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Genesis 1 Vs Enuma Elish Essay

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2. Genesis Exercise 1:
1. What elements do the Enuma Elish and Genesis 1 have in common? In what ways do the two texts differ?
After reading the Enuma Elish I found several correlations and distinct differences between the ancient Mesopotamian text and Genesis 1. Both stories share a similar beginning, a time without form, covered in darkness. From here they deviate in a very noticeable way, the Enuma Elish is a polytheistic story where Genesis 1 is decidedly monotheistic. While they share plot elements such as light, the separation of sky and earth, creation of night and day, and the creation of humans, they differ in the way they are introduced. The creation story in Genesis 1presents each new element of the freshly created Earth as derived entirely from one god: the all-powerful God. In this version of the story God intentionally creates and shapes each aspect of the world, and sees that they are good, and so continues. The Enuma Elish on the other hand introduces each new addition to the world in the form of a God, or an unintentional byproduct of divine conflict, with the exception of the creation of humans. Where God in the Bible deems everything good and then moves on, these deities do not have such clean regard for their creations, and in fact much of the …show more content…

This brings up the first major difference I found in these two texts: The stories in the Bible have tirelessly been protected, and more importantly kept alive. Comparatively the Mesopotamian Enuma Elish, was not as carefully kept, and the story was not maintained beyond the tablets that have been discovered and the aspects of the creation tale that ended up in Genesis 1. In this way it is possible to see that the shared aspects of this story, are the ones that have survived the collapse of Mesopotamian

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