How do the two creation stories in the Bible relate to religions of the Ancient Near East?

Answer 1

AnswerThe first creation story (Genesis 1:1-2:4a) is from the Priestly Source, who wrote during the Babylonian Exile. This story has parallels to the Babylonians creation myths and the emphasis on the sea ('the deep') suggests that it originated in a maritime environment, which is what Babylon was.

The second creation story is from the Yahwist Source, who wrote from the early Judahite point of view (the Elohist Source wrote different material, from an Israelite point of view). Judah was only a small, inland enclave and the sea does not get a mention, but there is an emphasis on the need for rain. This shows that over time, before it became part of the Book of Genesis, the second story was culturally adapted by the Judahites.

The serpent of the second creation story was a very widespread motif in Near Eastern creation myths. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life were also very common in in Near Eastern religious beliefs. We know from Greek sources that the Greek myths were not necessarily meant to be read literally, but rather that they were meant to instruct the faithful in the ways of the gods or to teach moral truths; this was probably also the case with Near Eastern peoples. And so it was with the story of Adama and Eve. Leon R. Kass (The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis) believes that the story was meant to teach moral truths, not the history of our beginnings.

Asaph Sagiv believes that there is an Egyptian antecedent to the story of Cain and Abel. He suggests that the Cain and Abel story represents a biblical countermyth to the Egyptian story of Osiris and his brother Seth. In that story, Seth, an evil god of the nomads, kills Osiris, the Egyptian god of the earth's fertility. In Genesis, Cain (an Osiris figure) offers a cult sacrifice (Abel) to the earth; the Lord curses the ground for accepting the victim's blood and banishes Cain from his divine presence; and Seth appears as a substitute for the nomadic victim whose sacrifice the biblical God preferred.

Answer 2

The first creation story (Genesis 1:1-2:4a) is from the Priestly Source, who wrote during the Babylonian Exile. This story has parallels to the Babylonians creation myths and the emphasis on the sea ('the deep') suggests that it originated in a maritime environment, which is what Babylon was.

The second creation story is from the Yahwist Source, who wrote from the early Judahite point of view (the Elohist Source wrote different material, from an Israelite point of view). Judah was only a small, inland enclave and the sea does not get a mention, but there is an emphasis on the need for rain. This shows that over time, before it became part of the Book of Genesis, the second story was culturally adapted by the Judahites.

The serpent of the second creation story was a very widespread motif in Near Eastern creation myths. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life were also very common in in Near Eastern religious beliefs. We know from Greek sources that the Greek myths were not necessarily meant to be read literally, but rather that they were meant to instruct the faithful in the ways of the gods or to teach moral truths; this was probably also the case with Near Eastern peoples. And so it was with the story of Adama and Eve. Leon R. Kass (The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis) believes that the story was meant to teach moral truths, not the history of our beginnings.

Asaph Sagiv believes that there is an Egyptian antecedent to the story of Cain and Abel. He suggests that the Cain and Abel story represents a biblical countermyth to the Egyptian story of Osiris and his brother Seth. In that story, Seth, an evil god of the nomads, kills Osiris, the Egyptian god of the earth's fertility. In Genesis, Cain (an Osiris figure) offers a cult sacrifice (Abel) to the earth; the Lord curses the ground for accepting the victim's blood and banishes Cain from his divine presence; and Seth appears as a substitute for the nomadic victim whose sacrifice the biblical God preferred.

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