The following excerpt is from http://www.geocities.com/stmetanat/genesis1.htm
It basically relates a theory of vowel pointing to
support the theory that the author of Genesis 1 ripped
off Marduk mythology.
Here is the reasoning presented:
BEGIN QUOTE
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" is only one of
possible translations. When the word ברא is vowel-pointed as בָּרָא (bārā),
it is a
verb meaning "he created". However, it is probable that the original
vowel-pointing
was בְּרֹא (berō), which is a gerund meaning "creating"; in which case the
verse translates as "in the beginning of God's creating the heavens and the
earth". This provides a much clearer setting for what comes after.
In the beginning of God's creating the heavens and the earth, there was not
a state of total nothingness or nihilum: there was a primeval realm of water
to
be resolved into the reality of sea and sky we see today. The word tehōm,
meaning "abyss", is an allusion to an ancient, pre-Biblical Babylonian myth.
According to Babylonian mythology, the god Marduk fought the water-goddess
Tiamat (=tehōm), slew her and cut her into two: the sea and the sky.
END QUOTE
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