Genesis 1 in context Professor Tate 8/23/17

Vocabulary Enuma Elish Marduk Tiamat Apsu Polytheism vs. monotheism 586 B.C.E. (the beginning of the Babylonian Exile of the Jews) Cosmology Cosmogony Sabbath Etiology

Enuma Elish (Epic of creation)

Psalm 74:12-17 Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the earth. You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. You cut openings for springs and torrents; you dried up ever-flowing streams. Yours is the day, yours also the night; you established the luminaries and the sun. You have fixed all the bounds of the earth; you made summer and winter.

Psalm 104:7-9 At your rebuke [the waters] flee; at the sound of your thunder they take to flight. They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place that you appointed for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.

Enuma Elish (Epic of Creation) When the skies above were not yet named Nor earth below pronounced by name, Apsu, the first one, their begetter, And maker Tiamat, who bore them all, Had mixed their waters together, But had not formed pastures, nor discovered reed-beds; When yet no gods were manifest, Nor names pronounced, nor destinies decreed, Then gods were born within them…

Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

Genesis 1:1-2 NRSV (New Revised Standard Version) JPS (Jewish Publication Society) KJV (King James Version) In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. When God began to create heaven and earth – the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water – God said … In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Enuma elish (epic of creation) The Lord spread out his net, encircled her, The ill wind he had held behind him he released in her face. Tiamat opened her mouth to swallow, He thrust in the ill wind so she could not close her lips. The raging winds bloated her belly, Her insides were stopped up, she gaped her mouth wide. He shot off the arrow, it broke open in her belly, It cut into her innards, it pierced the heart. He subdued her and snuffed out her life, He flung down her carcass, he took his stand upon it… Then the Lord was inspecting her carcass, That he might divide the monstrous lump and fashion artful things. He split her in two, like a fish for drying, Half of her he set up and made as a cover, heaven.

Cosmology of Genesis 1 And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. (Genesis 1:6-7)

586 B.C.E.—The Babylonian Exile of Israel/Judah

The FIrst Week of Genesis 1 Day One Light Day Two Dome = Sea & Heavens Day Three Dry Land = Earth & Plants Day Four Lights = sun, moon, stars Day Five fish, birds Day Six animals, humans

Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over…every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’

The creation of humankind in the enuma Elise From his [Ea’s] blood he made mankind. He imposed the burden of the gods, and he exempted the gods. After Ea the wise had made mankind, they imposed the burden of the gods on them!

The creation of humankind in genesis 1 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over … every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ So God created humankind in his image,    in the image of God he created them;    male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it…”

An Etiology of the sabbath (Genesis 2:1-3) Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

Comparison Genesis 1 Enuma Elish Begins with watery chaos? Suggests the existence of other divine beings, but only one God is in charge. (Polytheism?) There are many gods in play, but eventually Marduk is put in charge of them all. (Polytheism.) Creation of the world on day 2, when the waters are divided and dry land appears. Creation of the world at the very end, when Marduk splits Tiamat (the goddess of salt water) in half. Humanity is created on the sixth day. Humanity is created as an afterthought to do hard labor for the gods.

What does Genesis 1 emphasize? There is one, supreme and all-powerful God in charge. What happened before the creation of the earth is not important. Humanity is the centerpiece of creation and bears the divine imprint.

Vocabulary Enuma Elish Marduk Tiamat Polytheism vs. monotheism 586 B.C.E. (the beginning of the Babylonian Exile of the Jews) Cosmology Cosmogony Sabbath Etiology