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The creation stories in Genesis and the Babylonian Enuma Elish describe the sun, moon, and stars used to organize time. In Enuma Elish, the constellations organize the year, and the stars separate day and night, while Genesis describes the stars created to indicate seasons and days.
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Enuma Elish V
The Seven Tablets of Creation
Ancient Near East
He fashioned heavenly stations for the great gods, And set up constellations, the patterns of the stars. He appointed the year, marked off divisions, And set up three stars each for the twelve months. After he had organized the year, He established the heavenly station of Ne-beru to fix the stars' intervals. That none should transgress or be slothful He fixed the heavenly stations of Enlil and Ea with it. Gates he opened on both sides, And put strong bolts at the left and the right. He placed the heights of heaven in her Tia-mat's belly, He created Nannar, entrusting to him the night. He appointed him as the jewel of the night to fix the days,
Date: 1800 - 1750 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Genesis 1:14
Hebrew Bible
14 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years, 15 and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also. 17 God placed the lights in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth, 18 to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Heidel uncovered an impressive structural parallel between Enuma Elish and Genesis 1 based on which one might argue for influence at the level of plot:
Enuma Elish / Genesis 1:
Enuma Elish / Genesis 1:
- Divine spirit and cosmic matter
- Primeval chaos; Ti’amat
- The earth a desolate waste, with enveloped in darkness
- Light emanating from the gods
- The creation of the firmament
- The creation of dry land
- The creation of luminaries
- The creation of man
- The gods rest and celebrate
Cho, Paul K. K.
Myth, History, and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible
(p. 86) Cambridge University Press, 2018
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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