The Enuma Elish (Babylonian Genesis) and Genesis: A Comparison Essay

Outline

Enuma Elis and the Holy Bible are very similar to each other. In fact, leading researchers across the globe are of the opinion that the New Testament was written on the basis of the Enuma Elis. While not all the text is similar, there are instances wherein the Holy Bible has contents, especially pertaining to the creation of the universe, which clearly showcase its similarity to Enuma Elis, which in turn was written several years earlier.

Introduction

Enuma Elis is a Babylonian myth which was created by an anonymous writer and recovered in 1849 by Henry Layard in the ruined library of Ashurbanipal, which in turn is located in Mosul Iraq. It was published in 1876 by George Smith. The Enuma Elis is recorded in The Old Babylonian and it contains thousands of lines that are written on seven clay tablets. Each tablet holds approximately 115 to 170 lines of text and out of the seven tablets, the fifth tablet is incomplete. Nonetheless, researchers found a duplicate copy of Tablet V in Sanlurfa, a town which lies in Turkey. The epic has been centered around the supremacy of Murduke and it has been written to understand the view of the Babylonian culture. It also states that humankind has been created to serve Gods. Nonetheless, the primary purpose of Enuma Elish is not to expose theology but it is centered on elevating the status of Marduke, who happens to be the chief God of the Babylonians over other Mesopotamian Gods. The text exists in various copies and has extracts from Babylonia and Assyria. The library statistics reveal that the story was found in 7^th century BC, whereas the story was apparently created in the 18^th century BC, when Marduke had achieved prominent status.

The epic has named two prominent Gods, namely Apsu and Timat. Numerous other Gods are created as the story progresses and are present within the body of Timat. Now, the Gods present within Timat’s body are quite boisterous and they create so much noise that the babble irritates both Timat as well as Apsu. Annoyed at the daily commotion, Apsu expresses his desire to kill all the Gods but Timat disagrees. Nonetheless, the vizir Mumu agrees to help Apsu and together the two contemplate a plan to annihilate all the Gods. Timat comes to know of the plan and warns the most powerful god named, Ea. Ea uses her magical power and kills Apsu after putting him in coma. Thereafter, Ea banishes Mumu. Thereafter, Ea becomes the chief of Gods and rules along with her consort Damkina. They have a son named Marduk, who is allowed to play with wind. Marduk creates tornadoes and dust storms and disrupts Timat’s body and stops the other Gods from sleeping in peace. This prompts the Gods to help Timat take the revenge on her husband’s death. As more and more Gods join force with her, Timmat increases her powers and creates 11 monsters to help her win the battle against Ea. Thereafter, Timat crowns Kingu, her new husband as the king of all Gods. Then, the defeated Gods select Marduke to seek revenge against the slain Gods and he also becomes very powerful. Soon, he defeats Timmat and creates Earth from her corpse. Thereafter, the subsequent 100 lines are lost in the tablet V.

The Gods who had sided Timmat are forced into labor in the service of the loyal Gods and later released when Narduke agrees to create mankind from the blood of the slain body of Kingu. In this episode Marduke is held in higher esteem when compared to Enlin, the earlier king of Gods in the Mesopotamian civilization. The Genesis 1 and Enuma Elish describe the creation of the world in a similar manner.

Enuma Elish and the English Bible

The Hebrews as well as the ancient Mesopotamians always believed that earth was a flat circular disk that was filled with salt water. The Mesopotamian Myth is considered to be older as it is older than the Hebrew Bible. In fact, researchers claim that Enuma Elis was used to create the Hebrew Bible. Here, earth was a habitable land which was inside a sea and it floated on a second sea called the freshwater apsu. The freshwater apsu provided drinking water from the wells, springs and the rivers and was connected to the vast ocean of saltwater. The sky was a circular disk that was located above the earth and touched the surface of the earth with its rims. The gods resided in solid ground which was located right above the sky and at times the Gods also dwelled somewhere between sky and the earth. If we are to compare Mathews’s testament with Enuma Elsih, we would notice that the geography was identical of both works of art, wherein the sea was a flat circular ground floating on freshwater that was surrounded by saltwater and the sky was a circular dome which housed the Gods and was located directly above the earth’s surface. In both the Genesis as well as Enuma Elish, the creation was the result of a divine speech. The sequence of creation is also very similar in both Genesis and Enuma Elis-light, the firament, the dry land, luminaries and finally man (the tohu wa bohu of Genesis 1:2),. In both Enuma Elis and Genesis, the primordial land is formless and empty. (Genesis 1:6-7, Enuma Elis4 137:40). The firement is also similar and is perceived as a solid inverted bowl which is created in the midst of the water so as to separate earth from the skies (Genesis 1:6–7, Enûma Eliš 4:137–40). Similarly, the creation of luminous bodies is preceded with days and nights (Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, and 14ff.; Enûma Eliš 1:38), the main function of which is provide light and regulate the time(Gen. 1:14; Enuma Elish 5:12–13). Gods always consult before creating man in Enuma Elish (6:4), while the Genesis clearly states that “Let us make man in our own image…” (Genesis 1:26). The creation of man in both is followed by divine rest. It can therefore be stated that English Bible has content which is seemingly similar to its earlier Mesopotamian creation (Kings James Version, Genesis.20.11- 12).

The Topic of Creation

When we compare the creation f mankind in both Enuma Elis and the Hole Bible, we come to a conclusion that both have very similar content and they both approach the manner pertaining to the creation of universe in much a similar manner. The only difference lies in the fact that Enuma Elis was written and documented prior to the Hole Bible. A few similarities in the creation are that it was indeed God who created heaven and earth. The earth at that time was devoid of any life form or light and it was the spirit of the God which moved upon the face of the waters. When God said ‘let there be light’, there was light. The light was considered good and was separated from darkness. God called the light as day and darkness as night. God allowed firemament within the water which separated salt water from fresh water. God termed firmament as heaven and God separated the water and land and made them into two separate entities. The land was called earth and the water was termed as the sea. God also made two lights, wherein the greater light ruled the day and the lesser light ruled the night. This happened in the fourth day. The next day, God allowed life to survive on water and graze on fields and permitted fowls to fly in the skies. Then God created whales and all sorts of winged creatures that were considered good for humanity and allowed them to multiply. Thereafter, God created man and woman and he created living beings in his own image. Then, god blessed them and permitted them to multiply and fill the earth’s surface and he also stated that the greatest meat on earth would be trees. As per God, the trees and plants were the green herbs for meat. Thereafter, on the sixth day, God saw to it that everything was good and in working order (History, Christianity and ancient texts, “The Bible, Moses, Sumerian, Enuma Elish, Gilamesh Epics”)

Conclusion

Although there are numerous similarities between the Hebrew Bible and Enuma Elis, we cannot clearly state that the Holy Bible was entirely based upon Enuma Elis. Nonetheless, numerous texts are fairly similar and this forces us to acknowledge the fact that the Mesopotamian myth was in reality the content provider in the formation of the Holy Bible. When we discuss the creation of the universe, then both the texts are symbolic to each other and apart from slight changes in certain areas, the overall concept remains more or less the same. Scholars have yet to ascertain the fact that how Enuma Elis wrote an account of a flood that was later reenacted in Noha’s episode, although the Mesopotamian text was written many years before the Holy Bible was even created.

Works Cited

“History, Christianity and ancient texts”. The Bible, Moses, Sumerian, Enuma Elish, Gilamesh Epics (2009): n.pag. Web.

The Holy Bible: Kings James Version. New York: American Bible Society, 1999. Print.