Here at Cross Guard Ministries, our core principle is that Context is King. Because of this, before we dive into our deep exposition of the Word of God, we will dive into the context of Genesis- both the historical, and cultural, and literary context.

Introduction

The Book of Genesis is the first book in the Torah and is penned by Moses. The exact date of his writing is unknown; however, it was sometime before they crossed the River Jordan. It was written to give this nation of wanderers a written identity, even though they already had a significant oral tradition for passing down these stories.  While no single author signs their name to Genesis, it is the consensus of scholarship, OT, and NT that Moses wrote Genesis after the Exodus. However, that does not mean it didn’t go through some editorial changes- as minor as they were. Some examples of these changes include the mention of “Dan” (14:14) [which is a city that was not named until the time of the Judges (Judges 18:29)] and the use of a phrase that assumed the existence of Israelite kings (Gn. 36:31).

Genesis’ Literary, Historical and Cultural Context

The natural literary division of Genesis is as follows: Primeval History (1-11) and Patriarchal History (12-50). Primeval History refers to the more general history of the created world, and Patriarchal History refers to the more specific history of the chosen people of God. 

Primeval History

As stated earlier, Primeval History covers the first 11 chapters of Genesis and is more of a 30,000-foot view of human history. It’s more of a general history, if you will. As we explore the context of primeval history, we will specifically be looking at 4 of the 7 C’s of history that are covered here: Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, and Confusion. When we look at these different stories, we will also be comparing them to ancient myths from around that time period- with a few exceptions: Mesopotamian, Babylonian, Greek, Egyptian, Norse, Maori, and Chinese mythologies. Some of these, such as Greek mythology, are written down at a later date, but due to the widespread usage of oral tradition prior to writing things down, it is possible certain myths existed at the same time.

Creation (Genesis 1-2:3)

In the context in which it was written, the idea of a creation story was not uncommon in the Mesopotamian area. Surrounded by other peoples that worshipped other gods, creation stories abounded- yet the story recorded in Genesis 1 breaks the mold of the stories they heard from around them.

In Sumerian mythology, we see that they held beliefs that the heavens and earth were once united, and then they split for some reason. We see the existence of multiple deities over specific aspects of creation, as well as multiple battles throughout the course of creation. In fact, Marduk- a young warrior god- kills Tiamat and splits her in half, placing one half in the sky to become the heavens and the other half to be the earth. From Tiamat’s body, he then creates “clouds, winds, mists, mountains, and earth.” In fact, in the article by Ira Spar concerning Mesopotamian Creation Myths, he notes “no single myth addressed issues of initial creation.” Fascinating, isn’t it? The creation myths don’t ever deal with how earth and heavens came to be- only that they already had existed before time with the gods. Yet, in Genesis 1:1, we are given the answer: God created them. Once again, it displays the supremacy of Elohim, that unlike these other gods He was able to create from nothing.

We also see that mankind was made from the blood of Alla-gods- or the blood of creator gods- and created to labor in the place of the gods to give the gods rest.  Now, let’s compare. It should be noted that these principles we shall explore go beyond just Sumerian mythos, but extend to Greek Mythology (Hesiod’s Theogony), Egyptian Mythology (Heliopolis Creation Myth), Norse Mythology (The Prose Edda), Maori Mythology (New Zealand), and Chinese Mythology (The Myth of Pangu).

In Hesiod’s Theogony, he describes a war between the Titans and their parents, and then the Titanomachy where the Olympians overthrew the Titans- all for the throne of the gods. In Genesis, God does not need to fight a war to earn His throne; He already possesses it, and always has. To separate day and night, He does not need to tear apart a cosmic parent; He merely speaks and “it became so, and remains so.” (730-700 B.C.)

In the Heliopolis Creation Myth, Egyptian creation requires actual physical deities being pushed apart, whereas we see God in Genesis is outside of time, space, and matter- he is a transcendent God yet an interactive God (2400-2300 B.C.)

In the Prose Edda, Odin and his brothers tear apart Ymir to engineer the cosmos- Ymir’s flesh becomes the earth, his bones become mountains, his skull becomes the sky, and his blood becomes the oceans. In Genesis, it rejects this line of thought- much like it did the Babylonian creation order- that matter is not a corpse; it is a clean, intentional creation spoken into being and pronounced “very good” (1220-1223 A.D.). 

In Maori Mythology, we see something similar to Egyptian mythology- where again physical deities are pushed apart for the purpose of creation (1200-1300 A.D.)

In Chinese Mythology, the universe began as a cosmic egg that was split by Pangu, who held the top up as the sky and the bottom as the ground. Pangu actually dies of exhaustion from maintaining order, and his breath becomes the wind, his voice thunder, and his parasites humans. In Genesis, we see God doesn’t ever break a sweat- He establishes the universe with ease (220-280 A.D.)

Firstly, we see in a very simple statement in 1:1 that God created everything. There was no other god, no battle, no contest to become the king of the gods. Nothing was sacrificed or claimed for the creation of the world as Tiamat was- rather, He merely spoke it into being and it was. It answers the question of the origin of the earth and heavens, and it establishes God as pre-existent and omnipotent. Whereas Babylonian creation arises out of violent divine conflict, Genesis creation is peaceful, orderly, and pronounced: “very good.”  In fact, after each creation, the Bible repeats the phrase “it became so” (wayehî-kēn)- which is extremely important because it displays the absolute authority of God. Whereas the Babylonian and other gods had to fight and struggle to create, God merely spoke- and “it became so”. The Hebrew phrase here can actually also be translated to read “it became so, and it remains so,” Identifying the past historical reality of creation and asserting the permanent present reality established by God. 

Next, we see a distinctive difference between the mythological reason for mankind and the biblical reason for mankind. While the mythologies describe mankind as created for forced labor for the gods to rest, God created mankind with a different purpose in mind: stewardship and fellowship. Many of the other gods looked with disdain upon mankind, yet God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden and spent time with them. 

Then, we see the gods had to rest- that was the sole purpose of mankind, so they could catch their breath. In fact, one creation myth, the creator god, simply died of exhaustion. Yet the God of Genesis chose to rest on the Seventh Day from the work He had done. 

Corruption (Genesis 3)

After the Creation of the Cosmos, the next milestone in Primeval History is corruption. In Mesopotamian lore, the closest parallel to the Genesis account of the Fall we have is the Myth of Adapa. Adapa accidentally breaks the wing of the South Wind during a storm, and is summoned to heaven to account for it before Anu, the storm god. Enki, Adapa’s patron deity, plays a deceptive trick and tells Adapa that the god Anu will give him the “bread and water of death” and to not partake of it. Instead, Anu actually offers Adapa the bread and water of eternal life- but Adapa, following Enki’s advice, throws the bread and water away- accidentally throwing away humanity’s chance at immortality. Something to note here is the fact that there was already death in the world- otherwise the offer of eternal life would not have had a big impact. We also see in other accounts that the source of human suffering in mythology is built-in, that humanity was not made perfect- that this had been the design and will of the gods.

However, in the Genesis account, we see a different story. We see a mankind that was created perfectly and in the image of God, that walked with God and spent time with Him in perfect fellowship. A world unmarred by sin, shame, corruption, pain, and death. That the world as it is now was not God’s design or intention, but rather the consequence of mankind’s own sin. While in the Epic of Gilgamesh, when he finds immortality, and it is stolen by a crafty serpent, we see the serpent of Genesis has no actual power. He can’t take away from mankind what God had given them, nor could he corrupt them himself. Rather, he had to convince them to give up their position. And even in their disobedience, God promised a redeemer who would eventually crush the Serpent (3:15). Genesis uses the exact same stage props (the first man [Adapa and Adam], a test of eating [bread of life and fruit of forbidden wisdom], a deceptive counselor [Enki and Satan], and a loss of immortality [accidental and intentional]), but it completely flips the script on human accountability. The mythologies say to blame the gods for us not having immortality, as we were susceptible to a cosmic trick- yet in Genesis, we see that humanity is the morally responsible agent that chose to walk away from their Creator.

Catastrophe (Genesis 6)

After the creation and corruption of the creation, we see every single major religion and mythology written concerning a global flood. However, each mythology has its own reasons. In Mesopotamia and Near Eastern mythology, we see the oldest written flood accounts, from the Atra-hasis account. Humanity had grown too loud and kept the high god Enlil from sleeping, and so he sent a flood upon them to shut them up. However, a friendly god Ea warned Atra-hasis (or, Utnapishtim) and told him to build a giant cubed boat coated in pitch and loaded with his family, craftsmen, and animals. The gods had made a fatal mistake, however, because they began to grow hungry because there was no one to make sacrifices, so they blessed the hero with immortality. In Greek mythology, Zeus wanted to punish the Hubris and vicious cruelty of the Bronze Age humans. The survivors were only Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha, who were exceptionally just. They packed supplies and floated for 9 days before landing at Mount Parnassus, and to repopulate the earth, they threw stones over their shoulders, which turned into humans. In Hinduism, a cosmic cycle ended, triggering a natural periodic dissolution of the universe by water. 

Confusion (Genesis 11)

Interestingly enough, there are a plethora of mythological stories that parallel the Account of the Tower of Babel. The Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta is a Sumerian epic poem that describes a golden age when all humanity spoke a single, unified language, and praised the god Enlil in unison. However, the god of wisdom, Enki, altered speech in human mouths and brought about linguistic confusion. In Babylonian tradition, there’s a legend stating that men grew proud of their strength and built a huge tower to reach heaven, but the gods sent great winds to topple the structure and mixed up the speech of the people. In many indigenous mythologies, especially in the Mesoamerican region, there are stories of a great tower or a primordial disruption where a single language was broken into many, scattering tribes across the earth. In the Bible, humanity attempts to build a tower to reach the heavens, and God confuses their language as a consequence of their hubris. 

Patriarchal History (Genesis 12-50)

While the Primeval History deals with cosmic origins, the Patriarchal History drops us into a highly specific historical reality: the Middle Bronze Age (approximately 2000-1550 B.C.) During this period, the Fertile Crescent experienced massive migrations of West Semitic-speaking peoples, known collectively as the Amorites. They moved from Mesopotamia down into the Levant (otherwise known as Canaan). Abraham’s journey from Ur of the Chaldeans up to Haran, and finally down into Canaan, perfectly mirrors these documented Middle Bronze Age migration routes. 

Canaan was not a unified nation; it was a fragmented patchwork of small, independent city-states. Between these cities were vast, unclaimed pastoral lands. The Patriarchs are described as gerim (resident aliens) or semi-nomadic pastoralists. They live in tents and move their flocks through the interstitial spaces between established cities like Shechem, Hebron, and Jerusalem.

Society at this time was centered around the Paterfamilias system, which was organized around bet ab (father’s house). This meant that the oldest living male in the family, deemed the patriarch, had absolute authority over life, death, and property within his “clan” or family. As part of the legal and social customs, the eldest son typically received a double portion of the inheritance as well as family leadership.

Conclusion

This blog was solely for the purpose of giving a general overview of the historical-cultural context of the book of Genesis. However, at the beginning of every chapter post, and when necessary as we go verse-by-verse, more of the context will be explored. Consider the context above a baseline for understanding, and as more understanding is required, more context shall be given.