The two texts agree that humans come from the divine act and differ on the purpose.

The flood

Genesis 6 to 9, Atrahasis and the eleventh tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh all tell of a flood that destroys most life and of a survivor who builds a boat. In the Mesopotamian versions the gods act from irritation or caprice. In Genesis, the flood is tied to human violence and ends in a covenant with Noah.

The sea monster

Psalm 74 speaks of God breaking the heads of the sea monsters. Readers disagree on whether this is a trace of an old combat myth recast in Israel’s faith or only a poetic way to say that God rules the powers of chaos.

Different perspectives

Jewish readers

Jewish interpreters have read Genesis as teaching that God alone made the world and that humans bear dignity from God. Medieval and modern Jewish commentators vary in how literally they take the days. Many modern Jewish scholars discuss the Mesopotamian parallels openly.

Catholic readers

The Catholic Church teaches that Genesis conveys truths about creation, human dignity and the origin of sin in a form fitted to its time. It teaches that God is the creator of all things and that Scripture’s aim is salvation. It does not require a single reading of the days of creation.

Orthodox readers

Orthodox writers draw on Basil the Great and other fathers, who read Genesis for the praise of the creator and for the meaning of human life, and who differed among themselves on the details of the days. Orthodox teaching centers on creation as God’s gift and on the human being as made for communion.

Protestant readers

Protestants hold a range of views, from reading Genesis 1 as a plain historical account in a week of days to reading it as theological or literary. Most stress the authority of the text and the goodness of creation, and differ on how to relate it to ancient parallels.

Scholarly views

Many scholars see Genesis as using the forms and images of its world to tell a different story, and some argue that it was written partly in reply. Others warn that the dating of the Mesopotamian texts and of Genesis makes direct dependence hard to show.

Why it matters

Genesis 1 to 3 is read in worship, argued over in public life and used in many debates. Hearing it beside its ancient neighbors guards against two mistakes: treating it as a copy of myths, and treating it as if no one before it had asked how the world began. It also lets a reader see which claims the text makes most strongly: one creator, a good world, and a human dignity shared by all.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Genesis was simply copied from Babylonian myths.

Correction: There are shared images, but the structure and the claims differ greatly. Scholars disagree about whether any direct borrowing took place, and many see a shared cultural background.

Misunderstanding: Noticing parallels means rejecting the Bible’s authority.

Correction: Many Jews and Christians who hold Scripture as authoritative study parallels. They hold that God spoke through human authors using the language and forms of their age.

Misunderstanding: Genesis was written as a science textbook.

Correction: Readers across Jewish and Christian history have disagreed about how literally to take the days and the details. Whatever one’s view, the text’s focus is on who God is and who humans are.

Misunderstanding: Ancient peoples believed nothing they said in their myths.

Correction: Myths in the ancient world expressed a society’s beliefs about gods, kings and order. They were not idle entertainment, and their claims should be taken seriously.

Knowledge check

What are two clear differences between Genesis 1 and the Enuma Elish?

In Genesis 1 there is one God who creates by speaking, without a battle or a rival, and the world is called good. In the Enuma Elish there are many gods, the world arises from the defeat of Tiamat, and humans are made to serve the gods. The sun and moon in Genesis are lights God makes and not gods.

What does it mean that humans are made in God’s image?

The phrase appears in Genesis 1:26 and 27 and gives all humans, male and female, a unique dignity and a role of care over creation. Interpreters differ on its precise meaning: some stress reason or moral ability, others a royal role, others relationship with God. Almost all agree that it grounds human worth.

How do the flood accounts of Genesis and Mesopotamia compare?

They share a flood, a survivor, a boat and an end to the flood with an offering. They differ in the cause and the divine character. In Mesopotamian accounts the gods act from irritation or struggle, while in Genesis the cause is human violence and the ending is a covenant. The relation between the texts is debated.

Why is it unwise to claim that Genesis copied Babylonian myths?

The shared elements are general, such as water, earth and a flood, while the structure and the claims differ sharply. The dates of both sets of texts are debated, and a shared cultural background can explain resemblances without copying. A careful claim says Genesis uses familiar images to make different claims.

Think it through

  1. Which difference between Genesis and the other accounts seems most important to you, and why?
  2. How would the idea that all humans bear God’s image have sounded in a world where kings claimed it?
  3. What would you want to know about the dating of a text before claiming that it influenced another?
  4. How can a person hold that Scripture is inspired and still study its parallels?

Independent assignment

A comparison table with commentary

In your own notebook, make a table with four columns (Genesis 1 to 3, Atrahasis or Enuma Elish, Egyptian account, your notes). Use at least five rows, such as the number of gods, how creation happens, the role of humans, the nature of the sea, and the cause of the flood. Then write 300 to 400 words saying which comparisons seem strong, which seem weak, and what you cannot conclude. Keep it for yourself.

Further study