Term Papers on Egyptian, Babylonian, And Hebrew Religions

Term Paper Title	Egyptian, Babylonian, And Hebrew Religions
# of Words	938
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.75

Egyptian, Babylonian, and Hebrew Religions

Egyptians, Babylonians, and Hebrews have similarities yet also differences in
their religions.  The importance is not in the similarities as much as it is in
the differences that distinguish the cultures from each other and their views on
life.  I would like to point out each civilization's creation and flood story.
By analyzing these stories we can come to a better understanding of their world
views. The Hebrew creation story from the book of Genesis is one that most
people know well.  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  The
earth was without form and void.  God said, "let there be light," and there was
light.  He then separated the light from the darkness.  He also created the land,
plants, and animals.  He saw everything he created and, behold, it was good.
The heavens and earth were completed and all that dwelled within them.  On the
seventh day he rested.  The earth was complete, but there was nothing to take
care of this creation.  So, God created man in the image of himself.  Man was
created from the dust of the ground.  God gave him the breath of life and the
man became a living soul (Moses 1:1-2:7).  With the background of that story,
one should  look at the Egyptian interpretation of the beginning. At first there
was nothing but chaos that contained the seed of everything to come.  In this
confusion the sun god dwelled.  By an effort of his will he emerged from chaos
as Ra and gave birth to Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess moisture.
Shu and Tefnut gave birth to Geb and Nut, the earth god and sky goddess.  Thus
the physical universe was created.  People were created from Ra's tears.  Time
passed and Ra grew frail, so the ungrateful race of men plotted against Ra.
When Ra learned of this he called the gods together.  The gods decided that
mankind must be destroyed.  Tens of thousands of men were killed until only a
few were left.  Then Ra relented and man was spared.  Nevertheless Ra was sick
of the world and retreated into the heavens, leaving Shu to reign in his place.
At that time the present world was established. The Babylonians have their own
interpretation of the beginning.  All things came from the water.  From the
mixture of sweet water, Aspu, with salt water, Tiamat, the gods arose.  Aspu and
Tiamat gave birth to a pair of gigantic serpents, Lakhmu and Lakhamu.  These two
serpents produced Anshar and Kishar, the heavens and the earth.  Anshar and
Kishar then conceived Anu, Enlil, and Ea.  Aspu and Tiamat grew angry because
the younger gods were noisy.  So, they decided to destroy the new gods.  Ea, the
all knowing, learned of this plan and used his magic to capture Apsu.  Tiamat
became furious and created and army of gods and monsters to punish Ea and the
others.  Marduk was asked to stand against Tiamat and her army.  Marduk promised
to defeat Tiamat if he was given s...

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