FREE ESSAY ON OLD TESTAMENT

OLD TESTAMENT

Old Testament 
The Old Testament is a compilation, and like every compilation it has a 
wide variety of contributors who, in turn, have their individual influence 
upon the final work. It is no surprise, then, that there exist certain 
parallels between the Enuma Elish, the cosmogony of the Babylonians,
and 
the Book of Genesis, the first part of the Pentateuch section of the Bible. 
In fact, arguments may be made that other Near Eastern texts,
particularly 
Sumerian, have had their influences in Biblical texts. The extent of this 
'borrowing', as it were, is not limited to the Bible; the Enuma Elish has 
its own roots in Sumerian mythology, predating the Enuma Elish by nearly
a 
thousand years. A superficial examination of this evidence would 
erroneously lead one to believe that the Bible is somewhat a collection of 
older mythology re-written specifically for the Semites. In fact, what 
develops is that the writers have addressed each myth as a separate issue,
and what the writers say is that their God surpasses every other. Each 
myth or text that has a counterpart in the Bible only serves to further an 
important idea among the Hebrews: there is but one God, and He is 
omnipotent, omniscient, and other-worldly; He is not of this world, but 
outside it, apart from it. The idea of a monotheistic religion is first 
evinced in recorded history with Judaism, and it is vital to see that 
instead of being an example of plagiarism, the Book of Genesis is a 
meticulously composed document that will set apart the Hebrew God
from the 
others before, and after. 
To get a clear picture of the way the Book of Genesis may have been
formed 
(because we can only guess with some degree of certainty), we must
place in 
somewhere in time, and then define the cultures in that time. The 
influences, possible and probable, must be illustrated, and then we may 
draw our conclusions. 
If we trace back to the first appearance of the Bible in written form, in 
its earliest translation, we arrive at 444 B.C.. Two texts, components of 
the Pentateuch referred to as 'J' and 'E' texts, can be traced to around 
650 B.C. Note that 'J' refers to Yahweh (YHVH) texts, characterized by
the 
use of the word 'Yahweh' or 'Lord' in accounts; 'E' refers to Elohist 
texts, which use, naturally, 'Elohim' in its references to God.1 But 650 
B.C. isn't our oldest reference to the 'J' and 'E' texts; they can be 
traced, along with the other three strands of the Pentateuch, to at least 
1000 B.C. Our first compilation of these strands existed in 650 B.C..
We 
must therefore begin our search further back in time. 
We can begin with the father of the Hebrew people, Abraham. We can
deduce 
when he lived, and find that he lived around 1900 B.C. in ancient 
Mesopotamia2. If we examine his world and its culture, we may find the 
reasons behind certain references in Genesis, and the mythologies they 
resemble. 
The First Babylonian Dynasty had begun around 1950 B.C. and would
last 
well into the late 16th century B.C.. The Babylonians had just conquered
a 
land previously under the control of the Assyrians, and before that, the 
Summering. Abraham had lived during a time of great prosperity and a 
remarkably advanced culture. He was initially believed to have come
from 
the city of Ur, as given in the Bible as ...the Ur of Chaldees. Earlier 
translations read, however, simply ...Land of the Chaldees; later, it was 
deduced that Abraham had come from a city called Haran3. In any case,
he 
lived in a thriving and prosperous world. Homes were comfortable, even 
luxurious. Copies of hymns were found next to mathematical tablets 
detailing formulae for extracting square and cube roots.4 The level of 
sophistication 4000 years ago is remarkable. We can also deduce that it 
was a relatively stable and peaceful society; its art is characterized by 
the absence of any warlike activity, paintings or sculptures.5 
We also have evidence of an Israelite tribe, the Benjamites, in Babylonian
texts. The Benjamites were nomads on the frontier of its boundaries, and 
certainly came in contact with Babylonian ideas- culture, religion, ethics. 
The early tribes of Israel were nomadic, taking with them the early 
traditions, and in varying latitudes have modified it6 according to 
external influences. The message remained constant, but the context
would 
subtly change. In addition to the Benjamites in Mesopotamia, there were 
tribes of Israel in Egypt during the Egyptian Middle Kingdom period7,
which 
certainly exposed these people to Egyptian culture as well as Babylonian 
culture as a result of trade between the two kingdoms. Having placed 
Abraham and certain early Semites in this time, we can now examine the 
culture they would have known. 
The Babylonian Dynasty had as one of its first leaders a man known as 
Hammurabi. In addition to being the world's first known lawgiver, he 
installed a national god for his people named Marduk 8. Marduk's story
is 
related in the Enuma Elish: 
It begins with two primordial creatures, Apsu and Tiamat. They have 
children, who are gods. These children became too noisy and disruptive
to 
Apsu, who wished to kill them. One of these gods, Ea, kills Apsu first. 
Tiamat becomes enraged, and increasingly threatening towards Ea and
the 
remaining gods for killing her mate. One by one, the gods seek to quiet 
Tiamat, but each fails. However, one god, Marduk, agrees to stop
Tiamat, 
but only if he is granted sole dominion over all other gods. They agree, 
and Marduk battles Tiamat, killing her and creating the world from her 
corpse. In addition, Marduk slays one of the gods who allied himself with
Tiamat, and from this dead god's blood, Marduk creates man. 9 
On the surface, it looks and sounds nothing like Genesis. However, we
can 
begin to draw our parallels as we go into more detail. For example, 
Babylonian poetry has no rhyme, but it has meter and rhythm, like
Hebrew 
10. Notice the similarity in the next two passages: 
Half of her he set in place and formed the sky... as a roof. 
He fixed the crossbar... posted guards; 
He commanded them not to let her waters escape 11 
and 
Then God said, 'Let there be a dome... to separate one 
body of water from the other.' Genesis 1:6 
All the fountains of the great abyss burst forth, and the 
floodgates of the sky were opened... Genesis 7:11 
Also compare the creation of days and the special significance 
conferred upon the seventh: 
Thou shalt shine with horns to make six known days, on 
the seventh with... a tiara. 12 
*censored*From Genesis (1:31-2-1): 
Evening came and morning followed- the sixth day... 
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because 
on it He 
rested from all the work he had done in creation. 
We can summarize the similarities like so: each created the firmament,
dry 
land, the celestial bodies, and light. Each makes man the crowning 
achievement. On the seventh day, God rests and sanctifies the day. In
the 
seventh tablet of the Enuma Elish, the gods rest and celebrate. These 
similarities strongly suggest a common knowledge of the Enuma Elish
among 
writers of the Book of Genesis (each section of Genesis is composed of
four 
different sets of writers). In addition to Babylonian influence, look at 
the following taken from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which can be
traced 
back to 3000 B.C.: 
I am Re.. 
I am the great god who came into being by himself...13 
Compare that to the familiar I am who am. These similarities are of 
secondary importance, however; we now begin to see the departures. 
For 
one, if Marduk is all-powerful, why does he do battle with Tiamat, when
a 
word would suffice? For example: 
Then God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was
light. 
Then God said, 'Let there be a dome in the middle
of the 
waters, to separate one body of water from the
other.' 
And so it happened... Genesis 1:3, 1:6 
God's word alone is sufficient to render unto the world any change He 
wishes. This is a radical innovation in a world where pantheistic religion 
more closely resembles a super-powered family that doesn't get along
very 
well. The Egyptian god Re may have been self-created, but he is by no 
means all-powerful, and not at all the only of his kind. Marduk is a 
warrior who can defeat primordial serpents, but the Hebrew god has but
to 
speak: 
...and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast.
Psalms, 33:9 
The word of God is all-powerful.. And here we begin to see our greatest
departures. We have a monotheistic religion, the first of its kind, 
created amidst a culture that, in the case of the Babylonians, has up to 
fifty gods!14 Not only is there but one god, but he is all-powerful, so 
much so that he does not find it necessary to wrestle with nature or defeat
mighty primordial gods. He simply speaks and it is done. It is our first 
occurrence of divine will impose upon the world. Furthermore, it is a god
without a precursor, without creation. He is something apart from this 
world. Tiamat and Apsu lived in a world already created (and by
whom?); 
the Egyptian gods have a multitude of births of gods in their texts15. 
In fact, there was once a debate on the translation of
a single verb in 
the Bible, bara, meaning to create. Later translations modify this to 
bero, meaning 
to create from nothing. When written in Hebrew, only careful scrutiny 
would distinguish the two. The distinction is important, however, because
it changes the implications involved in creating. Does God create the 
world from something or nothing? In the following passage, 
When God began to create heaven and earth- the
earth being a 
desolate 
waste, with darkness upon the abyss and the spirit of 
God hovering over the waters- God said, 'Let
there be light!' And 
there was light. 
it is inferred that God is creating with something. The next translation, 
When God began to create the heaven and earth,
the earth was a 
desolate waste and darkness was upon the abyss
and the spirit of 
God was hovering over the waters. And God
said, 'Let there be 
light!' 
And there was light... 
implies that God began by creating a desolate waste, then creating light, 
then shaping the waste, and so forth. All this as a function of one 
verb16. As another departure, examination of creation stories by 
Summering and Babylonians show that they begin with subordinate
clauses 
such as when or On the day of.17 Genesis clearly diverges from this: 
In the beginning clearly sets apart the text from any other, making it 
the actual start of all time and space as we know it. It also puts the 
Hebrew god outside of time and space. 
There would be no point in
arguing that the Old Testament was 
influenced by the contemporary cultures of its writers; the facts clearly 
point to innumerable external sources of inspiration. But while we can 
acknowledge these similarities, we must also acknowledge that the writers
of the Book of Genesis are making a radical departure from the norm:
they 
have created a monotheistic religion, and their god is all-powerful, beyond
the scope of human comprehension. Typically, gods are represented as 
something akin to humans on a grander scale; the Hebrew god is simply
not 
measured or scaled; He is an unknown quantity, set apart from the
bounds of 
human knowledge. These similarities serve a function as a contrast to the 
differences between these religions. It would seem that the writers 
acknowledged these other religions, and addressed each one by creating
a 
god that surpasses all others. The god that creates himself is one of 
many; the Hebrew god stands alone in his might. The god that created
the 
world defeated another god, and formed the earth from the corpse; in 
Genesis, God speaks and his words transform into actions. God exists 
before the matter He shapes to His will. The writers have then, in fact, 
minimized the actions of all other gods in comparison to one all-powerful 
deity such as this. By drawing comparisons to other texts, the message
can 
be lost in attempting to find the roots of certain ideas. But the origins 
of the stories are not nearly as important as the overall message being 
stated, and while the ideas they resemble may be old, the message is clear
and unique: there is but one, and He is beyond all that is. His will alone 
suffices, and He predates even time itself. And that message has changed
the world.