The Bible offers stories on how God created the world. Yet in the beginning, “the earth was barren, with no form of life,” (Genesis 1:2, CEV), and “there was no one to work the land” (Genesis 2:5, CEV). If no people were there to witness the events of creation, how did the Biblical writers know what happened?

Genesis tells two different stories about how God created the earth (Genesis 1:1 –  2:4; Genesis 2:5 –  3:25; see also. The Hebrew Scriptures (from which current translations are derived) use different names for God, and describe different experiences of the natural world. Scholars think that this is because Genesis is actually a collection of writings by different authors with unique and important perspectives on Israel’s history. These stories were told orally for many generations before they were ever written down. They were developed and shared by different Israelites in different contexts, but they all demonstrate their understanding of themselves as people of God.

The stories also reflect the Israelites’ understanding of the cosmos. They believed that the land was a flat disk resting upon and below an endless ocean. The sky was a dome over the land, protecting it from being swept away. God allowed rain and snow through the dome by opening windows in the sky, but protected the earth from the chaos of water.

Neighboring cultures also had a real influence on the Biblical creation stories. In fact, the Biblical stories have many similarities to the creation stories of ancient Egyptians, Amorites, Sumerians and others. People shared such stories orally for hundreds of years, and no doubt exchanged stories across cultures, shaping each other’s ideas. For example, the Enuma Elish is a collection of stories reflecting the religious beliefs of the Ancient Babylonians – stories that themselves were shaped by the stories of the Amorites and Sumerians. The creation story in the Enuma Elish parallels that of Genesis 1—the earth is born of water, called into being by gods.

Experiences of the natural world also played a role in the two Genesis stories. In the first creation story (Genesis 1:1 – 2:4), God brings order to a watery chaos. This would have resonated with Israelites engaged in maritime pursuits who knew the danger and beauty of the sea. The second creation story (Genesis 2:5 –  3:25) describes a barren land that requires divine intervention to bear fruit. Farming people who looked to God to provide rain would have understood this story in light of their own experiences.

Despite similarities to other creation stories told in the Ancient Mesopotamian basin, the stories of the Israelites were unique in that they described a single God who had a covenantal relationship with the Hebrew people. The creation stories of the Israelites, unlike those of other cultures, involved a strict moral code, along with the promise of Divine favor toward humans. Other cultures perceived the natural world as being inhabited by multiple gods battling for supremacy, and humans as pawns in their games (see mini-article. The God of the Israelites, however, was a God that controlled the many movements of nature in a cohesive, rather than conflicting manner.

Looking at the Text

Read the two creation stories— Genesis 1:1 –  2:4 and Genesis 2:5 –  3:25. Notice what they say, and also consider what they don’t say. By that which is said and unsaid, we can begin to distinguish unique features of the faith of the Israelites:

• God is and always was God alone – there was never any other God. This is in contrast to stories of other cultures of the same era in which the creator of the universe defeats other gods.
• God values the creation as inherently good. Unlike other creation stories, God’s creation does not serve the needs of gods; rather it is valuable in and of itself.
• Humans are stewards of creation, rather than servants to the whims of God.
• What else can you discern about the faith of the Israelites based on this story? How does this story inform your own faith perspective

Looking at Our World

The values conveyed through the Genesis creation stories are fundamental to the Christian tradition. The stories explicate the inherent worth and importance of all living things. How do these stories influence your life as a consumer? How can you make choices about food, transportation and lifestyle that reflect a belief in the inherent worth of all of creation?

Jenny Phillips writes curriculum and resources on faith-based creation care. She has a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York, NY, and she lives in Brooklyn, NY.