The Genesis Version

4 minutes • 816 words

Every puzzle that we have mentioned is answered by my interpretation of the “Epic of Creation”.

Why is there a deep cavity as the Pacific Ocean on Earth?

This is because of the “waters” of Tiamat which was called the Watery Monster.

Some modern scholars describe Earth as “Planet Ocean” – it is the only planet in our solar system that has life-giving waters.

New as these cosmologic theories may sound, they were accepted fact to the prophets and sages whose words fill the Old Testament.

The prophet Isaiah recalled “the primeval days” when the might of the Lord “carved the Haughty One, made spin the watery monster, dried up the waters of Tehom-Raba.”

He called the Lord Yahweh as “my primeval king” and rendered in a few verses the cosmogony of the epic of Creation.

“By thy might, the waters thou didst disperse; the leader of the watery monsters thou didst break up.”

Job recalled how this celestial Lord also smote “the assistants of the Haughty One”.

The hammered canopy stretched out in the place of Tehom, The Earth suspended in the void… His powers the waters did arrest, His energy the Haughty One did cleave; His Wind the Hammered Bracelet measured out; His hand the twisting dragon did extinguish.

Biblical scholars now recognize that:

the Hebrew Tehom (“watery deep”) stems from Tiamat
Tehom-Raba means “great Tiamat”
the biblical understanding of primeval events is based on the Sumerian cosmologic epics.

The opening verses of the Book of Genesis describes how:

the Wind of the Lord hovered over the waters of Tehom
the lightning of the Lord (Marduk in the Babylonian version) lit the darkness of space as it hit and split Tiamat, creating Earth and the Rakia (literally, “the hammered bracelet”).

This celestial band (hitherto translated as “firmament”) is called “the Heaven.”

The Book of Genesis (1:8) explicitly states that it is this “hammered out bracelet” that the Lord had named “heaven” (shamaim).

The Akkadian texts also called this celestial zone “the hammered bracelet” (rakkis), and describe how Marduk stretched out Tiamat’s lower part until he brought it end to end, fastened into a permanent great circle. The Sumerian sources leave no doubt that the specific “heaven,” as distinct from the general concept of heavens and space, was the asteroid belt.

Our Earth and the asteroid belt are the “Heaven and Earth” of both Mesopotamian and biblical references, created when Tiamat was dismembered by the celestial Lord.

After Marduk’s North Wind had pushed Earth to its new celestial location, Earth obtained its own orbit around the Sun (resulting in our seasons) and received its axial spin (giving us day and night).

The Mesopotamian texts claim that one of Marduk’s tasks after he created Earth was, indeed, to have “allotted [to Earth] the days of the Sun and established the precincts of day and night.”

The biblical concepts are identical:

And God said: “Let there be Lights in the hammered Heaven, to divide between the Day and the Night; and let them be celestial signs and for Seasons and for Days and for Years.”

Modern scholars believe that after Earth became a planet it was a hot ball of belching volcanoes, filling the skies with mists and clouds. As temperatures began to cool, the vapors turned to water, separating the face of Earth into dry land and oceans.

The 5th tablet of Enuma Elish, though badly mutilated, imparts exactly the same scientific information.

Describing the gushing lava as Tiamat’s “spittle,” the Creation epic correctly places this phenomenon before the formation of the atmosphere, the oceans of Earth, and the continents.

After the “cloud waters were gathered,” the oceans began to form, and the “foundations” of Earth—its continents—were raised. As “the making of cold”—a cooling off—took place, rain and mist appeared.

Meanwhile, the “spittle” continued to pour forth, “laying in layers,” shaping Earth’s topography.

Once again, the biblical parallel is clear:

God said: “Let the waters under the skies be gathered together, unto one place, and let dry land appear.”

And it was so.

Earth, with oceans, continents, and an atmosphere, was now ready for the formation of mountains, rivers, springs, valleys. Attributing all Creation to the Lord Marduk, Enuma Elish continued the narration:

Putting Tiamat’s head [Earth] into position, He raised the mountains thereon. He opened springs, the torrents to draw off. Through her eyes he released the Tigris and Euphrates. From her teats he formed the lofty mountains, Drilled springs for wells, the water to carry off.

In perfect accord with modern findings, both the Book of Genesis and Enuma Elish and other related Mesopotamian texts place the beginning of life upon Earth in the waters, followed by the “living creatures that swarm” and “fowl that fly.”

Not until then did “living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts” appear upon Earth, culminating with the appearance of Man—the final act of Creation.