What Scripture says
Genesis 1–11 tells of creation, the first humans, the flood and the tower of Babel. Its message is distinctive:
- One God creates everything by his word: “And God said, ‘Let there be light’” (Genesis 1:3, ESV).
- Creation is “very good” (Genesis 1:31).
- Humans are made “in the image of God” to rule the earth (Genesis 1:26–28).
- God sends the flood because of human violence and wickedness (Genesis 6:5, 11–13), but saves Noah and makes a covenant never to flood the earth again (Genesis 9:8–17).
What the evidence says
History
The other ancient stories
In the 19th century, archaeologists in Iraq found clay tablets containing Babylonian and Assyrian stories with striking parallels to Genesis. In 1872, George Smith of the British Museum read a flood story on a tablet from Nineveh, and reportedly was so excited he began undressing.
- The Epic of Gilgamesh, best known from 7th-century BC copies, though its story goes back to about 2000 BC. In Tablet 11, Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh how the gods sent a flood, and one god warned him to build a boat.
- Atra-Hasis (c. 1700 BC), an older Babylonian story covering creation and a flood.
- Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation myth, written perhaps around 1100 BC or earlier.
The flood stories compared
| Element | Gilgamesh / Atra-Hasis | Genesis |
|---|---|---|
| Why the flood | The gods are annoyed by human noise (Atra-Hasis) | God judges human violence and evil |
| The hero | Warned secretly by one god against the others | Warned by the one God, because he is righteous |
| The boat | A cube (Gilgamesh) or a round boat (one tablet) | A long box, 300 × 50 × 30 cubits |
| The birds | A dove, a swallow, a raven | A raven, then a dove three times |
| Afterwards | The gods, hungry without sacrifices, “gathered like flies” | God makes a covenant with all creatures |
The similarities are real: a divine warning, a boat, animals, birds sent out, a sacrifice afterwards. But the differences in theology are just as striking.
The creation stories compared
In Enuma Elish, the god Marduk defeats the sea goddess Tiamat in battle and splits her body to make the sky and the earth. Humans are made from the blood of a rebel god, to do the gods’ work so the gods can rest.
In Genesis 1, there is no battle. God speaks, and things exist. The sun and moon, worshipped as gods by Israel’s neighbours, are called simply “the greater light” and “the lesser light”, as if refusing to name them (Genesis 1:16). The great sea creatures, often monsters in ancient myths, are just creatures God made (Genesis 1:21). And humans aren’t slaves of the gods; they are God’s image-bearers, given rest on the seventh day.
Context
Copying or responding?
Scholars have proposed several explanations for the similarities:
- Genesis borrowed from Babylonian stories, perhaps during the exile. Many critical scholars hold this.
- Genesis deliberately responds to them, using familiar story shapes to make very different claims, sometimes called polemic. Many scholars, including John Walton, see this.
- They share a common memory of real events, such as a great flood, told differently by different peoples.
- They share a common culture, so similar themes are natural, without direct borrowing.
These views aren’t exclusive. Shared culture explains the common setting, and the theological differences show Genesis is making its own point.
Where they meet
Genesis was written in a world that already told stories about creation and a flood. Whether drawing on a shared memory or responding to its neighbours, Genesis tells the story to make radically different claims about God and humanity.
What’s still open
- How much direct contact there was between Genesis and these texts.
- When Genesis took its final form (see 3.13).
Bottom line
Genesis and these stories share an ancient Near Eastern setting, but Genesis pushes back on them: one God, a good creation, and humans with dignity instead of slaves to the gods. How they relate is debated, so this is rated Debated.