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The ChaosâCosmos Theme in Genesis, Exodus, and Joshua
The chaosâcosmos theme falls under the overarching biblical theme of Godâs kingship and Godâs coming kingdom. It is also a subset of the biblical storyline of creation, fall, redemption, new creation.
Some biblical scholars prefer not to use the word chaos because the Hebrew does not use chaos but rather several other words, such as without form, void, darkness, the deep, the waters, the seas, Rahab, great sea creatures, and Leviathan, and because scholars use chaos in many different senses, some assuming that chaos is inherently evil. We can still use this common term, however, if we define it correctly. Among several options, Websterâs Unabridged Dictionary offers a good, initial definition of chaos: âThe infinity of space or formless matter supposed to have preceded the existence of the ordered universe.â Websterâs also offers us a workable definition for cosmos: âThe world or universe regarded as an orderly, harmonious system.â
Starting out with these rather general definitions of chaos and cosmos, we can add the more specific forms of chaos and cosmos as we move through the Scriptures from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. Genesis 1 begins with, âIn the beginning, God created the heavens and the earthââan orderly, harmonious universe. Revelation 21 and 22 describe âa new heaven and a new earthâ (Rev. 21:1)âanother orderly, harmonious universe. Between these cosmic bookends (called inclusio) we find microcosmic units of disorder and restored orderâunits such as the earth, the animal kingdom, humanity, nations, and individuals. All of these ordered microcosmic units prefigure the end-time orderly cosmos described in Revelation.
The Ancient Near Eastern Background
We must understand the biblical chaosâcosmos theme against the broader background of the ancient world, in which chaos was associated with the sea, the waters. Israel shared with its ancient Near Eastern neighbors the worldview of a three-storied universe. John Day explains: âAll those passages in the Old Testament which speak about Godâs control of the sea at the time of creation naturally presuppose the archaic worldview shared by the ancient Israelites along with other peoples of the ancient Near East that both above the domed firmament of heaven and below the earth there is a cosmic sea. Rain was regarded as having its origin in the cosmic sea above the firmament and coming down through the windows of heaven, while the worldâs seas and lakes were thought of as being connected with the subterranean part of the cosmic sea (cf. Gen. 7:11).â
The chaosâcosmos theme in Scripture has many similarities with ancient Near Eastern myths. According to the ancient Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish, the Babylonian head god, Marduk, created heaven and earth when Marduk battled the ocean goddess Tiamat:
The Lord spread out his net, encircled her,
The ill wind he had held behind him he released in her face.
Tiamat opened her mouth to swallow,
He thrust in the ill wind so she could not close her lips.
The raging winds bloated her belly,
Her insides were stopped up, she gaped her mouth wide.
He shot off the arrow, it broke open her belly,
It cut to her innards, it pierced the heart.
He subdued her and snuffed out her life,
He flung down her carcass, he took his stand upon it. . . .
He split her in two, like a fish for drying,
Half of her he set up and made as a cover, heaven.
He stretched out the hide and assigned watchmen,
And ordered them not to let her waters escape.
He crossed heaven and inspected (its) firmament. . . .
Spreading [half of] her as a cover, he established the netherworld. . . .
Then the great gods convened.
They made Mardukâs destiny highest. . . .
They established him forever for lordship of heaven and earth. . . .
His word shall be supreme above and below.
When Babylonian literature was rediscovered in the late nineteenth century, many scholars assumed that Israel simply took over the Babylonian creation myth. For example, the influential Hermann Gunkel claimed that the Enuma Elish was simply transferred to Israel, where it lost many of its mythological and polytheistic elements until âin Genesis 1 it is, as far as was possible, completely Judaized.â As Robin Routledge points out, however, âWhile there may be enough points of similarity to suggest that the writer of Genesis knew the Babylonian myth and used some of its imagery, it is widely recognized that there is nothing to indicate dependence. The conflict motif [battle against chaos] and ultimate exaltation of the creator god which is a central feature of Enuma Elish is missing from Genesis 1.â
Contemporary scholars are more likely to look for the background of the chaosâcosmos theme in ancient Canaanite literature. Here we also find a myth about a storm god doing battle with a sea god. The storm god (controlling lightning, rain, and fertility) was Baal, and the sea god (the god of chaos) was Yam. Part of the Baal myth reads as follows:
The mace whirled in Baalâs hand like an eagle,
(grasped) in his fingers it crushed the pate of prince [Yam]. . . .
Yam collapsed and fell down to the earth,
his face quivered and his features crumpled up.
Baal was drawing up Yam and scattering him. . . .
âVerily Yam is dead, (and) [Baal] shall be king.â
Although this myth also speaks of a god, Baal, battling the sea god for control, the result is not the creation of heaven and earth, but Baalâs kingship and his building a palace in the heavens with windows to water the earth.
Biblical authors did not write in a vacuum, of course. To be understood, they had to accommodate their imagery to the prevailing culture, whether Babylonian, Canaanite, or Egyptian. Therefore Genesis, as well as other Old Testament books, must be heard against the background of the stories of the ancient Near East. But just as sermon illustrations using Little Red Riding Hood do not thereby teach that this fairy tale is literally and historically true, so the biblical authorsâ use of ancient Near Eastern stories does not mean that they taught that these ancient stories were literally and historically true.
For example, Hebrew poetry called for the use of much imagery. Where were the Hebrew poets to get their imagery? From the stories known in that culture, of courseâthe ancient myths. Elements of those myths served to embellish the point they tried to make in order to make it more vivid. Instead of looking for similarities between the biblical writings and the ancient myths (often undertaken in order to establ...
