Lecture Outline: Creation in Genesis I. Name of Israelite Goda) ’elohim = “god” 1. title• Not name, title2. cf. Canaanite ’el3. ’elohim = 1-2.4 b) Yahweh 1. Yahweh ’elohim = 2.5-32. Yahweh = name• Name, not title 3. YHWH • Exact translation, we are not sure what the vowels would have been. Yahweh is our guess. a. in Persian period (after 538) = too holy• Yahweh is too holy for human beings to utter, so they substituted it with adonay b. ’adonay (“lord”)c. thus, YHWH = “Lord”II. monolatry to monotheisma) Israelite monolatry vs. Canaanite polytheism 1. polytheism = belief in many gods 2. monolatry = worship of one god• Acknowledgement that other gods exist, but only worship one god b) Yahweh = god of Israelites/Hebrews c) after Babylonian Exile (586-538 BCE)1. Israelites/Hebrews = now Jews2. Jews = monotheistic3. monotheism = worship/belief in one godd) Yahweh likened to 1. El = creator2. Baal = conqueror III. God (Yahweh) vs. the sea a) storm god vs. primordial waters (or sea)• Ancient idea 1. cf. Marduk vs. Tiamat; cf. Baal vs. Yam2. order vs. chaos• Metaphorically b) Yahweh vs. the sea1. defeats sea (cf. Marduk, Baal)2. storm god (cloud, thunder, lightning)3. sea • Sea is not a god (different from other myths), but sea is considered to be naturalistic a. Leviathanb. Rahabc. river, serpent, dragon (cf. Yam)• Either other names for the sea, or monsters associated with the sea4. “Rahab’s helpers” (Job 9.13)• cf. Tiamat’s monster army or Anat helping Baal IV. Genesis a) bereshith = “in the beginning” (Hebrew) 1. title • First word, also the title of the Book of Genesis 2. cf. Enuma Elish b) genesis = “origin” (Greek)c) written c. 950-550 BCEd) mostly prose (cf. Baal Cycle, Enuma Elish, etc.)• Different from other books in the bible, however, there are snippets of poetry• Why did the Israelites do this when most mythology is in poetry? Possibly to distinguish themselves from the other cultures of the time – poly vs. mono V. Genesis 1-3a) two creation myths c) JEDP Theory (as in Reader intro.): discrepancies = different sources• Every time there is discrepancies in stories there are two different stories d) contra JEDP Theory: Genesis 1-3 = literary unity• Author is putting the two stories together for a literary effect VI. Genesis 1-2.4 (first creation myth)a) creation of universe• Responding to polytheistic models of creation b) cf. Enuma Elish b) contra polytheistic models• Written before Jews became monotheistic c) demythologizes natural forcese) 1.14-19: “two great lights” • Ex—two great lights – one over the day, one over the night – aka sun and moon – aka demythologizing natural forces e) Hebrew shemesh (“sun”) vs. Akkadian Shamash/Ugaritic Shapash• Sounds too similar – author wanted no confusion – god did not create binatural gods g) Hebrew yareah (“moon”) vs. Ugaritic Yarikh VII. God and the primordial watersa) primordial waters in ANE 1. assoc. with chaos, disorder2. evil b) 1st, 3rd-6th days = “it is good”• God declares what he creates to be good• “And god said, “let there be light” […] and there was evening and there was morning, one day”• Declares to be good d) God = goodnesse) 2nd day: waters (sky)• “And God said, “let there be a firmament” […] and there was evening and there was morning, a second day.”• He does not declare what he does on the second day to be good• Why? See belowe) cf. Marduk and Tiamat1. “deep” = Hebrew tehom2. tehom and Tiamat• Author is uneasy of what god does and that it is too similar to what Marduk does to Tiamat• Genesis 1.1-2 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth […] moving over the face of the waters.”f) preexisting waters = primordial waters• ANE idea that at the start of the universe there are waters that precede creationg) 1.3: beginning of creation• Creation begins with 1.3 – he brings light to the deep, dark, waters (a lot like what Marduk does to Tiamat, Tiamat is primordial waters) – or he brings “light” to the “darkness” aka polytheistic cultures • Primordial waters are also associated with evil, god cannot create things that are not goodVIII. Cosmocentric creation• Universe centered creationa) order of creation 1. light2. sky3. earth, sea, plants (geocentric)4. sun, moon, stars5. animals6. human beings• Why are humans last? Possibly saving the best for last or because human beings depend on all these things before. The author doesn’t tell us b) man, woman = created at same time• Created and given a specific job c) job of humans = dominion• They are supposed to master everything on earth, they rule it IX. Genesis 2.5-3 (second creation myth) a) anthropocentric creation • Focuses on humans and their relationships with god rather than the cosmos (cosmocentric) b) order of creation1. earth2. man3. Garden (plants)4. animals5. woman• We are not told why man is created before man b) “heavens and earth” (1.1, 2.1, 2.4) vs “earth and heavens” (2.5)• Reverses order in the second story• Genesis 2.3-4(or 5) “So god bleed the seventh day […] made the earth and the heavens”• In the second story the first thing he creates is the earth and puts things on it and vice versa – author signals to us that these stories are different c) anthropomorphic God (walks, potter, father)• Hard to imagine him in the first story, there is no description, however in the second story he is shaped and behaves like a human being • Father to Adam, worried about him, concerned he doesn’t have good companions (reason for creation of animals and woman) d) woman created from man• Men and women are formed from the same body and are reunited in marriage • Created out of the ribsX. Serpent a) later Judeo-Christian reading: serpent = Satan b) original Israelite author/audience• Going back to original tellers of this story c) serpent = trickster (amoral)• Operates on their own moral codes e) eating of Tree of Knowledge (= like gods? or like humans?)• What do they become like? Serpent says gods, but maybe they become more like humans• Genesis 3.1-5 “The serpent said to the woman […] You will be like god, knowing good and evil”• Genesis 2.16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man […] for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die”• God doesn’t say that you can’t touch it, Eve does – we don’t know why f) man, woman,
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