Comparing two creation stories:

Genesis 1 and Babylonian creation stories

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Creation stories from the ancient Middle East:

Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre writes that one of his articles:

"... is an attempt to briefly identify some of the Ancient Near Eastern Motifs and Myths from which the Hebrews apparently borrowed, adapted, and reworked in the Book of Genesis (more specifically Genesis 1-11).

It is my understanding that Genesis' motifs and characters, God, Adam, Eve, the Serpent, and Noah, are adaptations and transformations of characters and events occurring in earlier Near Eastern Myths. In some cases several characters and motifs from different myths have been brought together and amalgamated into Genesis' stories. ₂

He quotes W.G. Lambert:

"The authors of ancient cosmologies were essentially compilers. Their originality was expressed in new combinations of old themes, and in new twists to old ideas."

I believe Lambert's observation can be applied to the Hebrews who were combining old themes and putting "new twists" to old ideas. My research indicates that, at times, "reversals" are occurring in the Hebrew transformation and re-interpretation of the Mesopotamian myths. These "reversals," as I call them, can take the form of different characters, different locations for the settings of the stories, and different morals being drawn about the nature of God and Man's relationship.

De la Torre concludes that Genesis 1-11:

"... appears to be a reformatting of motifs and characters from four Mesopotamian myths:

	Adapa and the South Wind,
	Atrahasis,
	the Epic of Gilgamesh and
	the Enuma Elish."

Of these four sources, Enuma Elish has the closest parallels with the first creation story in Genesis.

Wikipedia comments that the ancient Hebrews did not simply adopt the Babylonian myths; they sometimes inverted them in order to fit into their worldview. Two examples are: ₃

	In the Babylonian myth, the serpent, Ningishzida, is a friend to Adapa who helps him in his search for immortality.
	In Genesis, the serpent is the enemy of Adam, trying to trick him out of the chance to understand good and evil by developing a moral sense and thus becoming fully human.
	The gods of the Babylonians became the ancient Israelites' god.

Also:

	The Mesopotamians had adopted a worldview in which the Earth had gradually improved since creation.
	The ancient Hebrews adopted a worldview in which the universe was created perfect but degenerated to the point where God had to initiate the largest genocide in history -- killing every person from newborn to the elderly in the flood of Noah.

Comparison of Genesis' first Creation Story with Enuma Elish, a Babylonian creation story

The Babylonian creation story is called by its first two words "Enuma Elish." According to archaeologists, it was originally written circa 1120 BCE. It was discovered in 1875 CE. It bears many points of similarity to the first creation story in the Bible: ₁

The many points of similarity between the two traditions is conclusive proof that one story was derived from the other (or that both were derived from a still older original).

According to liberal theologians, the Babylonian account of creation was written in the 12th century BCE, centuries earlier than the Biblical account. According to conservative Christian theologians, the opposite happened: the Babylonian account was written after the Biblical account.

Related essays on this web site:

	Conflicting estimates of the Biblical date of creation
	Comparison of the Genesis creation story & the theory of evolution

References:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. H.C. Kee, et al, "The Cambridge Companion to the Bible", Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, (1997), Page 45 to 46.
2. Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, "Genesis' Genesis, The Hebrew Transformation of the Ancient Near Eastern Myths and Their Motifs," (2002), Welcome to Bible Origins, at: http://prophetess.lstc.edu/
3. W.G. Lambert, "A New Look at the Babylonian Background of Genesis," [1965], in Richard S. Hess & David T. Tsumra, Eds., "I Studied Inscriptions From Before the Flood," Eisenbrauns, (1994), Page 107.

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Latest update: 2009-APR-20
Author: B.A. Robinson

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