1“Hey! Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters!
Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat!
Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2Why do you spend money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good,
and let your soul delight itself in richness.
3Turn your ear, and come to me.
Hear, and your soul will live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
4Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander to the peoples.
5Behold, you shall call a nation that you don’t know;
and a nation that didn’t know you shall run to you,
because of Yahweh your God,
and for the Holy One of Israel;
for he has glorified you.”
6Seek Yahweh while he may be found.
Call on him while he is near.
7Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him,
to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not my ways,” says Yahweh.
9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky,
and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth,
and makes it grow and bud,
and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11so is my word that goes out of my mouth:
it will not return to me void,
but it will accomplish that which I please,
and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.
12For you shall go out with joy,
and be led out with peace.
The mountains and the hills will break out before you into singing;
and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands.
13Instead of the thorn the cypress tree will come up;
and instead of the brier the myrtle tree will come up.
It will make a name for Yahweh,
for an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.”
There are several specific and unique differences between the literary and theological account found in Genesis and that of the various stories of creation in the Ancient Near East. There are minor comparisons between Gen 1 and Gen 2 with the Ancient Near Eastern cultures around Israel, but the historical account given to us by Moses has a very different presentation of the creation than ANE cosmologies, including a chronological account consistent with mainline science (absent the evolutionary hypothesis). Moreover, the biblical account has greater literary statement of creation than the ANE cosmologies. Subsequent discussion below reveals a vastly different theological view of the act of creation and its purpose.
Probably the most obvious difference between the biblical account of creation and that of the Ancient Near East cosmologies is monotheism. The biblical account begins with one God who created the universe (Gen 1:1). This is unlike the Ancient Near Eastern cosmologies, in which there were many gods who were created out of a primordial mass.
In some ancient Near Eastern myths, creation is often the result of divine conflicts or struggles among gods or deities. In Genesis there is no such conflict. God creates the world by His will and divine speech, without the need for struggle or conflict. The Creator God simply spoke and by an act of His will the world came into existence (Heb 11:3).
Unlike ANE cosmologies, whose gods came out of the pre-existent cosmos and part of it, the Genesis 1 account presents God and the creation separate from each other. The Creator is not part of creation but over creation, and distinguished from the physical universe.
Genesis emphasizes that humanity is created in the image of God and is given the task of stewardship and dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). This concept of human purpose is distinctive and reflects the biblical idea of humanity's special relationship with God as being in His image, and given responsibility over tending the earth. As well, the creation of the male and female in God's image speaks of a theomorphism1.
There is a limited comparison between God's speaking and ANE accounts, the latter connected to speaking words of incantation, or the like, while God in Genesis 1 speaks reality into existence without manipulating words, demonstrating His sovereignty and control over creation (see also Ps 33:6; 107:20; Isa 55:10, 11; John 1:1, 3; Heb 11:3; Rev 4:11).
The Genesis account of the creation includes a unique feature, with the creator introducing a day of rest on the seventh day. The rest that God takes does not relate to the Creator being tired, but rather an indication that He had ceased the creation of the universe. In the Ten Commandments the creator sets aside a day for His people Israel to cease from work and to contemplate their relationship with the Creator (Gen 2:2, 3).
One may observe in the biblical account of creation a focus on the Creator's evaluation of His handiwork, much like an artist would stand back to view the fruit of his labor in a picture that he has just completed. One sees in Genesis 1 this evaluation of "good" repeatedly as the Creator does His work (Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25) and "very good" (Genesis 1:31) at the end of His work. This is in stark contrast with the Ancient Near Eastern cosmologies where the result of the creative process is not "good" but a result of conflict between the various deities and the chaos produced.
The Genesis account of creation carries a distinctive theological message that emphasizes the goodness of creation, the responsibility of His human creatures to act as co-regents and stewards in the earth. As well, the biblical account of the fall of humans into sin, and the subsequent covenant of God with humans, serves as the foundation of subsequent themes, and human redemption and God's kingdom (Gen 3:15) is unlike anything within the pagan creation accounts.
"When we speak about humans made in the image of God, we understand this as theomorphic and theopathic language. By this is meant that humans are created to be like, but not the same, as their Creator, in our form and in our spiritual expression, since God created humans physically in His image, as well as spiritually. Consequently, without material eyes, the infinite God sees, and without a brain, He thinks. God has created humans as finite physical beings to act similarly to God." H. Wayne House, "Does God Have a Spirit Body?, Christian Research Journal, Vol 40, Num 3, p. 9; Original quote is from H. Wayne House, Does God Feel Your Pain? 2d ed. (Lampion House Publishing, 2009 (rev., 2023), 110. ↩︎