Babylonian and the Biblical Creation Stories - Assignment Example

Analysis of the Babylonian and the Biblical Creation Stories. In the 19th century, archeologists were looking for ancient artefacts in the prehistoric city of Nineveh. While in King Ashurbanipal’s library, they discovered clay tablets containing religious texts, laws and other literature written in Akkadian- an ancient Babylonian dialect. What shocked the world were the religious texts that had close resemblance to Genesis in the Bible. Enuma Elish is the creation myth written by Babylonians 4000 years ago. Archeologists trace it back to 12th century BC. (Livingstone, 2003) In Enuma Elish, there are several gods each representing an aspect of the physical world. Apsu is the head god who represents fresh water which symbolizes male fertility. Apsu has a wife, Tiamat who is the goddess of the seas, a symbol of threat and chaos. Tiamat births Kishar and Anshar who represent the sky and earth respectively. The two have a child Anu, who also bears a son; Ea. Apsu is not happy with the ill-behaviour of their sons and plots to kill them. However, Ea learns of the plot and then kills Apsu. Ea and his wife Damkina bear a son, Marduk who symbolizes light, both of the sun and lightning. Tiamat is angered by the murder of Apsu and decides to revenge. She creates and assembles monsters, plus Kingu her new husband to aid her in her quest for revenge. Ea again learns of her plot and tries to confront her, but he is defeated. Anu also challenges her, but he is also defeated by Tiamat. There is fear among the gods that none is powerful enough to face Tiamat. Gaga is sent by Anshar to the council of gods to report that Marduk is willing to face Tiamat. Marduk is given a test of making a garment disappear to prove his might. After successfully completing the test, Marduk is allowed to face Tiamat. He easily destroys her and then takes Kingu and all her demons captive. He then smashes Tiamat’s head and then divides her body, using each half to create the earth and the sky. He also creates barriers to ensure that Tiamat’s chaotic waters do not escape. ( Bratcher, 2013) After establishing dwelling places in the skies for other gods, Marduk decides to create humans; however, he is not able to due to lack of blood and bones. Ea advises him to kill a god, Kingu in order to obtain the necessary materials needed for the creation. Kingu is killed by Ea and his blood used in the creation of mankind. Humans are created for the sole purpose of praising and performing tedious labor for the gods. The gods then construct a house in Babylon to honour Marduk. The story ends with Marduk organizing a great feast and all the gods worship him for his achievements. In the Biblical account of creation, God views the universe as a dark chaotic void. He begins the creation by separating darkness from light, night from day and then creates all plants, animals and phenomena in five days. On the sixth day, God creates man and on the seventh day He rests. He notices that man is very lonely and using one of his ribs, he fashions a woman who would be both a companion and a helper of the man. God puts them in the Garden of Eden and commands them to name all plants and animals. They however disobey Him and He throws them out of Eden and into the wilderness where they suffer for the rest of their lives. It is evident that in both accounts there are numerous similarities. First of all, there is separation of waters above and below to form earth water and the sky. Secondly, the world is in a chaotic state in the beginning; Marduk and God take away the chaos and replace it with order. Furthermore, there was existence of light before moon, stars and the sun were created in both accounts. Moreover, scholars believe that the deep mentioned in the Bible is the goddess Tiamat, that is, Tehom- a Hebrew word meaning deep or ocean maybe referring to Tiamat, who was the goddess of seas and oceans. (Enns, 2010) On the other hand, the two accounts also differ in many ways. While the Bible is monotheistic with one all-powerful and all-knowing God, Enuma Elish is polytheistic with many gods who represent physical phenomena like seas and light. Like other creation myths from the eastern region, conflict and war of the gods in Enuma Elish brings about creation of mankind. However, there is no conflict or wars in the Bible; creation was God’s divine choice. In Enuma Elish, Marduk creates mankind from blood and bones of a dead god while in Genesis, Gods creates everything using the word of mouth. Moreover, God created man to rule over His creations in Genesis while Marduk created man to do odd jobs for the gods. Furthermore, the Babylonian myth omits many areas of creation like the sun, animals and vegetation. The Bible on the other hand, outlines how all phenomena in the universe were created. In addition, Enuma Elish is more of a praise song for Marduk and less of a creation story; Genesis is a book of creation. Lastly, Marduk and other gods descend in Babylon and have a great feast in honor of Marduk. In the Bible, God does not participate in any feast, in fact His main work is to watch over His creations. Due to many similarities between the Bible and Enuma Elish many scholars have concluded that Genesis is a rewrite of the Babylonian account of creation. Most argue that Moses may have borrowed most of his information to come up with the book of Genesis. However, most of these remain speculations and there are no evidences to back them up. It is highly doubtable that Moses rewrote Enuma Elish mainly because he lived most of his life in Egypt and never once stepped in Babylon. It is also possible that he may have learnt the Babylonian religion in Egypt since it was a center of learning during that time. (Ham, 2011) Works Cited 1. Angelfire. The Bible and Babylonian creation Tablets. Web. Mar. 31, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.angelfire.com/mo/launchingpad/chapter06.html 2. Bratcher, Dennis. Enuma Elish: The Mesopotamian/Babylonian Creation Myth, 2013. Web. Mar. 31, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.cresourcei.org/enumaelish.html 3. Enns, Pete. Genesis 1 and a Babylonian Creation Story, May 18, 2010. Web. Mar. 31, 2014. Retrieved from: http://biologos.org/blog/genesis-1-and-a-babylonian-creation-story 4. Favara, April. Teaching Comparative Creation Stories. Web. Mar. 31, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/TBv3i5_FavaraCreationStories.pdf 5. Freelance Theology. Babylonian Influence on Genesis, Nov. 21, 2013. Web. Mar. 31, 2014. Retrieved from: http://freelancetheology.com/2009/11/21/babylonian-influences-on-genesis/ 6. Ham, Steve. Is Genesis 1-11 a Derivation from Ancient Myths? Mar. 29, 2011. Web. Mar. 31, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2011/03/29/derivation-from-ancient-myths 7. Livingstone, David. Creation Stories of the Ancient Near East, 2003. Web. Mar. 31, 2014. Retrieved from: http://davelivingston.com/creationstories.htm 8. Stenudd, Stefan. Enuma Elish, 2007. Web. Mar. 31, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.creationmyths.org/enumaelish-babylonian-creation/enumaelish-babylonian-creation-3.htm 9. Tectonics. Is Genesis Stolen from Babylonian Myths. Web. Mar. 31, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.tektonics.org/af/babgenesis.php>. 10. Wellman, Jared. Does the Genesis Creation Account Come from the Babylonian Enuma Elish? Web. Mar. 31, 2014. Retrieved from: http://carm.org/genesis-creation-enuma-elish Read More