Is Genesis a copy of older myths? (part 1)
The book of Genesis begins with a two-part account of Creation. The first account is general and focuses on everything from the beginning of existence to the creation of human beings. The second part, in typical Hebrew fashion, jumps back to a specific point within the previous overall account and goes into more detail. Not recognizing this, it was fashionable for scholars in the past century and a half or so to posit that these were two different and contradictory accounts written by two different sources and crudely pasted together by a later redactor. The made its way into various popular accounts and is commonly taken for granted by many people. However, the Hebrew text bears no marks of such a process and the difference in focus between the first two sections provides sufficient reason for their stylistic differences.
What is striking to many readers familiar with other ancient creation accounts (or, as is usually the case, familiar with popularized presentations of such accounts) is the number of similarities the Genesis account shares with them. Ever since the discovery of such texts as the Enuma Elish, the Atrahasis Epic, the Kirta Epic and the Epic of Gilgamesh, Biblical scholars have noted the striking similarities to the early chapters of Genesis. For instance, a comparison of Genesis to the Enuma Elish generates the following parallels:
Categories: Biblical Scholarship, Blog, Hebrew Bible, Theological issues