Radau - The Creation-Story of Genesis I, A Sumerian Theogony and Cosmogony
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The
Creation-Story of Genesis
Stimerian Theogony
and Cos77iogony
By
DR,
HUGO RADAV
CHICAGO THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY LONDON Ktgan Paul, Trench, TrUbner *• {>„ U^l.
L
*OAN STAgc
Xz
TKT tiBRARV OF CONGRESS, AUG. 15
1902
CUASS CL XXa Ma
Copyright by
The Open Court Publishing 1902.
firK
Co.
!
PREFACE. npHE •*•
Right Rev. D. S. Tattle, Bishop of Missouri, in delivering a sermon be-
fore a
The more and
cows!
will yield
life,
the people contribute
"You must
more milk they
study
it,
more we draw from
the
—both for the soul and
the brain
also expressed
by Dr. Martin Luther who compared the Bible
and
fruitful tree.
The more and
we pluck
pluck the fruits."
If there are
to milk," nor does
the idea
a beautiful
more
it
will
everybody know "how to
may become
some who thus
fell
was the
dangerous,
from the
— we may
"the plucker"
dare to say that
not,
on the contrary, the plucker's own carelessness, his own fault ? Exactly so
it is
it
with the
'•
and carelessly applied
however,— for
higher critics! it,
A
Criticism.'^
to the Bible, will
remain undaunted,
will
And how many
critic."
UNDERSTAND
it
tree's fault that
Higher
there are
true higher critic's
—Understand
ical
methods as given by
The
Bible
—
fruits
aim
historically.
''history.**
when thus "read
body ever dreamed,
it
from the
fall
tree
who
tree while trying to pluck its fruit,
will
Bible,
true
done carelessly and thoughtlessly, the "milking" as well as
If
the "plucking of the fruit"
a " higher
it,
,
But not everybody knows " how
lessly
to
the
its fruit,
give us.
is
The same
!
was
the oftener
milk the
will give."
The same
the case exactly.
fits
The more we
milk of
:
make
the oftener you milk them, the
of the study of the Bible. it
to
Church," remarked.:
Although somewhat vulgar, yet the simile
more
"How
body of theological students on
liberally towards the support of the
Higher
down?
Was
it
criticism, if thought-
and must be hurtful: not for the
—but
for
who want is
fell
to
him who
aspires to be
be what they cannot be;
not to destroy the Bible, but to
Thus he
will
apply the higher
criti-
In history the divine unll is carried out.
in the light of history" will yield fruits of
which no-
ripened in ages past and saved for our present times to
gather.
tndeed, the Bible
been engrafted on
it
is
a wonderful tree with manifold fruits
from time
other trees raised on foreign
to time
soil.
by
dififerent
gardeners,
These gardeners belonged
:
tiny shoots have
—shoots taken
not surrounded by a "Chinese Wall," nor were they blind, deaf, or dnmb.
had eyes and saw, ears and beard, mouths and spoke.
from
to a people that
And what
was
They
they saw and
PREFACE.
VI
beard and spoke they deposited
in the Bible.
the " higher critic" to trace these
from whence they were taken and by
And
if
we
itic soil,
Thus
whom and
find that this or that little shoot
we
wonderful beauty
to
have traced with the help of
native soil
is
?
Shall
not,
becomes
at once the task of
at
what time they were engrafted.
was taken from North or Sonth
from Egyptian, Babylonian, or Persian
its
it
shoots to their original soil and to inquire
little
soil,
—does
on the contrary, admire
"little clay tablets"
it all
the
more ? And
one of these tiny shoots
The greater
part of the following pages apjjeared in It
was found necessary
The Monist
for July, 1902
in order to explain certain "at-
tributes " of the gods to touch shortly
upon the Sumerian cosmology.
Old Arabian pantheon has been taken
in
by way of "corroboration."
Kosmolog^ie and Jastrow's Religion of Babylonia to the author,
T.
J.
many
to its
the joy of the author.
(Vol. XII., pp. 568-625).
It
Israel-
the tree lose thereby
Also the Jensen's
and Assyria were not accessible
and therefore could not be quoted.
only remains for the author to thank most cordially Dr. Paul
McCormack,
editors of
Cams and
The Open Court and The Monist, not only
valuable suggestions and corrections
but also for the promptness with which
it
when preparing
the
MS.
for the press,
has been printed.
Hugo Radau. Waterloo,
III., June, 1902.
Mr.
for their
THE CREATION-STORY OF GENESIS
I.
A SUMERIAN THEOGONY AND COSMOGONY.
MYTHS
IN
THE BIBLE~is a
subject which has recently re-
ceived the greatest attention from Biblical scholars. fessors
GunkeP and Zimmern* have
various aspects, and Dr. Paul that hardly anything
The
is left
Cams' has discussed
it
is
its
so thoroughly
which has not been adverted
following investigation
Pro-
investigated the subject in
to
by them.
based upon a direct study of the an-
though the results reached b^
my
predecessors and a thorough acquaintance with their method of
in-
cient Babylonian inscriptions,
presupposed here.
vestigation
is
however,
may be
I
For the sake
of completeness,
permitted to recapitulate in a few words the
chief data brought out
here to the myth of the
by first
their investigations, confining myself
chapter of Genesis.
Gen. i. must have contained the soThe called Jahveh-Tehom myth found in other parts of the Old Testament. This myth represents Jahveh as fighting with a dragon, called either Rahab or Leviathan or serpent. Jahveh overcomes original account of
this dragon, divides
it
and forms out
of the
two halves **the waters
that are above the firmament" and **the waters that are below the
firmament."
The
Biblical
dragon has been identified with the
' Schdffung und Chaos in Urzeit und Endzeit. G&ttingen, 1895. Also his new Commentary on Genesis (the Introduction has been published by the Open
Court Publis]yng Co., Chicago).
'"Biblische und Babylonische Urgeschichte " in Heft 3. Leipzig, 190X. *
Z901.
"The FairyTale Element
in the Bible," in
Dtr
alte Orient, Vol II.,
The Monist
for April
and
July,
THE CREATION-STORY OF GENESIS
2
I.
Babylonian Tiamat, a monster which was overcome by the god
Marduk, the god
of light,
and which was likewise divided
in twain.
Further the fight of Marduk with Tiamat was recognised as the original of the fight of
Jahveh with Tehom
:
a fight of the light
The darkness having been overcome by the became possible. The following striking sim-
against the darkness.
the creation
light,
ilarities
were found to
exist
between the Biblical and Babylonian
myths^:
According to both traditions there was
in the
beginning noth-
ing but the chaos under the form of the primeval ocean
was thought that
That
in
it is
Gen.
to be a terrible monster.
Tehom was
this
i.
simply called
Tehom
this
it
The Babylonian name
considered a mythical being
Tehom and
is
treated as a
of
is still
proper name*'
**
In both myths
not ha-Tehom.
represented as a dragon or serpent, either with one
is
or several heads, presumably seven as in Revelation, chapters
and
was
monster was Tiamat, the Biblical Tehom or Leviathan-Rahab.*
evident from the fact that the word
—
—
This ocean, when personified
having been created.
eternal, not
xii.
xiii.
Besides the chief monster there appear in both traditions others: its helpers.
In the Babylonian creation-story there are opposed to
these monsters the
great gods"
among whom Marduk
takes the
Also in the Biblical account there seem
and foremost place-
first
to
**
have been, besides Jahveh, other divine beings, as
is still
evident
**Let us make man." In the Babylonian account i. 26: Marduk who takes up the fight with Tiamat; in the Biblical account the same role is played by Jahveh. Both are armed with Marduk kills with his sword Tiamat, Jahveh Rahaba sword. Leviathan-Tehom. The *' helpers" of Tiamat are treated more kindly by Marduk, precisely as is done with the helpers of Rahab
from Gen. it is
According
by Jahveh.
to
both myths the monster
cording to the Babylonian account the lower waters. *
See
Zimmem,
:
into the
The upper waters
I.e., p. 15.
is
divided
are kept back
Gunkel, Commentary,
p.
85
f.
by a kind Carus, The
ntst, April, 190X, p. 428.
'V
Ixxxix.
9
ff.
V Ixxiv.
13
ff.
Is.
li.
9
ff.
Job
— ac-
upper waters and into
xxvi. 12
ff.;
\x.
13
ff.
of
Mo-
THE CREATION-STORY OF GENESIS by watchmen, who are *'not
barrier and
According
I..
3
to let out the waters."
Jahveh divides the Tehom, the
to the Biblical account
primeval ocean, also into two parts, by putting a firmament be-
Thus the Tehom came
tween them.
restrial ocean, or as
it
said in the Bible,
is
above the firmament" and
Even
ament."
'*
**
ter-
waters which were
waters which were below the firm-
watchmen who
the
and a
to be a heavenly
are to guard the waters of heaven "
are
still
preserved in Job
"Am
I a sea or
By thus to
vii.
12
:
sea-monster that thou settest a watch over
dividing the primeval ocean there
both myths the visible heaven.
Babylonian account
me ? "
created according
is
In the Bible as well as in the
this fight with the
dragon
closely connected
is
with the creation of the world, in such wise that the former pre-
we have Tehom — Fight — Division — Heaven cedes the
In both accounts
latter.
the following sequence:
!
The above investigations,
is
a r^sumi of
and
I
what scholars have arrived
at in their
may be accepted
think their conclusions
as
But, far as they have gone, they have by no means as yet
true.
There are
exhausted the subject.
still
certain difficulties in
left
the Biblical as well as in the Bab\'lonian account which are not yet satisfactorily explained.
And
we
with these unsolved problems
are concerned here.
Before we consider these problems
it
would seem necessary
say a few words about the structure of Gen.
The
first
chapter of Genesis
is
ascribed by
(commonly abbreviated P.)
Priestly school
to
i.
all
— and
scholars to the is
hence
late.
The word cv.bK (Elohim) is used throughout for *'God" and the account is built up according to a certain formula. This formula runs:
"And Elohim that*
it
was good.
said
And
According to
:
let
there be
there
.
.
.
and there was.
.
.
.
And Elobim saw
was evening and there was morning the
this skeleton the creation of the
world
as having taken place within a space of seven days. of seven
count.
days It
is
not original,
was inserted by P.
it is
.
is
.
.
.
.
.day."
described
This system
not found in the Babylonian ac-
This follows from the fact that on
3;
:
THE CREATION-STORY OF GENESIS
4
I.
the third and sixth day two tasks were done, and that on the sev-
enth day, which was intended to be a day of the work of the sixth day:
finish
— and
not yet done on the sixth day is
why
another reason
still
rj'rr "itK TCK7?2 '^r'^Dtn 21*3
he Jinished itf he had to work on
if
But, as
!
Elohim had
rest,
it, it
we
was not
CVOK
at
to
hv'^
an end,
shall shortly see, there
the system of seven daj^s cannot have
belonged originally to the account of the creation. Furthermore,
should like to point out here the
I
which we encounter when trying
used in three different senses in the pression, y-Kn
mos,"
for
**
rW'i c*:;;rn
nx,
In
first
day.
And v.
here therefore
it is
10 yix
is
;
It is
In the ex-
simply the Hebrew term for
it
is
^w'^^1 yn^ri*,
the cosmos as
it
of v. 2, ynx
existed before
explained by Txt^, "the dry ground "
the same as that which
Bearing this in mind,
"earth."
is
the expression,
stands for the chaotic mass the
yixn.
ten verses.
first
difficulty
used to express our idea of ''cos-
it is
heaven and earth"
our word "cosmos."
word
to translate the
w^e
we should understand by
ought to translate verses
i
—
as follows **In the beginning of the Elohim's creating- heaven
—the chaotic
mos)
mass
npon Tehom and the
and earth
existed,' namely,* as a tohu vabohn,
spirit of
(i. e.,
the cos-
and darkness was
— then Elohim said
Elohim nsm?2 upon the waters
** :
etc.
With iio
ex
the
this translation, of course, falls also the theor>^ of a crea-
nihilo.
Not a
chapter of Genesis.
first
theory
Indeed, a creation out of nothing single
word
is
not implied in
indicates such a
—not even the word xt3— for we have instead of XTD
25, 26, the
verb nrr-
It
in verses
was the chaotic mass coeternal with the
Creator out of which everj'^thing was created, made, developed, evolutionised.
After the primeval ocean has been divided into the
waters above and below the firmament, the earth or dry land
made
"appear out
to
*
Gen.
'
Or.
ii.
of the waters under the firmament": nXTCQ
2.
"In the beginning when Elohim was about
»^n^"^
= "existed,' not ^"n or
*Sc. at that time,
i.
e.,
is
•*
became."
"in the beginning."
to create."
"
!
^
:
THE CREATION-STORY OF GENESIS ^tT7\
Even
!
*
I.
5
the birds are developed or take their origin from out
ocean
of this terrestrial
:
r)*.ri
.
ri^n
tt: yii^ c^rn
iirii&^
"Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures and with birds."
We one
is
see then, that one thing takes
the parent of the other
there
;
giving birth of one thing to another,
its
origin out of the other,
is,
so to speak, a continual
— a genealogy
Having thus cleared our way, we must now consider the
differ-
between the Biblical and the Babylonian account of the crea-
ences
—differences
tion,
true that Gen.
that are certainly strange
originally
I
Tehom, we must be
made use
of the fight of
able to account not only for
its
If it
be
Jahveh with
omission, but
Babylonian Marduk-Tiamat myth.
also for its differences from the
And
and marked.
just these differences are, for our consideration, of the highest
importance
According to the Babylonian account, the creator Marduk was himself borne
by Tiamat,
—he therefore was not coeternal with Tia-
mat, he was, so to speak, her child the other hand, exists from first act of i.
e.,
The
The Creator
the Babylonian creator
is
the
**
Tohom
of Gen.
herself
division of the
i,
on
The
!
Tiamat/*
the creation of *'the upper waters" and '*the lower waters"! first
act of
Elohim
Now, what *
!
eternity like
all
Gen.
'The
i.
is
of
Gen.
is
i
the creation of the
n*i<
or light.
the significance of this Y,n in Gen. i?
It is
20.
Psalm
writer of
civ. 24
ff.
was, no doubt, later than P., since for
the eternity of Tehom-Leviathan seemed to have been impossible.
could be eternal,
him
Jahveh alone
—hence Leviathan had to become a creature, for we read (R. V.): "
O
Lord,
how manifold are thy works! made them all
In wisdom, thou hast
The
earth
is full
of thy creatures.
Yonder is the sea, great and wide, Wherein are things creeping innumerable. Both small and great beasts. There go the ships. There is Leviathan, whom thou hast formed to take his pastime therein
The
I
original significance of Leviathan is lost here,
creature of Jahveh!
Hence
creatures and the sea with
its
—he
has become a mer«
also the succession: creation of the earth with its
creatures,
among them Leviatbin
I
— THE CREATION-STORY OF GENESIS
6
neither the sun nor the all
created later
:
—
moon nor any of the stars, for they were And yet it is said in v. 4 that
on the fourth day
Elohim by thus creating the
**
darkness"; the former he called
Now
!
light" divided the **light from the **
day," the latter he called
and
this is in direct contradiction to v. 14
**
night.'*
where we are
v. 18,
"two
expressly told that Elohim created the i.
I.
great luminaries,**
the sun arid the moon, "to rule over the day and over the
e.,
night and to divide the light from the darkness'^ daily experience and observation, **the light
it
\
According to our
the sun which conditions
is
and the darkness" or *'the day and the night."
be true, then
it
day
of the first
If this
follows that the statement in v. 4 about the "light" is
And
wrong.
so
it is
We
!
saw above that the
system of seven days does not originally belong to the creation
The
story.
writer of Gen.
nights and days or simply to
however,
i,
in
"days" before
add some such expressions as those found
in v. 4
:
"to divide the
In doing this, he manufactured the
from the darkness."
light
order to fabricate his
the sun was created, had
first
three days,^Mr
Ba-u
Ea
ff.:
KL; And here Ea
*
Italics
Hommel
are built
verwirkt."
upon the sequence
him
that
Ea was
of Bel,
and thus the
Babylonian inscriptions, where
Ea may be found
An-e
is
that of Gudea, Statue
d'°fi"En-lil-li, d'^e'r
Nin-char-sag dingirEN-
or ^^'^R^^EN-KI
of the latter
!
In
all
is
divided from Bel or ^''^^"Bn-VA
the other oldest inscriptions the
'
Given
in
cuneiform signs.
Sudarabisclun Alterthiimer des Wiener Jlofmuseums, == AufsHtze und Abhandlungen, II. p. 140. JDfe
the
was also the son of '"EN-KI
that the
who
is
name
AN
or
above" or by
This idea of
above" and the KI
is
**
it
**lord of that
which
is
it
came
of the case
above."
is
and KI "being that which
is
no doubt
is
above" was consid-
course of time that
in
If this
be translated by **he
being above" and "being below"
the original one, and because "that which
for heaven,
= Ea.*
ist"
would follow from the analogy
EN-AN^ would have to
ered to be the heaven thus
for **that
happened that Jensen explained the
it
by **Herr, dessen was unten
explanation be correct,
= shaplish, the
AN
stood
below" came to mean
"earth." 3. En-lil, we have seen, was in later inscriptions also called E-KUR-dumu-nunna, i. e., E-KUR,* the son of Nunna. If this be true, then AN, the father of Bel (see above: Bel mar reshtii
shame) must also have 4.
But
^^'^B'^^EN-KI or
parent from the wife of
been, or
name
been
Mr. KI was
of his wife
NUN." What
called, a
this
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