22 CREATION
IN BRIEF
PA S SAGE
Genesis 1:1–2:2THEME
The creation of the
universeSETTING
Primeval period Inside
the Garden of Eden, during the
time covered by the first 11
chapters of Genesis.KEY FIGURE
God Creator of the universe.of seven days unfold, life springs
into existence. First, God calls out,
“Let there be light,” and light
appears. Then God makes the sky.
On the third day, God calls the
water to gather into seas, creating
dry land, on which plants and trees
flourish. On day four, the sun and
the moon are put in place, along
with a host of stars. Next, God fills
the sky with birds, and the seas
with all their creatures. On the
sixth day, God populates the land
with all kinds of animals, and
finally creates humanity “in his
own image” (1:27). At this point
in the story, the pinnacle of God’s
creative work, God entrusts creation
into humanity’s stewardship. On
the seventh day, God rests.Rhythms of life
The story of creation has its own
structural beauty. Each account
of God’s activity is punctuated with
“and God said,” “and there was
evening and there was morning,”
“and God saw that it was good.”
This rhythm helps to emphasize
three key messages of the creation
story. The first of these is that God
creates simply by speaking.
Throughout the rest of the Bible,T
he first few words of the
Bible—“In the beginning
God created the heavens
and the earth”—introduce us to
its central character, God. They
also reveal the universal scope
of the Bible’s narrative, from
the heavens to the Earth, and
present its overarching theme—the relationship between God and
everything else. With so much
covered in so few words, it is
not surprising that the start of
Genesis is considered to be one
of the Bible’s most eloquent yet
difficult passages.
These opening verses were
most likely written down sometime
in the 6th century bce, while the
Israelites were being held in exile
by Babylon, the most powerful state
in the region. The story provided
a hopeful message about God’s
purposes for his people and for
the entire world. In contrast to the
Babylonians’ own origin story,
Genesis attributes the existence
of the universe to the goodwill of
one God. It served to reassure the
Israelites that even on foreign soil,
they were not out of the reach of
God’s care, since God had created
all land. God did not stand at a
distance, but was intimately
involved in the story of the world.A world in seven days
Genesis 1:1–2:2 tells a single story
about the beginning of everything.
The origin of the universe starts
with darkness and emptiness (1:2).
As God’s actions over the courseThe Babylonians’ creation story
Believed to have been written
down during the Israelites’
captivity in Babylon, Genesis
provides a significant contrast
to the Babylonians’ own creation
story known as the Enuma
Elish (“When on High”). While
the God of Genesis has a loving
relationship with humans and
regards them as stewards of His
creation, the Babylonian god
Marduk enslaves humanity.
Enuma Elish is essentially an
explanation for the supremacy of
Marduk in the Babylonianpantheon. After a power
struggle between the gods,
Marduk defeats his rival Tiamat,
ripping open her body and
fashioning the two halves into
the earth and the skies. Marduk
then destroys another rival
and uses his blood to create
humankind to perform the
work that the lesser gods have
done until then. Marduk also
imposes order on the universe
by regulating the moon and the
stars and takes control of the
weather and calendar.This impression on a Neo-Assyrian
cylinder seal used to create imprints
on wet clay shows the battle
between Marduk and Tiamat.US_020-025_Let_there_be_Light.indd 22 21/09/17 11:25 am