Babylonian Influence on the First Biblical Creation Story

This week I had the pleasure of exploring the first Biblical creation story found in Genesis 1 – 2 within the historical context of the author(s)[1]. Specifically, the Babylonian Exile which occurred from 597 to 538 BCE.[2] The Babylonian Exile was a significant physical and spiritual crisis for God’s people. Prior to the Exile, God’s people lived in Judea and built God’s temple in the city of Jerusalem. The Judeans believed God lived in the temple and therefore all of Judea was protected from harm. The Judean belief that they were God’s chosen people strengthened in 701 BCE when Jerusalem survived in assault from the Assyrian army.[3]

That confidence was tested when the Babylonian army attacked Jerusalem around 597 BCE and destroyed their beloved temple, looted and set fire to the city and violently exiled a significant percentage of the Judean population to Babylon.[4]

Gratefully, I do not understand what our Judean ancestors felt after seeing God’s holy temple and land destroyed and experiencing forced deportation to a foreign land. It had to be devastating and present a profound spiritual crisis. In the midst of the trauma, they had to find a way to live in Babylonia amongst their conquerors. I can understand the desire to want to make sense of what happened and what was happening. To find meaning and purpose when all seemed lost. To find order and structure when chaos abounds.

It was during this time of loss, disconnection and dislocation that God’s people felt compelled to begin documenting and preserving their beliefs and traditions.[5] Like many of us today, our Judean ancestors were influenced by not only their life experience but also the world around them. Comparing and contrasting the first Biblical creation story with the Babylonian creation story yielded fascinating insights.

The first creation story in the Bible begins with, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”[6] On the first day God created light, on day two, the dome, day three, land and plants, and the next day God created the sun, moon and stars. On day five, God created fish and birds. On day six, God created land animals and humans. On the seventh day God rested.[7]

A few things stand out in the Biblical creation story, first, God is monotheistic (meaning there is only one), and there is a pattern of creation, “God said…it was so (or God created) . . . God saw that it was good.”[8] It sounds like poetry. God is loving, He creates humans “in the image of God” and grants humans dominion and control over all living things.[9] God is gentle, She simply speaks creation into existence.

The Babylonian creation story, by contrast, is violent and full of jealousy, greed and rage. The Babylonian story, called Enuma Elish (translated to “when above”), tells of how the Babylonian chief god, Marduk, became chief and king of the Gods.[10] Unlike Judeans, Babylonians were polytheistic, meaning they worshiped multiple Gods.[11] Enuma Elish begins similarly to the Bible’s creation story in that they both offer a vivid picture of what the world looked like prior to creation. Enuma Elish opens with, “When skies above were not yet named, nor earth below pronounced by name.” [12]

The story then introduces two Gods, Apsu, the god of fresh water, and Tiamat, the goddess of salt water. By mixing their waters together, they created the first generation of gods, including the gods of earth and sky. More gods were born, and the young gods had loud parties which bothered Apsu. Apsu was so annoyed by the younger gods he decided to kill them. But the younger gods found out and killed Apsu first. This sent Tiamat into a rage, and she vowed to kill the younger gods. The young gods were so afraid of Tiamat they didn’t think they could win. Then one of the youngest gods, the god of the storm, Marduk, volunteered to battle Tiamat but only if the young gods made him the king of all the gods upon Tiamat’s defeat.

Marduk fought and brutally killed Tiamat and used her body to create the cosmos. Then, as a reward for the rest of the gods, Marduk created humans (i.e. humans would do the gods’ work so the gods could rest). However, Marduk didn’t speak humans into existence, rather with the assent of the other gods, Marduk killed Tiamut’s ally, Qingu, and used his blood to create humans.[13]

This creation story was an important part of Babylonian culture. So much so that the story was told every year at the spring new year festival in Babylon.[14] Judean exiles held captive in Babylon would likely be familiar with the Enuma Elish and be influenced by it. Both stories are poetic and mythical, but the tone and tenor of the stories are so very different.

The Babylonian story is brutal and violent while the Biblical story is gentle and peaceful. The Judean people were traumatized by what they experienced and were trying to make sense of the cruel world they lived in. Their God wasn’t like the Babylonian god, their God didn’t have to murder, demean or destroy to create the world. Their God did not create humans to be slaves to God, their God created humans to have autonomy, agency and dominion over all living things.

[1] I say author(s) because per the Documentary Hypothesis, developed by German Professor Julius Wellhusen in 1878, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible were compiled from four different sources or authors. Michael D. Coogan and Cynthia R. Chapman, The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), 47. Wellhausen identified the four authors as: J, because the author referred to God as Yahweh- Yahweh starts with a “J” in German, E, the author referred to God as Elohim, D, the Deuteronomic source and P, the Priestly source. Ibid. pg 50.

[2] Michael D. Coogan and Cynthia R. Chapman, The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), 20.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid. pg 21.

[5] Ibid. pg 20.

[6] Genesis 1:1 NIV

[7] Genesis 1 – 2 NIV

[8] Ibid. pg 30

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Ibid. pg. 32.

[14] Ibid. pg. 35.