Marduk versus Yahweh: Genesis 1's Reassertion of Yahweh's Power in Exile

The destruction of Solomon’s Temple in 586 BCE was an act of violent de-creation for many ancient Judeans, who believed that the destruction of the Temple meant that Yahweh had been defeated by Marduk, the supreme deity of Babylon (Armstrong 1996, 98). Though this belief was potentially disastrous for the future of Judaism, the author of the P source used ancient Israelite and Babylonian mythology to disprove this assumption and assert Yahweh’s supremacy and power over Marduk and Babylon (Armstrong 1996, 101, 106; Coogan and Chapman, 27-33). 

Marduk's defeat of Tiamat

The author of the P source used their creation account to illustrate Yahweh’s supremacy and superiority to Marduk (Coogan and Chapman 2020, 27-33). The creation account in Genesis 1 is strikingly similar to the Enuma Elish, a Babylonian creation myth and hymn to the storm god Marduk, in which Marduk defeats Tiamat, the goddess of the salt waters (Coogan and Chapman 2020, 30-1). Marduk defeats Tiamat after an epic, bloody battle, and he creates the world through the gruesome dismemberment of her corpse: “He divided the monstrous shape and created marvels from it/ He sliced her in half like a fish for drying/ Half of her he put up to roof the sky…” (Coogan and Chapman 2020, 31). Marduk’s defeat of Tiamat establishes him as king of the gods and Babylon’s supreme deity, who conquered the forces of chaos to bring order to a disordered world (Coogan and Chapman 2020, 30-1). 

    Like the Enuma Elish, Genesis 1 tells of a supreme deity defeating chaotic waters (“the deep”) in order to create the universe (Gen 1:1-2:4, NRSV; Coogan and Chapman 2020, 31-3). However, rather than defeating the deep in a bloody battle, Yahweh speaks over the waters and brings order and creation to a chaotic world: “And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters’... And it was so. God called the dome Sky…” (Gen 1:6-8, NRSV). Yahweh’s supremacy is not determined by his defeat of the deep or  his creation of the cosmos- his power and authority is already known and respected by the universe itself, which changes to suit his will (Gen 1, NRSV). 

    The author of P uses Genesis 1 to undermine the assumption that Marduk was mightier than Yahweh. Genesis 1 transforms the Enuma Elish from a hard, vicious battle that asserts Marduk’s supremacy to a calm, controlled creation that illustrates Yahweh’s authority and power (Coogan and Chapman 2020, 31-3). Marduk had to fight to gain rulership over the gods and establish order on earth; YHWH’s words alone accomplished the same goal, with much less effort (Coogan and Chapman 2020, 31-3). Genesis 1 asserts Yahweh’s supremacy over Marduk, offering encouragement and hope to the exiled Jewish community in Babylon, who could have faith in the fact that, even without a Temple, their God was more powerful than those of Babylon. 

 Additional Sources:

Coogan, Michael D. and Cynthia R. Chapman. 2020. "Creations" in A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in its Context, 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Image source: Encyclopedia Britannica