Walt wrote,
< I have tried to find The material on "Enuma elish" on the web and get
nothing that looks similar to Genesis Chapter one. Would you have any
suggestions?
>>
The actual text is at http://www.cresourcei.org/enumaelish.html
It and numerous other ancient Near Eastern parallels are found in Ancient
Near Eastern Texts related to the Old Testament, ed. J. B. Pritchard
Although called the Babylonian Creation Story, E.E. is broader than that,
having as its main purpose the exaltation of Marduk and the city of Babylon.
You will find a discussion of the parallels across the theological spectrum.
I recommend them all: Liberal: Genesis by E.A. Speiser (in the Anchor Bible
series); Moderate: Alexander Heidel, The Babylonian Genesis (still the
standard discussion); Ultra conservative: Merrill F. Unger, Archaeology and
the Old Testament (Zondervan, 1954) appropriate pages.
It is a short essay by the Assyriologist W. G. Lambert, "A New Look at the
Babylonian Background of Genesis," available in the volume I Studied
Inscriptions from before the Flood (Eisenbrauns, 1994), a book incidentally
which anyone serious about understanding the OT in context should read, that
makes what is in my mind the most important point: Genesis and E.E. are the
only two creation stories that mention the dividing of the primordial waters.
Speiser also makes E.E. tie-in directly with Gen 11:1-9; and although he may
not be right about the direct tie-in, he is pointing up an important issue:
Marduk and Babylon were of no significance in Mesopotamian history until c.
1800 BC when Hammurabi arose. This is also about the time of Abraham. It is
accordingly my belief that the core of Gen 1-11 came to us from Abraham,
although I do not dispute that it was edited c. 600 B.C.
Paul
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