The story of creation
The oldest myth or story of creation comes from the Enuma Eliš – stone tablets on which is inscribed the Babylonian story of creation.
The story tells of the gods, but not how they came into being. Before anything existed there was Apsû from whom everything was begotten through Tia-mat. From these two all the gods were born. There was disorganised matter and from this confusion of matter the gods created everything we know as the universe. There is a battle between some of the gods and Apsû is killed. This results in a war among the gods. In the death of Tia-mat tears come from her eyes as the river Tigris and the river Euphrates.
Quingu, the god who instigated the war among the gods is tried, found guilty and executed. From his remains humanity is created:
‘I will bring together blood to form bone, I will bring into being human being, whose name shall be “man”. I will create a human—man—on whom the toil of the gods will be laid that they may rest…’
‘From his blood he (Ea) created human beings, on whom he imposed the service of the gods, and set the gods free. After the wise Ea had created humanity and had imposed the service of the gods upon them—that task is beyond comprehension.’
The story has some similarities to the story in Genesis, enough to suggest that the writers of Genesis were familiar with the Enūma Eliš. But… and there is a big but… the stories also show significant variance. The Biblical version centres on one true God. But the core difference is the place of human beings.
In the Babylonian version humanity is created to serve the gods
In the Babylonian version, human beings are created to serve the gods and it is an ongoing burden for people. In the Biblical version God created the universe and brought order out of chaos with a greater ease than Apsû or Marduk (his successor) could have imagined.
So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Then God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.’
Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!
Genesis 1: 26-28, 31
The biblical story shows God walking and talking with the first people as friends. Whereas the Enūma Eliš shows people as slaves of the gods, having little value. The biblical story shows people as the climax of creation, with a very special relationship to the one true God.
In this first phase of the Messianic Pilgrimage, the season of Life when we celebrate creation, we need to remember that though God created everything, we are the pinnacle of creation and we can enjoy a very special relationship with God.