b. A composite Babylonian flood account from four Sumerian tablets, known as the Gilgamesh Epic originally dating from about 2500–2400 B.C., although the written composite form in cuneiform Akkadian, is much later (ca. 1900–1700 B.C.). It tells about a flood survivor, Utnapishtim, who tells Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, how he survived the great flood and was granted eternal life.
(1) Ea, the water god, warns of a coming flood and tells Utnapishtim (Babylonian form of Ziusudra) to build a boat.
(2) Utnapishtim and his family, along with selected healing plants, survived the flood.
(3) The flood lasted seven days.
(4) The boat came to rest in northern Persia, on Mt. Nisir.
(5) He sent out 3 different birds to see if dry land had yet appeared.
5. The Mesopotamian literature which describes an ancient flood are all drawing from the same source. The names often vary, but the plot is the same. An example is that Zivusudra, Atrahasis and Utnapishtim all represent the same human king.
6. The historical parallels to the early events of Genesis can be explained in light of mankind’s pre-dispersion (Genesis 1–11) knowledge and experience of God. These true historical core memories have been elaborated and mythologicalized into the current flood accounts common throughout the world. The same can also be said not only of creation (Gen.1, 2) and the Flood (Gen. 6–9) but also of human and angelic unions (Genesis 6).
7. Patriarch’s Day (Middle Bronze)
a. Mari tablets—cuneiform legal (Ammonite culture) and personal texts in Akkadian from about 1700 B.C.
b. Nuzi tablets—cuneiform archives of certain families (Horite or Hurrian culture) written in Akkadian from about 100 miles SE of Nineveh about 1500–1300 B.C. They record family and business procedures. For further specific examples, see John H. Walton’s Ancient Israelite Literature in its Cultural Context, pp. 52–58
c. Alalak tablets—cuneiform texts from Northern Syria from about 2000 B.C.
d. Some of the names found in Genesis are recorded as place names in the Mari Tablets: Serug, Peleg, Terah, and Nahor. Other biblical names were also common: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Laban, and Joseph. This shows that biblical names fit this time and place.
8. “Comparative historiographic studies have shown that, along with the Hittites, the ancient Hebrews were the most accurate, objective and responsible recorders of near eastern history.” R. K Harrison, Biblical Criticism, p 5.
9. Archaeology has proven to be so helpful in establishing the historicity of the Bible. However, a word of caution is necessary. Archaeology is not an absolutely trustworthy guide because of
a. poor techniques in early excavations
b. various, very subjective interpretations of the artifacts that have been discovered
c. no agreed-upon chronology of the ancient Near East (although one is being developed from tree rings and pottery).[iii]
God was true to His word and remained faithful revealing His Son on earth at the chosen time to bring salvation to His people.
The Creation
Genesis 1 is the story of the creation. “IN the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). Many definable events were in existence in God’s heart even prior to the creation of our universe. Christ was in existence before physical creation. … “You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). Christ existed as the Lamb of God, slain for the sins of the world, before the world was created. Revelation 13:8 says: “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”. In the spirit realm there was this reality in the heart and plan of the Father and it had that form before it finally manifested itself in the physical world that we call reality. Through eternity it had reality in the spirit world and reality in the heart of the Father before we could finally see its reality in the physical world.[iv]
Not being a historical or scientific treatise God does not explain how He did what He did except to say it was by a word. We know He created creation out of nothing visible, a creation separate from His Heavenly Kingdom. Hebrews 11:3 states: “By faith we understand that the worlds [ages] were prepared [framed] by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible”. In verse 2 He states: “The earth was formless and void, [a waste, emptiness] and darkness was over the surface of [face of] the deep andthe Spirit of God was moving [hovering] over the surface of the waters”. What caused the earth to be in such shape we are not told. Neither are we told the amount of time passed between verse 1 and verse 2. The days of creation apparently do not start until verse 3 when God created light. “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day”.
This was not the light of a Sun or Moon but the light of God’s glory. God intended that the nation Israel demonstrate to all people how glorious it can be to live under the government of God (Ex. 19:4-6). God chose Abraham to be the father of a family that would become a nation and be a blessing to the whole world (Gen. 12:1-3). This blessing would come to all mankind as Israel would allow the light of God’s presence to dwell within her, transform her, and shine out from her as a light to the nations (Isa. 42:6).
God went on to prepare the earth and fill it with living things. He accomplished this by simply speaking a Word. “Then God said” is repeated 8 times in Genesis 1. By a word he created light, the Sun and Moon, water and dry land, the universe of stars, plants and trees, the fish, birds and land animals according to their kind (Ge 1:3-25). “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Ge 1:26–28). “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Ge 1:31).
“THUS the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Ge 1:31). So God completed all of creation in six days. The six days of creation in Gen 1 can represent either (1) literal 24-hour days of creation, (2) literal 24-hour days of divine revelation of creation, (3) extended geological ages or epochs preparatory for the eventual occupancy of man, or (4) a revelatory framework to summarize God’s creative activity, asserting that ‘by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth …’ (Col 1:16).[v]
The fact that God does all works in what He calls a number of “days” does not mean these have to be days as man understands a day (a revolution of the earth in a 24 hour period). We must understand what time really is, that is, what time means to God who lives in eternity. The Bible says this about time from God’s standpoint: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. (2 Peter 3:8-9). Also Psalm 90:4, written by Moses, also the author of Genesis