Who wrote the bible part 1: From the Sumerian Eridu Genesis Myth to the Israelite Genesis 1-9 Myth

The story of the Creation and Flood has been extremely influential. Stories like these where later rewritten to the Epic of Atrahasis, Tablet XI of the Babylonian Epic of Gilgameš, Berossus, the Biblical account of the ark and Noa, and several Greek and Roman sources, like Ovid.

We will trace how the Mesopotamian Genesis developed, beginning with the Sumerian Eridu Genesis and then moving into the Babylonian Atra-hasis covenant mythology. Finally, we will follow how this is used in the Hebrew Genesis 1-9, the Israelite/Judaean covenant version with a beginning, pre-flood life, and the flood story itself that ends the covenant myth.

Overview

1. Sumer’s Pantheon
2. The Sumerian Creation-Flood story: The Eridu Genesis
3. The Babylonian Creation-Flood story: The Atra-Hasis
4. Marduk, Babylonian protector and the king of gods: Marduk’s rise to supremacy
5. Israel: Yahweh, Fall of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, Babylonian captivity
6. Comparisons: Creation-Flood stories compared, Apocalyptic vs. Optimistic
7. Building the mythology: Who wrote the bible, part 1?

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1. Sumer’s Pantheon

To understand the characters in Mesopotamian stories, it is essential to know the Mesopotamian Pantheon that started developing in Sumer.

There were many gods, responsible for every aspect of life, from rivers and mountains to making the daily bread. Each city-state had its own supreme god, founder and patron, who transferred power to the divine king. Read more … Sumer’s Pantheon LINK

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2. The Sumerian Creation-Flood story: The Eridu Genesis

The Sumerian Creation-Flood story of the city of Eridu itself is much older, likely dating back to around -2,500. The myth deals with the creation of man, the institution of kingship, the founding of the first cities, and the great flood. Thus, it is a story of beginnings, a Genesis. Every religious public state cult has a “beginning of the world”, an original story.

The Sumerian deities An, Enlil, and Enki created the “black headed people” (Sumerians), the animals, and assigned the cities among the deities. The Eridu Genesis describes man’s nomadic and uncultured condition which was remedied by the birth goddess  Nintur’s instructions for building cities as centers of culture and worship. As the humans prospered, their great noise caused sleeplessness among the gods. The god Enlil’s plan to eradicate mankind through a flood was thwarted by the god Enki, who warned Ziusudra, the king of Shuruppak, to build an ark to save his family and the animals. After the Flood, Ziusudra appeased the gods by offering sacrifices and in turn was granted  immortality and an eternal home.

Summary  Eridu Genesis

Genesis

• Human’s Genesis, the creation of men (now lost).

Antediluvian Life (before the flood):

• Human’s life before the flood: their miserable condition.
• Then follows a summary statement on the initial creation.
• Creation of kingship by the gods.
• The first cities.
• The kings who ruled before the Great Flood (lost).

The Flood:

• The supreme god Enlil’s decision to destroy humankind (lost).
• Ziusudra is worthy.
• Ziusudra learns of the approaching calamity.
• Enki’s warning of the flood and his advise.
• Enki’s advice: Building of the Ark for his family and the animals (lost)
• The Great flood swapped over the cities, for seven days and nights.
• Ziusudra’s sacrifice.
• Ziusudra’s let the animals leave the boat.
• Ziusudra Reward: eternal life.

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3. The Babylonian Creation-Flood story Atra-Hasis

The Tablet of the Covenant

The Babylonian myth When the Gods Were Man also known as the Epic of Atra-ḫasīs, is written in Akkadian from the Old Babylonian period around -1650 – -1600. Akkadian was used until it was gradually replaced among Mesopotamians by Old Aramaic around -800.

The Atra-Hasis Synopsis

The Tablet of the Covenant is based on the Babylonian epic of Atrahasis. Atrahasis is Ziusudra in Sumerian. It is a tale of the early days of the earth, when mankind was still young, and the gods were upon the earth. Mankind’s corruption leads to the flood, a cleansing of the world wielded by the gods. One man, favored by the gods, is told to build a great ship to escape the floodwaters that doomed the earth.

Tablet I of the Covenant: Genesis: Creation

• Tablet I contains a creation myth about the great Sumerian Creation Triad Anu, Enlil, and Enki, gods of heaven, wind/earth, and water.
  Following the casting of lots, heaven is ruled by Anu, earth by Enlil, and the freshwater sea by Enki. Enlil assigned junior divines to do farm labor and maintain the rivers and canals, but after forty years the lesser gods rebelled and refused to do strenuous labor.
• Instead of punishing the rebels, Enki, who is also the kind, wise counselor of the gods, suggested that humans be created to do the work.
• The mother goddess Mami is assigned the task of creating humans by shaping clay figurines mixed with the flesh and blood of the slain god Geshtu-E, “a god who had intelligence”.
• All the gods in turn spit upon the clay. After ten months, a specially made womb breaks open and humans are born.
• Legends about overpopulation and plagues. Atrahasis is mentioned at the end of Tablet I.

Tablet II of the Covenant: Antediluvian Life: Plaques

• Tablet II begins with more overpopulation of humans and the god Enlil sending first famine and drought at formulaic intervals of 1200 years to reduce the population.
• In this epic Enlil is depicted as a nasty capricious god while Enki is depicted as a kind helpful god, perhaps because priests of Enki were writing and copying the story.
• Tablet II is mostly damaged, but ends with Enlil’s decision to destroy humankind with a flood and Enki bound by an oath to keep the plan secret.

Tablet III of the Covenant: The Flood

• Tablet III of the Atrahasis Epic contains the flood story. The god Enki warns the hero Atrahasis (“Extremely Wise”), to dismantle his house and build a boat to escape the flood planned by the god Enlil to destroy humankind.
• The boat is to have a roof “like Apsu”, upper and lower decks, and to be sealed with bitumen.
• Atrahasis boards the boat with his family and animals and seals the door.
• The storm and flood begin.
• Even the gods are afraid.
• After seven days the flood ends. Ziusudra (Atrahasis) let out all the animals and people, and offers sacrifices to the gods.
• Enlil is furious with Enki for violating his oath. But Enki denies violating his oath and argues: “I made sure life was preserved.”
• Enlil is forced to swear to the covenant known as Duranki, the Bond of Heaven and Earth, never again to harm the people of the land.

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4. Marduk, Babylonian protector and the king of gods

Marduk’s rise began when Hammurabi of the First Dynasty of Babylon (-1792 – -1750) put wide areas of Mesopotamia under his control. The rise of the political power of the Babylonian king prompted an equivalent rise in the status of its cult as well – Marduk is portrayed as the powerful ruler in the opening of the Codex Hammurabi, showcasing his status as a sovereign.

The Codex Hammurabi composed during -1755 – -1751, is the best-preserved law code of Mesopotamia.

King Hammurabi receiving the divine law and the rod, symbol of power and authority from the sun god and god of justice, Shamash.

Marduk gradually absorbed the identities of a number of the most powerful deities as he gained importance.

Through syncretism with Asalluhi, the divine exorcist, Marduk gained the position as the son of Enki/Ea in the Mesopotamian pantheon. By the end of the Middle Babylonian period, Marduk had assumed 50 names. Like Asalluhi, they were originally the names of different deities, but after the syncretism with Marduk each name presented different aspects of Marduk, such as the god of water, the god of fertility, and savior. (source: Martha Roth 1995 at omnika.org/library/law-collections-from-mesopotamia-and-asia-minor.)

After Marduk slowly rose to prominence, he was enshrined as leader of the Mesopotamian pantheon under Nebuchadnezzar I in c. -1,100.

Cult centre of Marduk: The Etemenanki Ziggurat and Temple of Marduk Esagila

Akitu-festivals

• The Akitu-festivals, particularly the New Year Festival of the month of Nisannu, held the most important place in the official cult activities in Babylon. This was the first month in the Babylonian calendar, corresponding to March/April in our calendar. Statues of other deities, including Nabu, the god of Borsippa and the son of Marduk, Anu, Enlil, and Ea, also participated in the Akitu-festival of the first month of Babylon. Most of the rituals of this festival were conducted by the priests in Esagila, where access was very limited, but the citizens of Babylon had the chance to see Marduk. On the eighth day of Nisannu, his statue left Esagila, escorted by the king of Babylon, and was carried in the Great Procession through the Procession Road of Marduk and the Ishtar-gate to the Akitu-temple located outside the city. This procession was the climax of the Akitu-festival of Nisannu and the moment when Marduk revealed the omen of the year to the people of Babylon.

A realistic historical AI rendering of the inner sanctuary cella of the Esagila temple during the Akitu festival.

The Statue of Marduk

A statue of Marduk, aptly named King of the gods of Heaven and the Underworld, was placed in Enlil’s shrine in Babylon, and Marduk receives the title bēl mātāti, King of the lands, in the Enuma Elish.

The Statue of Marduk was the physical embodiment of Marduk, located in Babylon’s main temple, the Esagila. Although Babylon housed seven different statues of Marduk—four within the Esagila and its surrounding complex, one in the Etemenanki (the ziggurat dedicated to Marduk), and two in temples dedicated to other gods—the term ‘The’ statue typically refers to Marduk’s main statue. This primary statue was prominently displayed in the Esagila and played a central role in the city’s rituals.

The Enûma Eliš – Marduk as the King of the gods

• The epilogue of Enuma Elish describes the composition as a ‘song of Marduk [who] defeated Tiamat and took the kingship’ (VII 161–162). The Enuma Elish tells how Marduk gained the supremacy in the Mesopotamian pantheon and how his city, Babylon, became the ‘capital’ of the world.
• We now know from late Babylonian ritual instructions that Enuma Elish was chanted in front of Marduk’s statue on the fourth day of the month Nisannu (Month I, March–April) and the month Kislimu (Month IX, November–December), during the Akitu-festivals.

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5. Israel

Paleo-Hebrew

• Paleo-Hebrew, or Old Hebrew, was used in the kingdoms of Israel (Samaria) and Judah, and was a side branch of the Phoenician alphabet. It was used since c. -1,000.
• By around -500, among Judeans, the alphabet had been largely replaced by the Aramaic alphabet, which was used officially by the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire.
• The “square” variant, now known simply as the Hebrew alphabet, evolved directly from this by about -300.

Yahweh

• Yahweh was worshiped in Jerusalem alongside other deities, such as Baal, Asherah, the hosts of heaven, and even the national deities of neighboring lands. [The Bible Unearthed, 2001 by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman]
• Asherah was the wife of El, head of the Canaanite pantheon.
• The clearest archaeological evidence of the popularity of this type of worship throughout the kingdom is the discovery of hundreds of figurines of naked fertility goddesses at every late monarchic site in Judah.

Ketef Hinnom KH1 and KH2 scrolls

• The Ketef Hinnom scrolls, or Ketef Hinnom amulets, are the oldest surviving texts from the Hebrew Bible, dated to c. -600 (University of Southern California). The text is written in the Paleo-Hebrew script and is at least partially in the Book of Numbers in the Hebrew Bible.
• The scrolls preserve the earliest known citations of the Hebrew Bible, as well as the earliest examples of confessional statements concerning Yahweh.
• The instruction to put the local deity Yahweh on the Israelites’ amulet reflects an ancient practice of physically wearing the deity’s name and blessing for protection against evil.
• They prove that some of the material in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) existed during the First Temple period.

The KH1 Scroll

The KH2 Scroll

The Levant: United Monarchy

• Around -1,000, the highland communities united to form a single state, the United Monarchy, a short-lived entity that soon broke down into the more familiar dual pattern of a kingdom of Judah, centered on Jerusalem, and an Israelite kingdom centered on Shechem, and later Samaria.
• Part of the pattern of new states in the Early Iron Age was the rise of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah in the highland zones of the southern Levant. The settlers who founded the kingdoms of Israel and Judah came from sedentary and pastoral-nomadic societies. Through interactions with lowland neighbors, the highland settlements rapidly became complex urban societies in the Early Iron Age.
• Each had different political traditions that reached back to the Late Bronze Age.

Kingdom of Israel

As in other areas of the Levant, Assyria’s impact grew more pronounced over the centuries, culminating in its destruction of the kingdom of Israel in -721.

Kingdom of Judah

• After the destruction of Israel in -721, from which Judea was largely spared, Yahweh’s exclusive cult grew very strong under the kings Hezekiah and Josiah.
• After the fall of Judea to the Babylonians in -597, the Jewish god was generally addressed as Adonai, “Lord”.

Judaea was strategically sandwiched between the superpowers of Babylon and Egypt.

How was it then that the story of the Flood and the Ark could pass from Babylonian cuneiform into Hebrew?

These flood narratives predates the formation of the Judean and Israelite states, therefore it is possible that they were familiar with them. During the Babylonian Exile, the Judeans were actually in Babylonia, so they came into direct contact with those stories. Some Judean scribes learned to read and write cuneiform, which they adapted for the Judean/Israelite public state cult (without a state) to record its history and unite its stateless people.

Hebrew mythology was created from existing Judaean/Israelite and Mesopotamian mythology and required narratives about very early times. Every public state cult has its own original story about the history of the world.

Why were the Judaeans in Babylon?

The Babylonians installed Jehoiachin’s Uncle, Zedekiah, but Zedekiah sided with the Egyptians, and the second campaign resulted in Nebuchadnezzar’s war machine inflicting punitive, total destruction a decade later in -587. The temple’s sacred contents were stolen, and the temple was destroyed. The city was left in ruins, and the historical event culminated in the mass deportation of the royal Judaean family, government officials, most of the military, and skilled craftsmen and artisans to Babylon. The country’s vital intellectual and skilled workforce was taken away.

It was during these fifty-eight (-597 to -539) years of exile that the Judaeans were directly exposed to a new world, new cults, and to cuneiform writing and literature, such as the Babylonian story of the Flood, the boat-builder and his Ark. Source: The Ark Before Noah, Decoding the Story of the Flood by Irving Finkel 2014.

By Jona Lendering – Livius.org Provided under CC0 1.0 Universal per “License” notice under the photograph, CC0.

Yahweh and Marduk

Marduk was the city god of Babylon, much as Yahweh was for the Judeans, Athena for the Athenians, and Diana for the Ephesians. Given Babylon’s importance and power, Marduk was likewise important and powerful. So Yahweh and Marduk were both city gods, but Marduk held supremacy in the expanding Mesopotamian empire during that period.

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6. Hebrew Creation-Flood story Genesis 1-9 Comparisons

Story Structure

I. The Sumerian Creation-Flood story, the Eridu Genesis, ca. -1,600:
CREATION	PRE-FLOOD WORLD			FLOOD
Creation	Culture		King-List	Flood
II The Akkadian Creation-Flood story, the Atra-hasis epic, ca. -1,600:
CREATION	PRE-FLOOD WORLD			FLOOD
Creation	Plague	Plague	Plague	Flood
III. The Hebrew Creation-Flood story, Genesis 1-9:
CREATION	PRE-FLOOD WORLD			FLOOD
Creation	Fall	Culture	Genealogy	Flood
Genesis 1, 2	Genesis 3	Genesis 4	Genesis 5	Genesis 6 – 9

The major overall literary unit is the same, as the three main sections and the principal levels are present in all three texts. It is mainly on the lowest literary level, the subsections, that the most variation is found between their contents.

Source: William H. Shea, Professor of Old Testament Studies Andrews  University, Berrien Springs, Michigan 1983.

Similarities of Eridu Genesis, Atrahasis to Genesis 1-9

We cannot compare the Creation narratives in Genesis 1-2 with the Eridu Genesis because the latter’s portion is severely damaged. The main comparison, therefore, must come between Atra-hasis and Israelite/Judaean Genesis.

The Judeans renamed the roles from Akkadian to Hebrew.

Yahweh has the same role as the Lesser gods (Igigi), the Creation triad Enlil, and Enki

Primeval human (ha-‘adam)has same role as Primeval humans (Lullu) Noah has the same role as Atrahasis

Atrahasis Roles	Genesis 1-9 Roles
The Creation triad Anu, Enlil, Enki and Lesser gods (Igigi)	Yahweh
Primeval humans (Lullu)	Primeval human (ha-‘adam)
Atrahasis	Noah

Ha-‘adam (הָאָדָם) is Hebrew meaning “the human,” “the man,” used in the Book of Genesis 1-3 to represent humanity or the first man, highlighting a strong connection between humanity and the earth. For the biblical Genesis, we have taken the wiki Translation:Genesis as the source, link:  en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Genesis

Atra-hasis	Genesis 1-9
CREATION
Starts with a Genesis, a Creation story	Starts with a Genesis, a Creation story, Gen-1.
Lesser gods (Igigi) are original laborers	Gen 2.9: Yahweh is original laborer (plants garden)
High gods (the Creation triad) enjoy privileges of divine rank	Gen 2.9: Yahweh has a private garden with special trees of life and wisdom/right and wrong
Primeval humans (Lullu) created as laborers for gods  —modeled from clay + rebel god’s blood —implicitly immortal (no natural death)	Gen 2.15: Primeval human (ha-‘adam) created to care for Yahweh’s garden  Gen 2.7: —modeled from clay (dust/adamah) + divine breath  Gen 2.16—potentially immortal (free of life)
Antediluvian (Pre-Flood) Life
Institution of marriage	Gen 2.24: Institution of marriage
Lullu rebel against the divine sovereign	Gen 3.6: Ha-adam rebels against Yahweh
Lunu punished: life diminished by plague, drought, and famine	Gen 3.17-19: Ha adam punished: life diminished by exile from garden, hard labor, and denial of access to tree of life
The Flood
Enlil has decided to destroy humankind with a flood.	Gen 6.5,7-8: Yahweh saw that every thought man’s heart produces is only evil all day long. “I shall wipe out that man I have created from the face of the earth, from man to beast.”  But Noaḥ looked all right to Yahweh, the Lord.
Enki tells Atrahasis to build an ark to escape the flood	Gen 6.13-21: Yahweh tells Noah to build an ark to escape the flood
Enlil sends a flood to drown out humanity’s noise and control over-population	Gen 7.10-24: Yahweh sends a flood to punish humanity’s wickedness and re-create the cosmos
To check if the floodwaters had receded from the land, Atrahasis released a raven from the boat.	Gen 8:10-11: To check if the floodwaters had receded from the land, Noah released a dove from the boat
Atrahasis survives the flood and offers a sacrifice	Gen 8:20: Noah survives the flood, builds an altar for Yahweh, and offers a sacrifice.
The traid smell the sacrifice and bless the survivors (Eridu Genesis)	Gen 8.21: Yahweh smells the sacrifice and Gen9.1: blesses the survivor
Enlil is reconciled to humanity	Gen 8.21: Yahweh is reconciled to flawed humanity
Limitations imposed on humans: Lullu become normal humans	Limitation imposed on humans: Gen 3.19: ha-adam will return to dust. Gen 6.3: his days will be 120 years
Sign of remembrance: the goddess Nintu’s fly necklace	Gen 9:12-17: Sign of remembrance: Yahweh’s bow
The divine bond between Heaven and Earth: the covenant	The divine bond between Heaven and Earth: the covenant

Apocalyptic vs. Optimistic Cults

The Eridu Genesis and Atra-hasis present a more optimistic view because the people are led by a divine king.

The central problem for the creation triad becomes human overpopulation and human noise.

They are not slaves but co-workers and co-creators, but also savants to the gods. Also, they had to worship the so-called gods and build huge temples for them that also served to honour the city god (altar and statue), storage, a medical clinic, a school, and more, run by the divine king.

The biblical public cult, on the other hand, presents a divergent view because the people of Israel and Judea don’t have a state led by a divine king. The story places the blame for this on irretrievable sin. In all stories, the pious Noah (Ziusudra, Atrahasis) would beget a new and better stock.

The primeval history of Genesis sets out the concepts of the nature of the deity and of humankind’s relationship with its presumed maker: the created world is good and fit for humans, but when man corrupts it with sin, Yahweh decides to destroy his creation, sparing only the righteous Noah and his family to re-establish the relationship between man and Yahweh through the covenant.

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7. Building the mythology

During this period of consolidation as a state, the kingdoms of Judah and Israel had a pantheon of various gods and goddesses, including El, Yahweh (whose name appears on personal seals from -900 to -600), Asherah, Baal, and the hosts of heaven. At the same time that public cult buildings became more common with the growth of urbanism, household shrines flourished as the rural population grew.

Why was the public state cult promoted by the kings?

To legitimize their power, the kings created the myth that the King served as a servant or representative of the deities, enforcing their justice and serving them. Their power was then based on the claim that they were intermediaries and servants of the pantheon’s deities. It was used to unify and control the people of Israel and Judea.

It was also used to help the people of Israel and Judea with mental support (defense mechanisms) and give them hope to return after the destruction of their states.

Most effective cults bring a message of hope (the happy message), define evil/revenge, and require some form of sacrifice.

Divine kingship

The ambitions of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were typical of the other rival states and principalities at the time. Their goal was to control as much territory as possible, ensure defensible borders, exercise political power to maximize resources for imperial projects, and shape the creation of a national identity that would enhance an ideology of divine kingship.

Divine kingship fundamentally relies on the construction of a mythology to support it.

What myths and their rituals were used to build divine kingship?

• The myth of divine ancestry, such as that of Romulus, one of the mythical founders of Rome, in many places served to legitimatize the claims of the king. Unusual natural phenomena, such as an especially bright star, are sometimes connected with the birth or death of a divine king. In Israel, we see that the divine kings of Israel and Judah, primarily David and his lineage, were considered anointed representatives of Yahweh.
• The myth of kings based on their faithfulness to Yahweh, with Judah having more “good” kings (e.g., Hezekiah, Josiah) compared to the idolatrous kings of Israel.
• The myth of the king is the executive agent of a deity (requires a pantheon). The myth of the king had a mediating position between the pantheon and the people.
• The myth of the responsibility for the maintenance of cosmic as well as social order and the giver of justice. Because the king preserves the myth-given world order, the task of being just has been viewed as one of his fundamental functions.
• The myth of the divine plan for the kingdoms of Israel and Judea.
• The king as a priest and the centre of ruler cults.
  The king, as head of the priestly class, controlled the mythological stories and the worship surrounding them, including holy people, objects, books, altars, shrines, and temples.
  When the ruler cult was introduced to Rome, the first emperor, Augustus (who reigned from -27 to 14), encouraged the worship of the goddess Roma in the eastern regions and the newly acquired western provinces. The adaptation of honouring the divine Caesar (or emperor of Rome) soon, however, became an important expression of the empire’s unity. The Hellenistic and Roman ruler cults never generated a strong religious movement.
• Ritual roles prescribed for kings in public or state functions
  In Mesopotamia, festivals rooted in cultic drama held great importance, especially the Babylonian New Year’s festival. The events of the epic Enūma Eliš, which recounts the sun god Marduk’s victory over the powers of chaos and the resulting creation of the universe, were reenacted in the cultic drama of the New Year’s festival, in which the king represented Marduk, the victor and creator.

Who wrote the bible, part 1?

The sources of the Genesis mythology: the creation of the world and beyond, the creation of man/nature, prehistoric (stone age) and Antediluvian (before the flood) life, the flood, and the end of this myth with the covenant between the righteous (obedient) and the main supernatural power, mostly came from:

1. Mesopotamia, beginning with the creative scribes of Sumer, around -4,500.
2. The Israelite/Judean cult stories started with the coming of the divine kings/chiefdoms since c. -1,000. The Israelite and Judaean court chronicles record their political actions, religious practices, and military achievements. These served as sources for biblical histories written in Hebrew script on leather or parchment scrolls, which were kept in the royal chanceries of the houses of Israel and Judah.
3. When Israel/Judea was invaded by foreign empires, the cult’s mythology was transformed and rewritten to unite the people of Israel/Judea while their state was invaded and gone, and to give them hope of return. It also needed to explain why this happened (sin) and the myth of the divinely-ordained punishment for the failure of Israel’s kings to worship Yahweh to the exclusion of all other deities.
4. The Judeans adopted the Babylonian idea of elevating their local deity to supremacy in their public cult mythology by replacing many deities with just one. Instead of using Marduk, they replaced the deities with Yahweh.
5. Its essential function would be to explain what had happened from the beginning of time and to demonstrate explicitly that the entire historical process, from the inception of the world, had been the unfolding of a divine plan.