Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jerry Shepherd <jshepherd53 AT gmail.com>]

Hi Rolf,

Just a few things in reply to your concerns:

(1)  My use of the term "chaos" should not be taken to imply that I regard
this account as mythological.  I will confess that I think of the narrative
in Gen 1 as more symbolic than literal, something akin to an
impressionistic painting, but I would not use the term mythological myself,
on account of all the baggage it carries.  I am simply stating here that I
believe the Genesis creation account begins where ANE accounts begin, with
some kind of primordial, chaotic, unformed setting, from which the creation
takes place.  If you read some of my other posts, I don't take the first
three verses of Gen 1 as being sequential.   Rather, I take 1:1 as a title
or summary statement for the entire chapter, or as a dependent clause, with
the first main clause coming in v. 2 or v. 3, as in the NRSV and NJPS
(Tanakh).  Thus, v. 2 is the setting for the creation narrative which
begins proper in v. 3.

(2) Any relationship the Gen 1 account has with Enuma Elish or other such
similar accounts is polemical in nature. So the Gen 1 assumes the same
cosmography, but militates against any theogenic elements.

(3)  I trust your reading of the material Martin Shields recommended to you
will help make the position clearer.

Blessings,

Jerry Shepherd
Taylor Seminary
Edmonton, Alberta