Why does the Hebrew Bible include creation stories? Anthropologists tell us that most cultures have creation accounts. Ancient people did not have science or technology, but they did have questions about why they existed and these ancient peoples wanted to be able to explain the world around them as they interpreted it. I believe the creations stories in the Hebrew Bible have the purpose of explaining weather, sun and moon, plants, animals, humans, and rules of living among other topics. The purpose for the Hebrews was to tell their version of creation.
There are two accounts of creation that we read in Genesis. Genesis 1:1-2:3 shows God’s general creation. God created all things and there is no conflict between God and anything else. (Pate,…show more content… There are still remnants of ancient gods and goddesses- disguised as men, women, angels, monsters or demons. (Graves, 1964)The writers of the Bible knew the Hebrews may have worshipped other gods besides Yahweh. (Coogan, 2008) Several other deities are mentioned throughout the bible such as the Egyptian god Amun, Babylonian gods Marduk and Nergal, Canaanite gods Dagon, Baal, Resheph, Mot, and the goddesses Asherah and Astarte. (Coogan, 2008) Most Hebrews recognized that Yahweh was their only god, but he may have had entourage of other deities with him. They were like his heavenly army that included cherubim, seraphim, and angels. They functioned like advisors to Yahweh. He was not alone, he was the head of a group, who were his holy ones. (Coogan, 2008) Eve can be seen as similar to the Hittite goddess Heba, wife of the storm god whom rode on a lion’s back. Who was later the Greek goddess Hebe, wife of Heracles (Graves, 1964) Lilith, who came after Eve, shows up as Lillake in Sumerian text Gilgamesh and the Willow Tree as a fertility godess. (Graves, 1964) A theme in Greek mythology tends to be women being seen as sacred, and then becoming subservient to men. This parallel can also be seen in Genesis. First woman is so revered that a man would leave his parents to cleave to his wife (Gen 2:24-25). Then, Eve causes the fall of man by tempting him with fruit from God’s Tree Of Knowledge. Moreover, woman has cursed man forever because of this story in Genesis 3:6-19. The Greeks blame women for bad luck of men in the myth of Pandora’s Jar which Pandora was created from clay by the gods. After her marriage, she opened a jar given to her by Zeus and unleashes a plague on mankind. Her daughter Pyrrha (fire), first mortal born woman, and her husband Deukalion survive the great deluge and repopulate the Earth by throwing stones over their shoulders. Consequently, this story blames women for all sickness, old age, and