Enuma Elish
Enuma elish means "when on high," which is the
opening phrase of the Akkadian story
of creation. In short, the story runs like this:
Sometime in the primordial past, there were two
deities, one named Apsu, who was the god of the
fresh water seas, and Tiamat, who was the goddess of the salt seas. The two lived in harmony as
consorts, and had their various minor deities to
serve them. Basically, all these two deities did
was sleep. At some point, a bunch of the minor
gods began playing, and eventually became so
boisterous that Apsu could not sleep. So, he
called Tiamat and asked her to destroy all the little
"godlets" who were running around making noise
and keeping him awake. Tiamat agreed, and everything would have been fine, except that some of
the godlets learned of the plot and ran to warn
Enki, the wisest of the gods. In order to keep Tiamat in check, these godlets called upon the
mighty Marduk to come and battle against her. The two fought, and Marduk managed to kill
Tiamat. Marduk split her body in two, and with one half made the heavens, and with the other
half made the earth. Of course, the seas already existed. Mankind was created with the blood
of Tiamat's coconspirator, Kingu, and his sole function in the world was to provide food and
service for the gods. It will help at this point to make a comparison of Enuma elish with the Old
Testament creation account. First, how are the two accounts alike? There are some areas in
which the OT story of creation is quite similar to that of other ancient Near Eastern cultures.
First, these accounts are Semitic in language, and to a large extent they are Semitic in origin
as well (Semitic refers to a group of people related by linguistic characteristics and ethnic origin, who are the descendants of Shem, and whose name was taken from the table of nations
in Genesis 10). Second, the order in which the various parts of creation came into being is
quite similar. Third, the basic vocabulary for each account is similar. And fourth, there is a
common cosmogony that it shares with other ancient Near Eastern creation accounts. These
similarities were at one time cause for many scholars to claim that the Bible is in no way original, that it is obviously a dependent adaptation of the Babylonia account, mainly because Enuma elish has a far older literary
history than does the Genesis account. While
the similarities are stimulating, its is the distinctives of the biblical creation accounts that
really sets it apart from its ancient Near
Eastern counterparts. In fact, the Genesis
account, which mainly stands in opposition to
the theological perspective and general
worldview evident in Enuma elish, offers a
different perspective to that of its ancient
Near Eastern counterparts.
There are at least seven areas of contrast:
1. Monotheism (worship of one God as the only true God): Israel's theology, and that of the
Old Testament, is expressly monotheistic, whereas the religions of the ancient Near East were
polytheistic (worshipping more than one god).
2. Divine Transcendence: The God of the Old Testament does not exist in or as a part of nature. Neither does God struggle with opposing forces to achieve creation. There is no violence
or bloodshed involved. One way to describe God's transcendence is by the
word Omnipotence, which refers to the unlimited power of God.
3. Divine Eternality: the God of the OT Creation Account does not have spatial limits—He has
neither beginning nor end. Mesopotamian gods had both a
beginning, and, in some cases, are depicted as actually dying
4. God is a Non-Sexual Being: that is, the God of the Old Testament does not have relations
with minor deities or humans in order to reproduce as do the Mesopotamian gods. Since there
is no other god or goddess, there are no other deities for God to consort with. Also, humans
are not created by a sexual act as in the other ANE creation stories
5. There is no Magic Used: One of the unique aspects of Israel's creation story is that
God simply spoke His creation into existence. In many of the ancient creation stories,
like Enuma Elish, mankind is created by magical acts of manipulating substances. In
this story, humans are formed into little clay figurines from a mixture of the blood of
the god Kingu and mud, and incantations are spoken over the mixture. They are baked
in the sun and then inserted into the womb of a goddess, who eventually give s birth to
them. The whole event is centered on magical manipulation of various preexisting
materials in order to bring humans into the world, whereas in the biblical account God
creates the universe out of nothing by a personal command.
6. There is an Overarching sense of Redemptive Purpose to Creation. The OT
Creation Story shows a distinctive concern for order and purpose, a reflection of the
character and nature of the God who created it, something completely lacking in the
Babylonia account.
7. Humans are given a Primary Place: In the OT account, humans are the crowning
point of God's creative activity; in Enuma elish humans are created as an afterthought.
Their only purpose was to tend to the irrigation ditches, grow crops, and feed the gods;
whereas in the OT Creation Account mankind benefited from the abundance provided
for him. One of the hallmark ways we know that humans were the climax of God's
creation is that man was created in God's image.