Enuma Elish and its Relationship with Genesis 1
The Priestly creation story has parallels to the creation myths of other Ancient Near eastern cultures, esp. the Babylonian myth Enuma Elish ('when on high'):
Discussion questions
1. In small groups, note some similarities and some differences between the first Hebrew creation account and Enuma Elish.
2. What characteristics of the ancient stories of Genesis 1 & 2 have made them ‘living’ documents while the Babylonian stories have lost their religious significance?
- Versions of this myth predate the P account by several centuries.
- The god Marduk is the focus of the story:
- 1200 BC, the Assyrians captured Babylon and carried off a statue of Marduk,
- the city's patron god and protector.
- A century later, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar recaptured the statue.
- Enuma Elish was written to celebrate this event.
- At annual celebrations of the event, it was read publicly.
- Jews living in Babylon during the exile would have been forced to listen to these readings.
- [Enuma Elish recounts Marduk's defeat of an older generation of ANE gods.
- the god Apsu and the goddess Tiamat were the parents of all the other gods.
- When Apsu is killed by Ea, Tiamat seeks revenge for the death of her lover.
- Ea turns to his father Anshar for advice, and Anshar decides to send Marduk to kill Tiamat.
- Marduk agrees to do so only if he is placed first among the gods.
- Marduk takes the 4 winds with him to face Tiamat, and she comes out to meet him with her mouth open to devour him.
- He sends the winds into her mouth, blowing her up like a balloon, then he slices her in half.
- Marduk makes a dome for the heavens out of the upper half of her body, and the earth out of the lower half.
- Marduk also kills Tiamat's new lover Kingu, and makes man from his blood.]
- Genesis is not the only place in the OT where creation is mentioned,
- some of the other references sound much like the "battle" imagery of Enuma Elish.
- Psalms: 74, 89, 104
- Remember that the P account was composed during or the Babylonian exile or after the return,
- so this story is probably both influenced by the Babylonian creation myth
- and written in response to it.
- This may be why the author is careful not to use the Hebrew word for the sun on day 3, shamesh,
- which is almost identical to the Babylonian word Shamash,
- the name of their sun god.
- This may also explain why creation of the sun is after vegetation-
- all things are dependent on God to live,
Discussion questions
1. In small groups, note some similarities and some differences between the first Hebrew creation account and Enuma Elish.
2. What characteristics of the ancient stories of Genesis 1 & 2 have made them ‘living’ documents while the Babylonian stories have lost their religious significance?