Sermon Tone Analysis

My topic for this morning is "service", and it seems like this should be a simple topic.

As far back as the creation narrative, we see that humankind was created for service.

In Genesis 2.15-17, we read

Throughout the course of the Bible,

We're commanded to serve

God

each other

everyone, really

The sermon is over, right?

But of course I'm sure you're expecting something more than that, and I don't really feel good about preaching until I've said something that I think can get me in trouble, so let's talk about

Ancient Near Eastern Mythology

That's a pretty obvious leap right?

…No? …Well, stay with me, and I'll try to make the connection clear.

As I've noted before,

The Bible was not written in a vacuum.

The Biblical writers—and their original audiences—had a shared context with the cultures surrounding them, and they often exploited this awareness when composing their material.

For some reason, many Christians become uncomfortable when they first encounter the idea that the text of the Bible might somehow engage with extrabiblical material.

There seems to be a belief that asserting that a Biblical text is influenced by the literature of the surrounding nations is the same as asserting that the Biblical text isn't true.

This belief simply isn't true, and we should be neither surprised nor concerned if we find evidence that the Bible interacts with extrabiblical material.

To take a modern example, how many of you have started a story about your own life with the phrase, "Once upon a time…", or even "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away"?

We use openings like this—or other structural and plot elements from popular culture—in order to set audience expectations, so that we can effectively foreshadow parts of our narrative and to create—or subvert—expectations on the part of our audience.

As long as we choose references and structures that are familiar to our audience, they serve to help us communicate our message more effectively than if we hadn't used them.

However, in telling such a story, you would be shocked if someone interpreted your opening to mean that your story was fictitious.

The "implied historicity of the narrative" (to use overly academic language) is provided by other cues.

In the same way, if someone points out similarities—for example—between the flood narrative of Genesis and certain elements of Egyptian or Mesopotamian mythology, we don't need to be terribly concerned.

Rather, such parallels give us an opportunity to see the Bible with fresh eyes.

By paying close attention to where the accounts agree—and especially where they differ—we can acquire a much more nuanced view of what the Biblical writers may have been attempting to communicate.

So with this in mind, I'd like to look at some elements of other creation accounts from the Ancient Near East and show how they can inform our reading of the creation narrative in Genesis, which in turn affects how we see the topic of service.

Egyptian Mythology

First, let's look at a bit of Egyptian mythology.

Strangely, although the Egyptians had several creation narratives, it is somewhat difficult to find any that discuss human origins.

One account that does explain the origin of humanity is this excerpt in which Atum—one of the original gods—describes the origin of two other gods.

I sneezed Shu and spat Tefnut.

It is my father, the Waters, that tended them,

with my Eye after them since the time they became apart from me.

After I evolved as one god,

that was three gods with respect to me.

The sun (27, 2–4)

When I evolved into this world,

Shu and Tefnut grew excited in the inert waters in which they were,

and brought me my Eye after them.

And after I joined together my parts,

I wept over them:

that is the evolution of people,

from the tears that came from my Eye.

So Atum creates Shu and Tefnut, becomes separated from them, and weeps when he's reunited with them.

The tears become humans, and…that's it really.

There's kind of an implication that maybe humans share some of the divine attributes because both humans and the other gods come from Atum's…bodily fluids…but after that, the narrative basically forgets about humans and returns to talking about the gods.

The Epic of Atra-hasis

Next, we'll talk about the Epic of Atra-hasis, which is an Akkadian account of the creation of humankind and the subsequent attempts to kill of humanity after the humans become too rowdy.

(spoiler: the attempts culminate in the gods sending a flood, which one man—Atra-hasis—survives because of the aid of another god, Ea)

In Atra-hasis, our story begins—believe it or not—with a labor dispute among the gods.

Here are some excerpts:

The seven (?) great Anunna–gods were burdening

The Igigi–gods with forced labor.

…

[The gods] were digging watercourses,

[Canals they opened, the] life of the land.

[The Igigi–gods] were digging watercourses,

[Canals they opened, the] life of the land.

(25) [The Igigi–gods dug the Ti]gris river,

[And the Euphrates there]after.

[Springs they opened up from] the depths,

[Wells …] they established.

…

[They heaped up] all the mountains.

[ ]

[ years] of drudgery,

(35) [ ] the vast marsh.

They [cou]nted years of drudgery,

[ and] forty years, too much!

[ ] forced labor they bore night and day.

[They were com]plaining, denouncing,

(40) [Mut]tering down in the ditch:

“Let us face up to our [foreman] the prefect,

He must take off (this) our [he]avy burden upon us!

[ ], counsellor of the gods, the warrior,

Come, let us remove (him) from his dwelling;

(45) Enlil, counsellor of the gods, the warrior,

Come, let us remove (him) from his dwelling!”

So we have this group of gods in Akkadian literature called the Igigi, and they're upset because they have to work all the time.

So they stage a revolt and set up a siege against the other gods in the middle of the night.

When these other gods hear the complaint, one of them suggests a solution:

(a) Ea made ready to speak,

And said to the gods [his brothers]:

“What calumny do we lay to their charge?

Their forced labor was heavy, [their misery too much]!

(e) Every day [ ]

The outcry [was loud, we could hear the clamor].

There is [ ]

[Belet–ili, the midwife], is present.

Let her create, then, a hum[an, a man],

(j) Let him bear the yoke [ ],

Let him bear the yoke [ ]!

[Let man assume the drud]gery of god …”

After hashing out the details, they finally get to the business of creating mankind:

The great Anunna–gods, who administer destinies,

(220) Answered “yes!” in the assembly.

On the first, seventh, and fifteenth days of the month,

He established a purification, a bath.

They slaughtered Aw–ilu, who had the inspiration, in their assembly.

(225) Nintu mixed clay with his flesh and blood.

<That same god and man were thoroughly mixed in the clay.>