Sistine Chapel Ceiling and Lunettes, 1508-12
For the Egyptians it was (among others) Osiris and Isis, whose origins were dimly understood to be from Geb, the god of the earth, and Nut, the goddess of the sky. The drama of their story was the conspiracy against them led by Isis’ brother Set which resulted in Osiris’ death, ultimate dismemberment, and distribution of body parts throughout the land of Egypt. Closely tied to the agricultural circumstances of the Nile ecosystem the resulting world and life view that accumulated over the centuries in Egypt saw life in this world as paralleling and ultimately participating in the story of the Gods.
For the ancient Sumerians and their Mesopotamian descendants it was the epic tales connected with their 4000 or so god beings of various strengths and locations. Among these, the greatest that we know of, culminated in the ascendency of Ishtar (the goddess of fertility) in her time and Marduk of Babylonia in his. There were stories told, some of which have Biblical counterparts, but consistent among these stories is the explanation of earthly origins as a by-product of some spiritual drama. Ishtar gave children to women and life to vegetation through her attachment to Tammuz the god of the Spring sun and its awakenings. Marduk , after his battles with Apsu and Tiamat (chaos) formed the heavens from half of Tiamat’s corpse and separated the waters above from the waters below. Marduk created man as slaves to do the burdensome work of maintaining creation so that the various gods who the victorious Marduk delegated various responsibilities, would be free to carry on in their life of sensual pleasure. History, and man within it, stood in relation to the gods as the absolute monarch reigning in Babylon stood in relation to the subjects who supported him. Life in this world was a participation in the spiritual drama going on around them.
It was against this cultural environment, and the even more sordid Canaanite mythology, that the words of Gen. 1 were written. Today, we often lose sight of just how radically different the message of Genesis 1 was in its day in light of the various attempts among many critics to show just how much it is similar. Looking for the trees many of these critics fail to see the forest.
I make no attempt to defend Genesis as a story which originates with Moses. I do not believe it. The various story lines within it may very well have come from previous sources in the same way that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke (the Synoptics) probably depended on at least one previous source (the notion of “Q” for instance). The cultural heritage of the people who would become Israel did not begin with Moses in the same way that the Law he brought down from Mt. Sinai did not originate there. What Moses did was cause to be written the story which was intended to correct and offset the ideas of the world in which the Old Testament people of God found themselves. It was polemical to the core and intended to preserve and protect the people against error.
Fundamental to its message was a basic proclamation. History is not an enactment nor a result of some pre-historic cosmic power struggle between rampaging supernatural beings. History does not flow from some tawdry mating story or bloody battle (contra Dante). History begins with the Being who is outside of History, the One who is from Everlasting to Everlasting, and from Whom all stories originate. In the beginning was not the Story... in the beginning, GOD....!
Contra, to my knowledge, to every known religion of the time, the ancient Israelites were told that history is the drama of God, of the supernatural realm as well as the natural one. History is the working out of the drama not the re-enactment of it. Mankind was not created as a subservient menial being but one who alone possessed the ultimate nobility of the Creator Himself, being created in His image. Man was not accorded the status of slave, but the status of overseer, both male and female, regnant over creation and given the mandate to rule in the Creator’s name.
Man’s history, thus conceived, is the drama, the field of conflict and the scene of victory. The lightning-like blaze of these ideas, with their incipient foundations for the equality of mankind, of the sexes, of socio-economic distinctions, as individuals stood before the gaze of their Creator, is astonishing when we contrast it to the cultural milieu of the times. Here is a burst of truth that is as staggering as it is revolutionary. God involves Himself in the progress of history but man is not invited to participate (in his understanding) in anything beyond or above the progress of history. Man, in one sense, is the drama, with each individual contributing a thread to the tapestry which is the final product of history. What Genesis 1 requires is that man starts from this point: In the beginning, God... and over and against all other stories, this is to be proclaimed.
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