Interaction Paper:
The Biblical Creation in its Ancient Near East Context
By Joseph Lam
In the article “Biblical Creation in its Ancient Near East Context” Joseph Lam poses the question “If the creation in Genesis 1 is in fact one among many similar ancient accounts, how can we justifiably assert its truth over against the others?” (1) Lam argues that the creation story of the Bible is not just a re-telling of other Near East stories but is a wholly new and superior story standing on its own. I agree with Lam’s point of view, the fact that the Bible borrows some ideas from other Near East cultures only shows that one of its main purposes is to debunk those ideas not to re-tell or copy them.
His first example talks of one of the commonalities in Near East creation stories of the time. Most often the idea of either a random and chaotic formation of the world or a spontaneous eruption into being. The biblical account on the other hand makes sure to contradict this idea by telling a story of a specific intentional creator. God. And God was alone. He did not have to defeat anyone or wrestle anything to create the world. He simply decided to do it and spoke it into being. One possible reason for this point could be to specifically contradict the other creation stories. Stories where the Earth came about from a war between two or more gods and/or a war between forces of good and evil.
Another point Dr. Lam considers is the relationship between humans and gods. In most Near East creation stories humans were created to be servants to the gods. People would create images of the gods that they would worship and serve. Not so in the Bible. Biblical writers show humans not as servants to God but as images of God. God therefor forbids the creation of images of himself because he created humans to be that image. To be a reflection of him on this Earth. So in this case the bible is taking a common story about images and idols but taking on a completely new point of view. Similarly, the bible takes the idea of temples as homes for the gods in other Near East cultures and counters it with a new idea that the whole creation is God’s temple.