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The ANE Desk
Old Testament passages beside the ancient Near Eastern texts they are compared with, and what Israel does with what it shares.
- The deep and Tiamat Genesis 1:2 has darkness over the deep, tehom. Enuma Elish opens with Tiamat, the mother of the gods, mingled with Apsu in the waters. The words look related. Whether that means anything is the argument.
- When heaven was not named Enuma Elish opens with a world where nothing has a name yet. Genesis 2:4b opens with a world where nothing grows yet. Starting with what was not there was an ancient way to begin.
- Waters above, waters below Marduk splits Tiamat in two and makes half of her a covering for heaven, with a bolt and a guard to hold her waters back. Genesis 1:6-8 divides the waters with an expanse. The picture is shared. How it happens is not.
- Stations for the gods, lights for the seasons On the fifth tablet Marduk fixes the stars, divides the year and puts the moon god in charge of the night. On day four God sets lights to mark seasons, days and years. Same job, different occupants.
- Made to carry the load of the gods In the Babylonian texts people are made last so the gods can stop working. In Genesis people are made last too, and given the earth to rule. The same slot in the story, filled with a different reason.
- Clay and the blood of a god Atrahasis makes the first people from clay mixed with the flesh and blood of a slaughtered god. Genesis 2:7 makes the man from dust and the breath of life. Earth plus something from above, in both.
- Noise or violence In Atrahasis the god Ellil cannot sleep for the noise of mankind and sends plague, drought and then the flood. In Genesis the Lord sees violence and corruption. Is that the same complaint in different words?
- Tear down your house, build a boat A god warns one man, tells him to build a boat to set measurements, and to bring living seed of every kind on board. Gilgamesh XI and Genesis 6 share the order of events. They do not share the reason the man is warned.
- The birds The boat grounds on a mountain, and the hero sends out birds to see if the waters have gone down. Gilgamesh has a dove, a swallow and a raven. Genesis has a raven and a dove. The closest detail in any of these pairings.
- Like flies over the sacrifice After the flood the hero offers a sacrifice, and heaven smells it. In Gilgamesh and Atrahasis the starving gods crowd round like flies. In Genesis the Lord smells the pleasing aroma and makes a promise.
- Never again After the sacrifice, heaven turns away from wiping out humankind. In Gilgamesh one god talks another down. In Genesis the Lord resolves it himself and makes a covenant with every living creature.
- Be fruitful, or be fewer Atrahasis ends its flood with rules to keep the human population down. Genesis ends its flood by repeating the blessing: be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth.
- The gods on their thrones At Ugarit the gods sit on their thrones in the assembled council, and lower their heads when Yamm's messengers come. In Psalm 82 God stands in the assembly of El and puts the gods on trial.
- Who will go? The council faces a problem and needs someone to go. In Enuma Elish the elder gods fail and Marduk volunteers, at a price. In 1 Kings 22 a spirit steps forward from the host of heaven and simply goes.
- The sons of God present themselves At Ugarit the council is in session when Yamm's messengers arrive with a demand about one god. In Job the sons of God present themselves, the satan arrives among them, and the talk turns to one man.
- Seventy sons At Ugarit El's family of gods is called the seventy, the children of Athirat. Genesis 10 lists seventy nations, by the usual count. Deuteronomy 32:8 divides the nations by the number of the sons of God. A popular link with three joints, each weaker than the last.
- The word of the assembly In the Mesopotamian flood stories the flood is voted in the assembly of the gods, and one goddess regrets her vote. In Genesis 6 the Lord sees, grieves and decides, and there is no assembly in the scene.
