Should We Take Creation Stories in Genesis Literally?
Finding multiple truths in biblical myths
What purpose did creation stories in Genesis serve? Were they Biblical myths? Pictured here is The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man (c. 1617) by Flemish painters Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder.
Were the creation stories in Genesis meant to be taken literally?
Maybe not, says biblical scholar Shawna Dolansky in her Biblical Views column “The Multiple Truths of Myths” in the January/February 2016 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
Our world is very different from the world in which the Biblical authors lived over 2,000 years ago. The ancient world did not have Google, Wikipedia and smartphones—access to information on human history and scientific achievements developed over millennia at the touch of their fingertips.
Many scholars believe that the ancient Israelites had creation stories that were told and retold; these stories eventually reached the Biblical authors, who wrote them down in Genesis and other books of the Bible. Creation stories in Genesis were etiological, Shawna Dolansky and other Biblical scholars argue.1 That is, the creation stories in Genesis served to provide answers to why the world was the way it was, such as why people wear clothes and why women experience pain during childbirth.
FREE ebook: Exploring Genesis: The Bible’s Ancient Traditions in Context Mesopotamian creation myths, Joseph’s relationship with Egyptian temple practices and 3 tales of Ur, the birthplace of Abraham.
Creation stories in Genesis were among the many myths that were told in the ancient Near East. Today we may think of myths as beliefs that are not true, but as a literary genre, myths “are stories that convey and reinforce aspects of a culture’s worldview: many truths,” writes Dolansky. So to call something a myth—in this sense—does not necessarily imply that it is not true.
Scholars argue that Biblical myths arose within the context of other ancient Near Eastern myths that sought to explain the creation of the world. Alongside Biblical myths were Mesopotamian myths in which, depending on the account, the creator was Enlil, Mami or Marduk. In ancient Egyptian mythology, the creator of the world was Atum in one creation story and Ptah in another.
Shawna Dolansky
“Like other ancient peoples, the Israelites told multiple creation stories,” writes Shawna Dolansky in her Biblical Views column. “The Bible gives us three (and who knows how many others were recounted but not preserved?). Genesis 1 differs from Genesis 2–3, and both diverge from a third version alluded to elsewhere in the Bible, a myth of the primordial battle between God and the forces of chaos known as Leviathan (e.g., Psalm 74), Rahab (Psalm 89) or the dragon (Isaiah 27; 51). This battle that preceded creation has the Mesopotamian Enuma Elish as its closest analogue. In Enuma Elish, the god Marduk defeats the chaotic waters in the form of the dragon Tiamat and recycles her corpse to create the earth.”
In what other ways do Biblical myths parallel ancient Near Eastern myths? What can we learn about the world in which the ancient Israelites lived through the creation stories in Genesis? Learn more by reading the full Biblical Views column “The Multiple Truths of Myths” by Shawna Dolansky in the January/February 2016 issue of BAR.
BAS Library Members: Read the full Biblical Views column “The Multiple Truths of Myths” by Shawna Dolansky in the January/February 2016 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
Not a BAS Library or All-Access Member yet? Join today.
Notes
1. For example, see Ziony Zevit, “Was Eve Made from Adam’s Rib—or His Baculum?” BAR, September/October 2015; Mary Joan Winn Leith, “ReViews: Restoring Nudity,” BAR, May/June 2014.
Related reading in Bible History Daily
The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet
All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library
Not a BAS Library or All-Access Member yet? Join today.
This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on January 31, 2016.
Related Posts
Must-Read Free eBooks
Want more Bible history?
Sign up to receive our email newsletter and never miss an update.
Unlock Unlimited Access to the Bible's Past
Unlock Unlimited Access to the Bible's Past
Become an All-Access Member to explore the Bible's rich history. Get Biblical Archaeology Review in print, full online access, and FREE online talks. Plus, enjoy special Travel/Study discounts. Don't miss out—begin your journey today!
Since no human was present at the Big Bang (as recounted in Gen. 1, 1-3(, nor during the eons of consolidation, evolution, etc. that culminated in Homo Sapiens (Gen. 1, 27), it makes sense that no one actually KNOWS what process was used and in what order. The two creation stories in Genesis chapter one, and in chapter two were written by different persons trying to explain how it started to others in the cave and around the camp fire.
There was no “evolution.” The Bible was not written down as “folk lore” either, it was inspired. Although the Bible is not a science book, it’s creation history is scientifically and historically correct, and contains information that no one could have known that far back. And no, the creation stories in chapter and one and two were both written down by Moses. Historical fact. We do know the authors of most of the Biblical books. For example, how could Moses have known that there was a form of ambient light in the universe BEFORE the creation of the stars? We didn’t even know this until recently. How did Moses know that the universe was “spread out” (expanded) during creation? Also true. How even did Job know that the earth was a sphere “hung on nothing?” (Hung in space). The Creation story is scientifically WAY ahead of it’s time and 100% true according to the laws of physics and proven by science.
Moses did not write both Genesis Chapter 1 and 2, the two creation narratives. The fact is that the two accounts originate from different locals, one from what is now northern Israel and the other southern Israel.
As one who has studied the Bible a long time, I find it strange that people think that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are in any way contradictory or indicate that the Genesis account of creation is nothing more than a collection of myths. Chapter 2 simply focuses on a particular aspect of creation – the creation of humanity. One might call it “Creation: Lesson 2.” Why should we be surprised that the book (Bible) purporting to describe the God to be worshipped by humans would begin with a general description of how the universe came to exist, then move to focus on humanity, the species with whom the Creator intended a true fellowship and through which He would make Himself known to His creation?
To act as though it is not to be taken as historically true for it is nothing more than a description suitable for cave-dwellers assumes that God was not involved in the production of the Bible. Even if the original hearers were not scientifically literate, God could easily have informed them of an eons-long process of evolution culminating in man.
Also, whether or not Moses was the original author of the two accounts is of little significance, seeing that he is said to be the one inspired by God to include both accounts within the canon of Scripture. It is not as though no one knew how the universe came into existence before Moses showed up. But of the various accounts of creation extant in Moses’ day, the biblical account is the one God inspired him to include in God’s authoritative account of truth.