Ancient Near East Divine Creation

Amongst the countries of the ancient Near East divine creation was not a notion or belief originating with the Hebrew people. Within the sociopolitical context of the Ancient Near East there existed differing creation cosmologies all of which intended to explain and define existence by having and understanding function within an ordered and created system. This holds true for the Genesis creation narrative as well. When the first chapters of Genesis are read, we begin to understand how God wanted Israel to relate to himself, their neighboring cultures as well as understand who and what they were created to be. This ontological understanding is seen throughout the pages of the Pentateuch as it sought to cleanse and redeem the Israelites

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen 1:1) this statement encapsulates the entire narrative, functioning both as a summary statement of what is to follow in the story as well as a declaration of Yahweh’s transcendence of creation. Yahweh is a self-existent god; preexistent to creation and is in no way dependent on his creation. In the social context of the ancient Near East this would stand in contrast to the neighboring nations of Israel whose gods existed side by side with cosmic matter eternally, existing within creation, and creating out of necessity. Whereas Genesis proclaims Yahweh’s transcendent distinction from everything which was created by his sovereign power, and ultimately depends on him for its very existence; Yahweh is creating from a place of utter freedom and love, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

That means that the Creator, in freedom, creates the creature. Their connection is not conditioned by anything except freedom, which means that it is unconditioned. Hence every use of casual category for understanding the act of creation is ruled out. Creator and creature cannot be said to have a relation of cause and effect, for between Creator and creature there is neither a law of motive nor a law of effect nor anything else. Between Creator and creature there is simply nothing: the void. For freedom happens in and through the void. There is no necessity that can be shown in God, which can or must ensue in creation. There is nothing that causes him to