Gods in Genesis Often when one hears the word “Genesis”, two things come in mind: The first book of the Bible and the origin of creation. Hence, when one reads the first chapter of Genesis, God is introduced as the creator of “heaven and earth.” (Gen. 1:1). In the Hebrew text, God (also known as Yahweh) is ultimately responsible for creation, however, Near Eastern views of creation say otherwise. Cosmology is essential in creation when it comes to Egypt and Babylonian’s account of Genesis. Still, there are similarities and differences between the gods of Egypt and Mesopotamian and the biblical God through birth, establishment, and supremacy; altogether, making the biblical God a distinct God like no other. Way before creation, the origins
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(Heidel 3) In this case, the “divine parents”, Apsu and Tiamat, are considered spirits of heaven and of earth. In Egypt’s Genesis Account, Osiris is the creator who “produced” himself. In support of E.A. Wallis Budge’s, The god of the Egyptians, the author states, “I came into the forms of Khepera. I was (or became) the creator of what came into being, that is to say, I produced myself from the primeval matter [which] I made. I produced myself from the primeval water.” (Wallis 314). In the Hebrew Text, Israel’s God, Yahweh, is said to have “no theogony as a preface to cosmology. The existence of the Creator is assumed, and there is no attempt to explain it.” (Lucasr 3.1.1) Unlike the Babylonian and Egypt’s accounts being under the influence of cosmology, the Hebrew text is unique because it is marked by monotheism. Ultimately, in the Hebrew text Yahweh is one of a kind God because altogether re is “a single Creator and no other gods are involved in the creative acts, either as helpers or as opponents. There is no primeval goddess, so the model of procreation for the creative process has no place in the account.” (Lucasr …show more content…
In the Babylonian account, Apsu was the primeval sweet-water ocean and Tiamat was the salt-water ocean. Meanwhile, their son Mummu represented the mist rising from these two bodies of water and hovering over them, causing these three types of water to mingle in one “forming an immense, undefined mass in which it contained all the elements,” hence, “which afterward the universe was made.” (Heidel 3) Based on this quote, the three layers of water would become the source of existence in creation. In comparison, one will recall that it was upon the face of the deep that the spirit of God moped, according to the first chapter of Genesis, “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.” (Gen. 1:2) Moving along in Egypt’s account, the creator god is said to have created by his sperm, saliva, or mucous and it is evidence that through these means, “Then procreation proceeded to fill in the first rank of deities that represented the principal elements of the universe. This concept is represented not just in creation, but also in daily
(Heidel 3) In this case, the “divine parents”, Apsu and Tiamat, are considered spirits of heaven and of earth. In Egypt’s Genesis Account, Osiris is the creator who “produced” himself. In support of E.A. Wallis Budge’s, The god of the Egyptians, the author states, “I came into the forms of Khepera. I was (or became) the creator of what came into being, that is to say, I produced myself from the primeval matter [which] I made. I produced myself from the primeval water.” (Wallis 314). In the Hebrew Text, Israel’s God, Yahweh, is said to have “no theogony as a preface to cosmology. The existence of the Creator is assumed, and there is no attempt to explain it.” (Lucasr 3.1.1) Unlike the Babylonian and Egypt’s accounts being under the influence of cosmology, the Hebrew text is unique because it is marked by monotheism. Ultimately, in the Hebrew text Yahweh is one of a kind God because altogether re is “a single Creator and no other gods are involved in the creative acts, either as helpers or as opponents. There is no primeval goddess, so the model of procreation for the creative process has no place in the account.” (Lucasr …show more content…
In the Babylonian account, Apsu was the primeval sweet-water ocean and Tiamat was the salt-water ocean. Meanwhile, their son Mummu represented the mist rising from these two bodies of water and hovering over them, causing these three types of water to mingle in one “forming an immense, undefined mass in which it contained all the elements,” hence, “which afterward the universe was made.” (Heidel 3) Based on this quote, the three layers of water would become the source of existence in creation. In comparison, one will recall that it was upon the face of the deep that the spirit of God moped, according to the first chapter of Genesis, “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.” (Gen. 1:2) Moving along in Egypt’s account, the creator god is said to have created by his sperm, saliva, or mucous and it is evidence that through these means, “Then procreation proceeded to fill in the first rank of deities that represented the principal elements of the universe. This concept is represented not just in creation, but also in daily