When in the height, heaven was not named,/ And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name,//And the primeval Apsu, who begot them,/And chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both/Their waters were mingled together,/ And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen;/When of the gods none had been called into being,/ And none bore a name, and no destinies were ordained;/ Then were created the gods in the midst of heaven,/ Lahmu and Lahamu were called into being…” These are the opening lines of the Enuma Elish, a Babylonian mythological poem about creation. Since time immemorial, people asked themselves about the origin of the world, the origin of life. The answer was clear: God created everything; no one doubted the intervention of a Superior Being.
However, there are many ways of explaining how all came about. Myths were then used to explain the beginning and its meaning. Myth is not – as many believe – a lie. Myths are ways of relating a truth too deep to be explained, and they are common place in all pre-scientific culture for myth allows the truth to be told without verification.
When we recite the Creed, we say that we believe in God the Creator of heaven and earth, what do we mean by that? The Jews, our forefathers in faith, had no problem in believing that God created the universe. This is why there is no attempt in the Old Testament to give evidence to this; it was common knowledge. There are, instead, a number of stories of creation, each focusing on a specific theme and answering specific questions. If we look at these stories, we learn more about God’s way of creating, the reasons behind His decision, and the meaning of creation for us. The Bible was written over a number of years, some of the earliest writings go back to the 10th century before Christ; the latest are dated at the beginning of the 2nd century after Christ. When the various editors of the many books that make up the Bible put together the material, they did not always follow a chronological order. We can see that in the first book of the Scriptures, Genesis. The first chapter was written some 550 years before Christ, when many Jews were deported to Babylon. The following chapter is much older, perhaps written at the time of King Solomon, about 950 B.C. Each of those chapters tells a different story of creation, let us see why.
FULL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNION
Many believe that the first chapter of Genesis is the history of creation. Certainly the text speaks about that. However, we should not forget that the Holy Scripture did not need to affirm God as Creator, that much was believed by everybody. The text seems more interested in answering other questions and proposing some new teachings about God. This chapter was written by people close to the priestly elite, the author wants to make clear that God created the universe, and that there were no other gods helping Him. We can see that when God created, first of all, the light. Yet nowhere it is said what would give light. The stars, the sun and the moon will be created only later on in the week. Why? The answer to this question is very simple. At the time this chapter was written, people believed that stars and planets were animated reality, deities. But the Bible says no! They are creatures and have neither will nor power of their own. So God created light, which emanated from Himself. He did that by the mere use of His word. God said let there be light, and there was light. In this way, the author states clearly that God is One, that He is powerful and that He does not need other material to create whatever He wishes. He also says that the gods are a pure invention, not to be listened to.
The story in Genesis 1 is arranged in seven days. The seven-day week was in use before the Jews organized themselves as a people. So when the author of this chapter wrote his story, he simply took the way people measured time (the day started at sunset and went on until the following sunset; seven days made a week) and transformed it. In Babylon, each day was dedicated to one god. This way of naming days has continued until today. Think of the English names of days: Sun-day, Moon-day, these two days are dedicated to the worship of the sun and of the moon. All the other days are dedicated to Anglo Saxons deity. Interesting to note: English simply translated the names of the Latin week which, in turn, was based on the way the days were called throughout the Mediterranean – not for the People of God. The week of creation is clearly a week that ‘grows’ with time. Each day brings something good, and there is a crescendo. In fact, the human being is created on the sixth day, soon after the creation of the animal. For each day, God says that what He created was good; on the sixth day He says it was very good. The whole action of God seems focused on the creation of the human being, for a purpose. First of all, the human being is created similarly to God. The words used in Hebrew point to a physical and psychological similarity. This new being is also created male and female, i.e. man and woman, formed in the likeness of God. But what is the purpose of creation?
This is stated in Genesis with regard to the seventh day. God brings His creation to completion and then stays in fellowship with all His creation. The seventh day is the day creation should look forward to: to spend more time in the presence of God. We can see that the real purpose of this chapter is not to tell us how God created the world, but why did God create it and us. The Sumerians, the Assyrians, the Egyptians are people who dedicated their time to their gods. The Jews said time was created by the One God who was Lord of time and used it to bring creation to His aim: its full development and in full communion with Him.
THE THEOLOGY OF INCARNATION
Genesis 2 gives us a very different story of creation. It is a much older text and it is not preoccupied about how God created. In fact, the story starts when the earth is already there, we are not told what happened before. God is shown as taking soil, giving it the shape of a person and blowing His breath on it. The image became alive and was called ‘Adam.’ Adam is not a name, it means human being. We did not know if Adam was man or woman; this would be discovered only at the end of the story. Adam is called to participate in God’s creation. Adam gives all animals their names and, in Jewish culture, the name gives identity to the one carrying it. Then, since Adam did not find a suitable companion, God creates another Adam. It is now that man recognizes woman – similar yet different. We also see that the author is telling us that God wants the human being to work with Him in managing creation. Also, we learn that only in relationship and partnership can we really become man or woman. Only the Creator can give us the capacity to be full persons, but we need to work on ourselves to grow to full maturity.
The prophets often refer to God as Creator and Lord of Creation. Even though they do not express a coherent thought about creation, there are many quotations where we can see how the prophets regarded God not only as a Creator in the past – the One who started things out – but the Lord who keeps intervening for creation. Thus, they proclaim God as a continuous Creator. In the book of Isaiah, we find many references to God as Creator. God acts in history and makes the universe (44:24), measures the waters (40:12), calculates the grains of soil (40:12), weighs the world, but also creates the stars by calling them by name (40:26). In Is. 45:12, we find the words: “I am He who made the earth and created man upon it. I am He who stretched out the heavens with my own hands and gave order to their whole array.” The quotations could go on and on. Isaiah says that God is the real Lord over the whole creation, and moves history along His plan of salvation.
In a special way, Ezekiel makes use of the ‘words’ of creation. He uses the word bara (to create, used only in reference to God) six times. Ezekiel also uses the word raqia, the firmament, tehom, the abyss, demut, similarity (with God), gan eden, the garden of Eden, and especially ruach, breath, spirit. All these words appear in the creation story of Genesis 1 and 2. Most impressively, Ezekiel not only uses the vocabulary of creation, but makes certain claims that seem to supersede Genesis. In Ez. 1, we find the rendition of a vision of God. Ezekiel says that God is similar to man! This changes what Genesis says, placing it upside down; it is the theology of incarnation.
A CONTINUOUS PRESENCE
The theme of creation is found also in the Psalms and in Wisdom literature. It is impossible to quote all the references to creation we find in these writings. However, it is important to note how wisdom itself takes on human characteristics; the personification of Wisdom is not created, but generated (Pr. 8:22.24.25). Wisdom becomes the architect of creation, the medium between God and the human being. In Sirach (24:3), we find the statement that Wisdom is the word that came out of the mouth of God and presided over creation. These are themes we shall later find in the New Testament.
All the Gospels start in a way that resembles Genesis. Matthew starts with the list of ancestors, which he calls “the book of generation of Jesus Christ.” Mark says “the beginning.” Luke does not make a direct reference but takes up many of the themes of creation. It is especially in John that we see a clear and strong reference to creation.
John starts his gospel with the words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He then continues “All things were made through Him; and without Him nothing came to being.” John clearly states that God is Creator and that creation came about because of the Word, which is a reference to Christ. He then continues speaking about the ‘light’ (first thing created by God in Genesis) that takes over the darkness. Also, Saint Paul often refers to Jesus as generated by the Father and Himself as promoter of creation: everything was made by Him, for Him, in view of Him (as an example, read Col. 1:17-20).
Even though the Bible does not give us a specific development of the idea of God as Creator, we have seen many aspects of God throughout the Sacred Scriptures. When we proclaim: “We believe in one God, Creator of heaven and earth” we link this truth to all these aspects. Proclaiming God as Creator means, first of all, saying that He is the Origin of reality, of the whole universe. He is the Origin of life. We also say that God acts in history. He is not a spectator who enjoys to see how we fare in life and perhaps enjoys our troubles. No! God hears the cry of the poor, sends a Liberator, prepares the ground for incarnation, and sends His Only Son. Saying that God creates means saying that we believe in His continuous presence in us, that He can really make new heavens and a new earth, where peace and justice will reign.
