Enuma Elish And Genesis 1 Analysis

Genesis 1, the first chapter in the bible, is easily the most well known creation story to come out of the Ancient Near East. However, that does not mean that it was the only story being told during that period. The Babylonian epic, the Enuma Elish was another creation story that sprung up in the Ancient Near East. It is in essence a history of the Babylonian gods, and in particular, one god, Marduk. It was ultimately written to justify his rise to power as the head of the Babylonian pantheon of gods. It is a mythical account of the foundation of Babylon. This was done in order to “support Babylon’s claim to pre-eminence above all the other cities in the country” (Citation?). The two texts are starkly different even though they emerged from …show more content…
2811). Instead the Enuma Elish is better enlisted as a tool of comparison in order to highlight the starkly different and radical nature of the ancient Israelite religion as compared to other religions in the Near East. While there are many comparisons that one could draw attention to when examining the two texts, for the sake of an in depth analysis this essay will explore just three. The first will highlight the Genesis God’s trait as an all-powerful creator through the comparison of the origins outlined in the two texts. The second will explore the Genesis God’s trait as a peaceful creator, as compared to the loud, bloody, conflict filled creation described in the Enuma Elish. The third and final example will highlight the creation of and subsequent expectations placed upon mankind in the two respective …show more content…
Genesis 1:2 describes the earth as “formless and empty”, as “an unproductive and uninhabited place” (Genesis 1:3). This, along with the fact that there is a strong need for creation implies that the earth lacked a cosmic-order with created content (Greaves 1996, p. 39). Similarly, the Enuma Elish also describes the world as existing in a chaotic state of nothing. A state which existed because “no names had been called [and] no tasks had been assigned” (Enuma Elish, 1:11-12). Despite this seemingly similar outset it should be noted that there is in fact a significant difference between the two. Genesis 1 assumes the existence of God before any primeval state of chaos, as can be evidenced in the line, “In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1). The biblical account acknowledges God as the ultimate power. Comparatively, Enuma Elish specifies that the chaos was due to the absence of the gods, it acknowledges that there is something more behind the gods themselves (Enuma Elish, 1:10). This stark contrast reveals the ancient Israelite view of God as all powerful; a being in and of Himself; supreme and unlimited. There was no theogony (genealogy) for the God described in Genesis 1, He just was. The Enuma Elish highlights the existence of something more before the existence of the gods, this results in the gods not being all powerful. The God in Genesis was