the old word

'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.' - Genesis, chapter 1 verse 1, King James Version.

Something strange is indeed happening in the bible, let us look closer at the first verse in the bible to see more of this strangeness.

This verse was written in Hebrew like most of the old testament. The Hebrew word translated into 'God' is 'Elohim'. 'Elohim' however is a plural form so it would be more correctly translated as 'Gods'. So the verse could read ... 'In the beginning Gods created the heaven and the earth.'

Now don't get too excited! The broad message of the bible is a monotheistic one, I am not suggesting otherwise. Use of other words for God like 'Yaweh', 'El Shaddai' and 'Adonai' all confirm the general monotheistic thrust of the message.

What does seem to be possible however is that this use of 'Elohim' is a little remnant from early times. Where could it come from?

Certainly a potential source for this is the 'Enuma Elish', the creation myth of the Babylonians. There are numerous concordances between the creation myth of Genesis and the creation myth of the Enuma Elish. In that story Marduk emerges from the pantheon of gods to gain supremacy over the other Gods.

Was Marduk the god that would for Jews, Christians and Muslims become the one true god? Are we all living in the theological shadow of the Babylonians? As always with hermeneutics the reader should be wary, or as the latin phrase goes 'caveat lector.'

For more information ...
the new word
Enûma Elish
hermeneutics