Critical Analysis of Genesis 1:1-2:4a Essay Example
Gen 1:1-2:4a
World Behind the text
Historical and Cultural Context
Genesis illustrates the way Biblical writers J (Yahwist), E (Elohist) and P (Priestly) drew upon the cultural and religious legacy of the Ancient Near East (ANE) along with its stories and imagery and transformed it to conform to a new vision of a non-mythological God and a monotheistic, superior religion.
“The Pentateuch developed against the background of the Ancient Near Eastern culture first cultivated in and spread by Sumerian, Assyrian, and Babylonian empires”. From this, we can see how Israelite religion was “shaped by responses to and reactions against this culture due both to contacts with neighboring Canaanites and to conflicts with Assyrian and Babylonian empires”. Genesis 1:1-2:4a can therefore be said to reflect the “Babylonian account of creation, which we call Enuma Elish…known from at least 1700 BCE,” “predating the earliest text of Genesis by at least a millennium,” as both their structure and content are similar.
In both Genesis and the Enuma Elish, the earth is made up of water and is divided into upper and lower waters and the days of creation in Genesis follow almost the exact same order in the Enuma Elish. The Enuma Elish is recorded on seven tablets and the Genesis account is completed in seven days. The Babylonians created humans to serve as slaves yet in Genesis God creates humans in the likeness of the divine.
The Priestly source penned the creation story “with the purpose of portraying both the beginnings of mankind and Israel in the spirit of a monotheistic concept with a didactic aim.” This conveys the notion of a superior religion assuming Gods eternity; as Genesis 1:1 states that in the beginning, He created, not that he was created. It is therefore implied that at the beginning of time God was already there, and as nothing is created from thin air, we can conclude that God is omnipotent and his existence has always been, portraying him as infinitely
World Behind the text
Historical and Cultural Context
Genesis illustrates the way Biblical writers J (Yahwist), E (Elohist) and P (Priestly) drew upon the cultural and religious legacy of the Ancient Near East (ANE) along with its stories and imagery and transformed it to conform to a new vision of a non-mythological God and a monotheistic, superior religion.
“The Pentateuch developed against the background of the Ancient Near Eastern culture first cultivated in and spread by Sumerian, Assyrian, and Babylonian empires”. From this, we can see how Israelite religion was “shaped by responses to and reactions against this culture due both to contacts with neighboring Canaanites and to conflicts with Assyrian and Babylonian empires”. Genesis 1:1-2:4a can therefore be said to reflect the “Babylonian account of creation, which we call Enuma Elish…known from at least 1700 BCE,” “predating the earliest text of Genesis by at least a millennium,” as both their structure and content are similar.
In both Genesis and the Enuma Elish, the earth is made up of water and is divided into upper and lower waters and the days of creation in Genesis follow almost the exact same order in the Enuma Elish. The Enuma Elish is recorded on seven tablets and the Genesis account is completed in seven days. The Babylonians created humans to serve as slaves yet in Genesis God creates humans in the likeness of the divine.
The Priestly source penned the creation story “with the purpose of portraying both the beginnings of mankind and Israel in the spirit of a monotheistic concept with a didactic aim.” This conveys the notion of a superior religion assuming Gods eternity; as Genesis 1:1 states that in the beginning, He created, not that he was created. It is therefore implied that at the beginning of time God was already there, and as nothing is created from thin air, we can conclude that God is omnipotent and his existence has always been, portraying him as infinitely