Texts in Conversation
The opening of Genesis resembles the Babylonian Enuma Elish in describing a primordial state before creation begins, describing when the earth was unformed and water dominated and showing how the biblical story follows ancient Near Eastern traditions.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Enuma Elish I
The Seven Tablets of Creation
Ancient Near East, Babylonian
When in the height heaven was not named, And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name, And the primeval Apsu, who fathered them, And chaos, Tiamat, the mother of them both, Their waters were mingled together, And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen; When of the gods none had been called into being, And none bore a name, and no destinies [were ordained]; Then the gods were created in the midst of [heaven], Lahmu and Lahamu were formed and came into being. While they grew and increased in stature Anshar and Kishar, who excelled them, were created.
Date: 1800–1750 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Genesis 1:2
Hebrew Bible
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was hovering11 over the surface of the water. 3 God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light! 4 God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... It is often supposed that the narrative in Genesis 1 not only supports, but is actually intended to articulate, a doctrine of creatio ex nihilo: and although the problem is strictly independent of the question of translation, this is understood most readily on the basis of the common translation of 1:1, when understood to be a complete sentence ... There is a literary splendour about this as a theological statement. It contains within it the seeds of all that is to follow. But for many commentators there is unfortunately a problem with this interpretation of the text as it stands ... If the second version is preferable, which is increasingly the view of scholars, and which I am inclined to share, we have to look elsewhere for the main clause of the sentence ... On this reading the passage makes no reference to creatio ex nihilo, but rather presupposes the existence of raw material, already present in verse 2, before the cosmogonic process begins. Some scholars have drawn attention to the similar structure of the opening lines of the Babylonian creation narrative, the Enūma Eliš (i 1-9) ..."
N. Wyatt, “Distinguishing Wood and Trees in the Waters: Creation in Biblical Thought,” in Conversations on Canaanite and Biblical Themes: Creation, Chaos and Monotheism, ed. Rebecca S. Watson and Adrian H. W. Curtis (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2022), 203–252.
* 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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