Introduction
Human beings have looked up at the stars and looked across their own landscape and wondered, “how did this get here?” This curiosity about beginnings earth’s beginnings, our own beginnings is nothing new. Let’s take a look at some of the earliest recorded stories of how life on earth began.
The Girsu Tablets
The Sumerians composed the oldest written records of any civilization we’ve yet discovered. A Sumerian cuneiform clay tablet discovered at Girsu in southern Mesopotamia is particularly interesting. It was composed during the Early Dynastic period in the 3rd millennium BC, perhaps as early as 2900 BC! It tells a story about a time when daylight and moonlight did not shine because the sun and moon did not yet exist. No fields; no vegetation. Just dust, although the earth was filled with water. This text refers to heaven, earth, and water as the creative forces, with Lord Heaven specifically referred to in this narrative as the main creator. In many of the creation stories ancient Mesopotamia, these three were given human characteristics as the original divine trio.
The Ebla Tablets
Another ancient creation account was discovered in a huge cache of clay tablets during excavations at Ebla, Syria (Tell Mardikh) in northern Mesopotamia. About 20,000 tablets were discovered, more than 8,000 of which were from a city archive that dates back to about 2400 – 2000 BC. Three of these translated tablets are of particular interest. They contain a short poem, written in the Eblaite language, that tells one of the oldest known creation accounts. It states:
“Lord of heaven and earth, you had not made the earth exist; you created.
“You had not established the sun; you created.
“You had not made the morning light exist.”
The Ebla tablets do not describe plants, animals, or humans. Perhaps they were not mentioned, or perhaps they are chronicled in a tablet that hasn’t been found yet.
Summary
The Girsu creation tablet and the Eblaite creation hymn are the oldest copies of creation accounts yet discovered. They also share more similarities to the beginning of Genesis than any other known ancient creation texts. Just a few, to recap.
The Girsu tablet refers to a definite beginning, as does Genesis. It refers to the creation of the sun, moon, water on the earth, and vegetation. Genesis refers to light and dark, water and dry land, the appearance of the sun and the moon, and vegetation.
The Ebla tablet’s creation poem notes that the Creator is divine, saves, and speaks words that produce effects, as Genesis does.
Finally, both of these ancient texts demonstrate a cultural remembrance a knowledge and acceptance of a remarkably similar creation idea running back to the beginning of the recorded history of civilization.
