Enuma Elish And Genesis Similarities

The origin of the earth is something that people have and always will be curious about. It is full of all these amazing creatures and things that we have no idea how they came to be. The Enuma Elish and Genesis are stories of creation. These stories are almost complete opposites of each other. They have very few similarities but many differences. This essay focuses on the natural world, view of humans, and the cosmos of each story. You will be able to see how a polytheistic and monotheistic world differ. Not to mention the views each story has in general. The Enuma Elish is the gorier and violent story while Genesis is a calmer and more orderly take on the creation of the world. The Enuma Elish “…tells us the story of the birth of the gods,

where they came from. Its second function is cosmological. It's explaining cosmic phenomena: the land, the sky, the heavenly bodies and so on, and their origins.” (Hayes 4) In Genesis you learn the story of how Elohim created the world. There’s no mention of his birth and so on. Both stories are very interesting needs and you can learn a lot of what people thought about many things at the time.
The natural world is something that humans have always wanted explained. There are many stories depicting the creation of the world. In the Enuma Elish the natural world is centered on pain and suffering. Marduk created the world from Tia-Mat’s carcass. The way this Babylonian world was created shows just how sick things must have been. Someone had to be killed for things to come to be. Hayes described the world of the Enuma Elish as being morally neutral. On the other hand in Genesis the world was known as being very good. Elohim also had the power to just speak on what he wanted to happen. “Creation is a free, unconstrained act of God’s Word, flowing from nothing other than the unopposed command of God that it should be so….” (Murray & Wilkinson 4) God repeatedly said “How good” about each and every one of his creations. The natural world in Genesis was created for a purpose instead of a way to show off. Marduk created the world only because he could and wanted to be worshipped. Elohim constructed the world for the benefit of humans and all of his creations. He made the world out of a deep love for all the creatures and things he created.
“The position and the function of the humans in the scheme of creation corresponds [to] or parallels precisely the position of slaves in Mesopotamian society.” (Hayes 4) This describes the role of humans in the Enuma Elish. The creation of humans was just an afterthought. They were made after the gods were tired of always working. Hayes hit the nail on the head by saying “The portrait of humans that emerges is that humans are unimportant menials. They are the slaves of the gods, the gods have little reciprocal interest in or concern for them, and they create human beings to do the work of running the world.” (Hayes 5) This is an absolute truth. All of the gods view humans as nothing more than slaves and pawns. This is why Hayes describes the world as being morally neutral. She meant that the world is a hostile and difficult place for the humans. When it comes to Genesis the views of humans are exactly the opposite. Humans are viewed as very important. One way we know this is because “…that humans are said to be created in the image of God.” (Hayes 7) Elohim gave humans the land to do with as they pleased. “…it's expressly stated by God that humans are to be given every fruit bearing tree and seed bearing plant, fruits and grains for food.” He wanted humans to procreate and take care of the earth. Humans were created with importance when it comes to caring for the world and they are also very important to Elohim. “… the capacity for language and higher thought or abstract thought, conscience, self-control, free-will. So, if those are the distinctive characteristics that earn the human being certain rights over creation but also give them duties towards creation, and the human is distinct from animals in being created in the image of God, there's perhaps a connection: to be godlike is to perhaps possess some of these characteristics.” (Hayes 7) It is clear that they are important to him as well because he created humans in his own image. The meaning of image has been under debate. “…understanding of image as not so much a part of the human constitution as a pointer to the distinctive place of humanity within the created order. It is less about something we have or do and more about relationship.” (Murray & Wilkinson 5) This is a great definition and makes you have to read into Genesis just a bit more.
The cosmos in the Enuma Elish are very chaotic. It is a polytheistic story. The gods are limited when it comes to their power. They can be described as a normal person with a few super powers. The gods are able to age, die, and mature. Vengeful and full of hate they choose to fight amongst each other way more than necessary. Plotting and killing each other throughout the story. “They are amoral, some of them are nicer and better than others but they're not necessarily morally good or righteous.” (Hayes 5) The moral status of the gods more than contributed to the conflict that went on. According to Hayes [Elohim’s] “…powers and knowledge do not appear to be limited by the prior existence of any other substance or power.” (Hayes 6) The cosmos are more peaceful and orderly in Genesis. The view of Elohim in Genesis is essentially that “…there is one supreme god, who is creator and sovereign of the world, who simply exists, who appears to be incorporeal, and for whom the realm of nature is separate and subservient. He has no life story, no mythology, and his will is absolute.” (Hayes 6/7) Therefore the story was monotheistic. You can also see that the number of gods contributed to the amount of chaos and conflict going on in the Enuma Elish.
Enuma Elish and Genesis also have similarities and differences when you read close enough.

The main similarity is that they are both stories of creation. Another similarity is the order in which things are created. “…both accounts start with either water or chaos at the beginning, followed by the creation of the firmament, of dry land, of the heavenly bodies and of people in that order.” (Murray & Wilkinson 4) The God(s) also take a rest on a Sabbath (seventh) day. The opening of the stories is also about the same. “When on high, when God began creating"; we have a wind that sweeps over chaotic waters, just like the wind of Marduk released into the face of Tiamat…” As you can see the set up for telling the stories and some aspects of the story are similar. The differences are much more prominent than the similarities. Enuma Elish is polytheistic and Genesis is monotheistic. The polytheism contributed to all of the conflict that was going on in Enuma Elish and the monotheism is what limited the conflict in Genesis. Another huge difference is the mythological aspect. Enuma Elish is a clear mythological story while genesis is de-mythologized. Genesis is “…non mythological because there is no biography of God in here. God simply is. There's no theogony, no account of his birth.” (Hayes 6) It is clear that Enuma Elish is a mythological story because “…the gods themselves are created and they're not even created first, actually; the first generation of beings creates these odd demons and monsters, and gods only are created after several generations and the god of creation, Marduk, is actually kind of a latecomer in the picture.”(Hayes 6) Genesis was primarily a story of the creation of the world. In Enuma Elish it seems that creation wasn’t the primary focus at all. The focus was on the god Marduk. It was a story that went on about how great and important he was. The creation of the world was very violent and essentially a bloodbath in Enuma Elish. In Genesis creation

was calm and god made it happen easily.
Enuma Elish and Genesis resonate and also conflict in some ways with my own value claims. The Enuma Elish does not resonate with my views much except on two things. That chaos and destruction can end in creation being the first and that the world has many conflicts. It seems that when there are multiple God’s involved in anything conflict ensues. Especially when the religions differ. In my opinion it is too violent to resonate with anyone’s views beyond that. Genesis resonates a lot more of my views. Like in Genesis, I believe that humans are the highest beings. “…human life is somehow sacred and deserving of special care and protection.” (Hayes 7) Humans are viewed in a positive light and are given the job to take care of the world. That is something I love and completely agree with. Humans have so much potential for greatness. We can essentially do whatever we want and life. It is a beautiful thing. Another thing about Genesis is that it makes the world seem more meaningful. It was made out of love and not anger or hatred. Not to mention it seems that the world seems to have been created mainly for humans. There also ways in which the story conflicts with my own personal beliefs. The Enuma Elish makes the world seem very bleak and like there is no hope for anyone on earth. In the Enuma Elish humans are nothing more than slaves and are not treated well. “…service was imposed upon humans so the gods were free—they didn't have to worry about anything, the humans would take care of the gods….” (Hayes 8) Humans were created with the sole purpose to serve the gods for the rest of their lives. The world in the Enuma Elish is also very negative and creation only happened because it could happen. Life did not seem meaningful in any way. The natural world also seemed to be void of meaning. In Genesis there was not one thing that conflicted my views. That is because Genesis is very positive and the creation is not brought about by any type of violence.