Create, Creation

Who created and sustains the universe? Why was it created? What is the nature of the Creator-creature relationship? These are the sorts of questions that the Bible addresses when it treats the topic of creation. Such queries are essentially theological in nature. Therefore, the juxtaposition, by some modern interpreters, of scriptural assertions about creation with scientific evidence and theories regarding origins often results in fruitless comparisons of different, although equally relevant, bodies of knowledge. At the risk of oversimplifying the issue, one might say that Scripture deals with the who, why, and what questions posed above, whereas science investigates the problems of when and how the observable universe came into existence and continues to function.

In order to understand what the Bible teaches about creation, one must go beyond delineating the semantic range of relevant words to examine pertinent biblical passages in their historical, literary, and theological contexts. This sort of investigation reveals a degree of similarity between the Bible and antecedent Near Eastern literature. While it is unlikely that biblical authors consulted this corpus directly, they were presumably aware of the various creation traditions of the nations surrounding them. That would account for the similarities. There are also profound differences between the Bible's perspective on the cosmos and its origins and that of contemporaneous literature. The more one compares them, the more evident it becomes that scriptural authors were motivated both to make certain affirmations about creation and to contradict some conceptions about it that were current in their day.

The Eternal Creator Has No Peer. The assertion that the one, eternally existing God of the patriarchs and their descendants is the Creator must surely have been intended, at least in part, as a polemic against the pantheons of gods of other peoplesMesopotamians, Egyptians, Canaaniteswith whom the Israelites came in contact. The creation myths of these people often included accounts of the origins of the gods and conflicts between the gods. These divine rivalries frequently provided the context for the establishment of the universe and the rhythms of nature.

The Creator Has No Rival. The God of Israel's unchallenged hegemony over the various realms of the cosmos and the creatures that inhabit them further emphasizes his uniqueness in comparison to the gods of other nations. Whereas typically their domains are limited and they must contend with rivals, his rule is uncontested. The author of Genesis 1 takes great pains to demonstrate to his audience that the universe is not populated with deities or demons who need to be subdued or appeased, but that it is all controlled by one Creator. He does not need to struggle with nature in order to make it conform to his plan and purpose. Neither is his creative word the sort of magical incantation that is attributed to Ptah and Re in Egyptian mythology. It is the sovereign God's simple command which, when uttered, produces the desired result. Furthermore, the primeval ocean is not a divine behemoth, like Tiamat, to be butchered in order to fashion earth and sky, but an impersonal part of the universe over which God's potent wind/Spirit broods (v. 2). Indeed, the great sea monsters, which cavort with the myriads of other creatures in the watery depths, are his handiwork (v. 21 cf. Psalm 104:25-26 ). The seas, which are remnants of the original watery chaos, are assigned borders at earth's edges (vv. 9-10 cf. Job 38:8-11 ; Psalm 104:5-9 ; Prov 8:29 ). The sun and moon are not afforded the dignity of their usual Hebrew names (semes [v,m,v] and yareah [;jer"y]) because those designations might bring to mind the sun-god, Shamash, and the moon-god, Yarih. Instead they are referred to as the greater and lesser lights. These luminaries, along with the stars, are not depicted as deities controlling human destiny, but simply as components of God's creation that function in their assigned roles of providing light and the basis for calendrical calculations (vv. 14-18). Fertility is not something to be deified, as it is in Canaanite religion, for example, but a capacity created by God (vv. 11-12, 22, 28).