1Rejoice in Yahweh, you righteous!
Praise is fitting for the upright.
2Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre.
Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings.
3Sing to him a new song.
Play skillfully with a shout of joy!
4For Yahweh’s word is right.
All his work is done in faithfulness.
5He loves righteousness and justice.
The earth is full of the loving kindness of Yahweh.
6By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made:
all their army by the breath of his mouth.
7He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap.
He lays up the deeps in storehouses.
8Let all the earth fear Yahweh.
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
9For he spoke, and it was done.
He commanded, and it stood firm.
10Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing.
He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect.
11The counsel of Yahweh stands fast forever,
the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
12Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh,
the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.
13Yahweh looks from heaven.
He sees all the sons of men.
14From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15he who fashions all of their hearts;
and he considers all of their works.
16There is no king saved by the multitude of an army.
A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
17A horse is a vain thing for safety,
neither does he deliver any by his great power.
18Behold, Yahweh’s eye is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his loving kindness,
19to deliver their soul from death,
to keep them alive in famine.
20Our soul has waited for Yahweh.
He is our help and our shield.
21For our heart rejoices in him,
because we have trusted in his holy name.
22Let your loving kindness be on us, Yahweh,
since we have hoped in you.
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. ↩︎