Creation Texts
One
of the most important literary themes in the ancient Near East was cosmogony (i.e., the story of how things
came into being). Among the cosmogonies
of the ancient Near East, the earliest and most enduring were produced by those
cultures to whom we owe the invention of writing, Mesopotamia and Egypt. The
Mesopotamian cosmogony, in particular, bears a number of resemblances to the
creation account found in Genesis 1 and continues to be a subject of perennial
interest to scholars and archaeologists.
The
Mesopotamian cosmogony, Enuma Elish or “when
on high”, originated in ancient Babylonia probably sometime around 1800
BC. The story tells how the world was
created by the gods of fresh water and salt water, Apsu and Tiamat, and how
through their union the other gods and goddesses were born. Almost immediately, however, discord arose
between the primordial gods and their descendants, and Apsu and Tiamat decided
to kill off their offspring. Upon
discovering this, one of the lesser gods, Ea, killed Apsu, while another god,
Marduk, was chosen to lead the others in war against Tiamat. Marduk, the god of storm, eventually defeated
Tiamat with weapons of thunder, lightening, and wind, and took his place as king
among the gods. Marduk then attended to
the task of creation. Out of one half of
Tiamat’s body he made the earth, and out of the other half he made the heavens.
Out of the blood of one of Tiamat’s appointees, Marduk appointed Ea to fashion
human beings… “savage man I will create, and he shall be charged with the
service of the gods, that they might be at ease!”4. Finally, Marduk appointed different roles to
the gods, set the cosmos in order, and celebrated with a divine banquet.
While the
theological differences between Enuma Elish and the Biblical account of
creation are obvious enough, there are nevertheless numerous parallels. The larger part of these are purely
linguistic in nature, but the most striking, and the one for which Enuma Elish
is the most famous, concerns the order of creation. In both accounts, the creation of the
universe occurs in discrete phases, with the gods or God resting on the
last. Furthermore, the details of each
specific phase of creation are identical: the first involving the creation of
light; the second, the dome of the sky; the third, the creation of dry land,
and so on. The strength of this parallel has led to an unending debate among
scholars concerning the precise nature of the relationship between Enuma Elish
and Genesis chapter 1. Scholarly opinion ranges from the view that there is no
close relationship between the two5 to the
view that the latter is directly dependant upon the former6.
Flood Texts
Interestingly,
more than 200 flood texts have survived from cultures around the world. The
earliest flood texts come from Mesopotamia and Egypt and record the occurrence
of a world-wide deluge parallel to the one spoken about in Genesis 6-9. Of the two, the Mesopotamian account is again
the one that bears the closest resemblance to the story in the Bible.
The
Mesopotamian flood story is actually only one part of a much larger literary
work called the Epic of Gilgamesh. The
work was written somewhere in the vicinity of ancient Babylonia by no later
than the end of the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2000 BC). In the epic, the story tells how the hero
king and semi-divine being, Gilgamesh, overworks his subjects to such an extent
that the gods endeavor to divert his attention by creating for him a companion,
Enkidu, of equal strength and ambition. Quick to become friends, Gilgamesh and
Enkidu embark on a series of successful heroic adventures. Eventually, Enkidu dies prompting Gilgamesh
to undertake the greatest and most challenging quest of all—the search for
eternal life. In his quest, Gilgamesh
searches to the ends of the earth to find the legendary Utnapishtim, who alone
among humans is said to have attained eternal life. When Gilgamesh finally finds Utnapishtim,
Utnapishtim recounts to Gilgamesh the story of the great flood and how he alone
among humans survived and was granted the gift of eternal life by the
gods. As for Gilgamesh, however,
Utnapishtim remarks that he can expect no such gift from the gods. However, Utnapishtim does tell Gilgamesh of a
secret plant hidden at the bottom of the sea which, if one eats it, can
rejuvenate the life of one that has grown old.
Thereupon, Gilgamesh recovers this plant and attempts to return home
with it, but is deceived by a serpent who eats it while he is bathing in a
pool. At long last, Gilgamesh despairs
of his search for eternal life and endeavors to take joy in the work of his
hands.
As
in Enuma Elish, the thematic differences between the Babylonian account of the
flood and the Biblical account of the flood are readily apparent. Nevertheless, some remarkable parallels
exist. For example, in Utnapishtim’s
flood narrative, he tells of how, being warned by the gods that a flood was
imminent, he built a ship and sealed it with pitch in order to survive (cf.
Gen. 6:13-14). In addition, just like
Noah, Utnapishtim kept animals on the ship in order to preserve the various
species (cf. Gen. 6:19-21). Utnapishtim
also sent birds out of his ship in order to ascertain whether or not the flood
had stopped (cf. Gen. 8:6-12). When at last
the flood had ceased, the ship came to rest on a mountain where, upon exiting
his ship, Utnapishtim offered sacrifices to the gods (cf. Gen. 8:20). As in Enuma Elish, the relationship between
the book of Genesis and the Epic of Gilgamesh continues to be a source of
scholarly interest and debate.
No comments:
Post a Comment