Chapter 4

Biblical Creation Accounts: God’s Promise of Salvation Revealed

 Genesis – one of the most familiar books of the bible
o word genesis simply means “origin” or “birth” (Hahn, 2009:306)
o first book in the entire Bible because it deals with questions pertaining to
the beginning of the cosmos, plants, animals, and humankind, not because
it was the earliest account among the books of the Bible
o offers an insightful elaboration on the origin of sin, and its consequences on
man and the entire creation
o positively highlights the restoring and redeeming love of YHWH in the story
of founding of the chosen people pf Israel, through the calling of Abraham
and YHWH’s renewed covenant with his descendants
o truly a book containing so many accounts of origins and beginnings

1. Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath (Genesis 1-2:3)

1
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless
void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the
face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God
saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called
the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was
morning, the first day.

6
And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the
waters from the waters.” 7 So God made the dome and separated the waters that were
under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. 8 God called
the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9
And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and
let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters
that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God
said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind
on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth
vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with
the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was
morning, the third day.

14
And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the
night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, 15 and let them
be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made
the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—
 and the stars. 17 God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, 18 to rule
over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw
that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly
20

above the earth across the dome of the sky.” 21 So God created the great sea monsters
and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and
every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them,
saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the
earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping
things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild
animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps
upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

26
Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps
upon the earth.” 27So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created
them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be
fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the
sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” 29
God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the
earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30And to every
beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth,
everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was
so. 31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was
evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2And on the
seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day
from all the work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it,
because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

2. Babylonian Creation Epic: Enuma Elish

 Enuma Elish – a long narrative in 12 tablets written in Akkadian language

o Recovered by Henry Layard from the ruins of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh
 Everything started in the state of primordial chaos, with the waters of the creator
gods:
o Apsu – sweet primeval waters (freshwater of spings and rivers)
 o Tiamat – salt primeval waters
 These gods mingled together and created gods:
o Lahmu – silt
o Lahamu – slime, mud
 From the newly created gods emerged new names:
o Anshar – whole sky
o Kishar – whole earth
o Anu – sky god
o Ea – son of Anu, god of storm and father of Marduk
 Primordial elements for created entities: freshwater and salt water, silt, mud, sky,
earth and storm
 According to Enume Elish, Apsu and Tiamat were annoyed by the noise made by
the increasing number of created gods.
 Apsu, accompanied by Mummu (his minister), complained to his wife Tiamat and
turned angry towards the created gods.
o Tiamat was furious and wants to attend to the gods kindly despite their
loathsome ways.
o However, Apsu’s anger was greater than his self-control, culminating in his
persistent plot to eliminate the gods.
 Ea, threatened by this wicked omen and determined to defeat Apsu and Mummu
acted cleverly by making an incantation, a magic spell that would bring Apsu to
sleep and Mummu to daze
o His plan was effective: he killed Apsu and took his insignia of power, his
belt, his crown, and his mantle of radiance, and put them on himself and
tied Mummu by the nose-rope
 The noise still persisted, even after the death of Apsu.
 A group of angry Gods stood before Tiamat complaining about the noise, and
accused her of not defending and avenging Apsu and Mummu, as well as her
failure to take care of them and ensuring their quiet sleep in her belly
o This awakened Tiamat’s wrath and decided to avenge Apsu and prepared
for war, for the annihilation of the gods
 Tiamat spawned monster-serpents sharp of tooth, and merciless of fangs, with
bodies filled with poison, set up vipers and dragons, and the monster Lahamu, and
hurricanes, and raging hounds, and scorpion men, and mighty tempests, and fish-
men, and rams, and planned evil. (King, 1902: Tablet 1)
o Kingu – new spouse of Tiamat, appointed leader for the war
 Ea hurried to his father Ansar, and narrated the plan of Tiamat.
o Ansar counseled Ea to appease Tiamat by appealing for peace and mercy.
o Marduk – son of Ea, avenger and protector of those of opposed Tiamat
 Marduk challenged Tiamat to a duel and killed her.
 o From the two eyes of Tiamat, came the two rivers of Mesopotamia: Tigris
and Euphrates
o From her liver – the pole star
o From her spittle – the clouds, rain and fog
o From her tail – the Milky Way
o From her crotch – the support of the sky
 Marduk created man from the blood of Kingu.
o imposes the toil on mankind to relieve the god from endless toil and work

3. Creation Account of Genesis and Enuma Elish: A Commentary

 Creation account in Genesis echoes the mythological stories of its Mesopotamian

neighbors in the ancient Near East, but at the same time and in a very unique way,
differentiates the Israelites, the chosen people of YHWH, from among the people
of such time
Chaos and Order

 Concept of chaos before creation was a common mythical understanding among

the ancient people
o Genesis:
 formless void and darkness which covered the deep
o Enuma Elish:
 chaos and waters which mingled together
Gods and the Qualities

 Polytheism – religious culture of the ancient Near East

o Mesopotamians were known as exemplars
 Enuma Elish
o Apsu and Tiamat and the assembly of gods
o manifested great powers and were shown to be potentially destructive and
vindictive when displeased by their fellow gods and mortals
o Apsu showed the characteristic of a selfish god who was so concerned
about his own comfort and his wicked nature which was revealed by his
destructive plot of annihilating their own sons
o Mesopotamians feared the gods because of their capacity of violence and
vengeance
o Marduk showed similar vicious tendency when he cut Kingu’s arteries and
used his blood to mold mankind
 Mankind – mere victim of the god’s lust for comfort and power
  Mesopotamians admired Marduk for his protection and power
 Genesis
o revealed a totally different God
o Abraham and his descendants pledged their worship and allegiance to
YHWH alone
 a monotheist religious confession which was totally strange to the
polytheistic beliefs of the ancient Near East
o Lawrence Boadt:
 Babylonians believed in a mysterious tension between gods and
humans which often broke out in divine anger or apparently wrathful
actions because humanity annoyed the god or disturbed their peace
- felt a great deal of uncertainty about what the gods wanted
and what would please them
 Israel affirms a god who is always the same, always faithful, always
just, and always loving towards the creatures he has made
- He punished only for the moral evil and he is quick to forgive
o YHWH showed gratuitous action, deliberate will, and systematic order in
creation, as shown by biblical authors
 Announcement – “God said”
 Command – “let there be”
 Report – “and so it was” or “God made”
 Evaluation – “it was very good”
 Placement in a temporal framework – first day, second day, and on
and on…
o The pattern above revealed a sense of plan and purpose: YHWH willed
mankind and the rest of creation to exist, to be what it is – an observation
clearly pointed out by Lawrence Boadt:

1st day creation of light 4th day creation of bodies of light

2nd day creation of heavens and 5th day creation of creatures of
waters heaven and water
3rd day creation of land and 6th day creation of light on land
vegetation and its vegetable good,
creations of humankind

o We can notice the consistent explicit affirmation of the goodness of creation

“It was very good”
 From the Israelite perspective, God’s creation is intrinsically and naturally good
o All of creation, big or small, living or non-living, are created and willed to be
good
God and Man: The Nature of their Relationship

 Mesopotamians:
o Epic of Atrahasis – Mesopotamian epic
 Man’s purpose before the assembly of great and minor gods was
categorically defined: man was created for the sole purpose of
carrying the toil of the lower gods
o Human beings are simply slaves of the gods, bereft of any reward or
consolation of a share in the divine assembly
o Man resulted from the mixture of a rebel’s (Kingu’s) blood, flesh, and clay
for the ancient Mesopotamians
 Genesis 2:4-25
o Find another version of the creation story written by the Yahwist tradition
due to its anthropomorphic presentation of God (human-like portrayal of
God who is intimate with human beings)
o Man (Hebrew adam) us of the soil, adamah” and that he was vivified by
God’s breath (in Hebrew ruah, “the breath of God”), as the principle of life
replacing the gross element in its Mesopotamian counterpart
o English “Adam” may be understood as referring to a proper noun, the first
human being
 Its etymological meaning in the Hebrew language revels that it
actually represents “human kind or human being” (Freedman,
1992:62)
o The breath of God refers to the animating principle of man, without which
the body remains lifeless, and utterly insignificant
 The principle and end of man is God, the one who breathed life, and
destined him in paradise.
o The concept of adam and adamah became more and more theologically
rich and important because the adamah eventually reminds the adam to
return to adamah
o Israelite concept of man is more positive and special.
 Man was tasked by God “to have dominion” over all creation, and the
power “to name” the creatures
 This task is both special and crucial because it means that “God
created everything for man” and his needs, at the same time he
entrusted man with the gift of authority over all creation
- In ancient times, to give a name is a sign of authority
o Man was elevated by God, willed from the start, to be God’s stewards
o Israelite insight for the nature of man reveals an inherent capacity as
caretakers of the earth, not merely as some slaves condemned to follow the
whims of the Mesopotamian gods
o Man was created in the image and likeness of God
 A striking display of intimacy between God and humankind since a
share of divine life was already given and reflected
 Reveals a God of overflowing goodness and love
 We find a God in genesis who freely, deliberately and lovingly
creates and sustains his creation
 Man is an image of God’s goodness and love, and is called to
cultivate and share such goodness and love to the rest of creation,
and to respond to his own Creator in love
 Receiving the divine breath, ruah, spells out man’s relationship to
God
- His person is not meant for the earth, or for any of God’s
creation but to God himself, “to serve and love God and offer
all creation back to him”
o Man, by virtue of sharing the divine, inherits the dignity as a human person
o Genesis speaks about God creating both male and female
 Female is inferior because she was taken from the ribs of a man is a
misconception
- It essentially refers to the unity, complementarity, and equality
of man and woman, willed from the very start by God
 Creation of male and female emphasizes the social nature of every
human being wherein they need and enrich each other
 God is neither male nor female since he is pure Spirit
o God’s creation must never be understood as a one-time event but as an
ongoing, sustaining creative act of God. God was ultimately the cause of
everything, and from Him everything received its life and being
 God continually sustains, without failure in His providence, wisdom,
and love, everything that he created.
 His care and concern for his creation is an unending diving
dedication that would culminate in the sending of his own Son to
redeem humanity, even if totally undeserved and unmerited.
 God creates by wisdom and love

We believe that God created the world according to his

wisdom. It is not the product of any necessity whatever, nor of
blind fate or chance. We believe that it proceeds from God’s
free will; he wanted his creatures share in his being, wisdom
and goodness: “For you created all things, and by your will they
existed and were created.” Therefore, the Psalmist exclaims:
“O Lord how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have
made them all”; and “The Lord is good to all, and his
compassion is over all that he has made.”

Conclusion

 Genesis introduces us on how everything began, or who was responsible for the
origin of everything – living and non-living, seen and unseen creation
 Ancient Hebrews – ones responsible for the writing of the Old Testament
o More concerned on narrating their religious beliefs rather than taking down
notes on the historical details of their life
o Concerned on reflecting God’s mysterious interventions and the source of
meaning in their lives rather than the accuracy of how these events unfolded
 The creation of the world should never be taken literally
o Readers should be more attentive in identifying the meaning, the religious
message that is conveyed by the authors in their use of symbols and
language
o Genesis 1 is not a scientific account of the Big Bang theory or the evolution
hypothesis of the world
 It is a testimony, a tribute to an all-powerful, loving God who, out of
his immense gratuitous love, exploded with so much goodness, and
love, and desired that every creature, especially man, be made
sharers of the Divine life.
 Core theological points of this chapter are the following:
o That God, YHWH, is the source, and origin of all creation;
o That God, out of his gratuitous love, destined all His creation in glory, and
paradise;
o That everything that God created is good; and
o That man, created in the image and likeness of God, is God’s chief steward,
and caretaker of the entire creation
 We are left with the inescapable and imperative vocation of caring for everything
that God created:
o Ourselves
o People around us
o Environment
o Rest of all creation