When On High

"When On High" is a Babylonian/ Mesopotamian myth of creation. I believe the theme of the whole reading regarded an account of new beginnings and creation. Along with the theme of creation, the reading sort of drew out two different aspects of the theme. I believe these two aspects were the differential lines between cosmic order and chaos of the beginning of creation, as told by the Babylonian and Mesopotamian culture.


There were a few different websites I was able to find that gave a descent overview of the reading and helped me to understand what was going on a little better. One of those websites was,  http://www.crivoice.org/enumaelish.html. This site stated that this reading is about a cycle of seasons. It was written sometime in twelfth century on clay tablets. There are a number of different parallels to the account of the creation story of the Bible in Genesis. 


One phrase that really stood out to me were the first two lines of the reading. The first two lines state, "When on high the heaven had not been named, firm ground below had not been called by name." I think this really stood out to me because of its parallel to Genesis 1:1-3. This passage states, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." This is really quite amazing to me, that different kinds of people could have such a similar story.


One of the new ideas that kept running through my mind as I was reading this story was that of the many parallels between the Bible and this story. I never realized that there were people from different time periods and different regions of the world with a similar story of the creation story in the Bible. That makes me think that God is so powerful and mighty that He can make his creation and presence known throughout the world and through many different avenues. 


One of the things I found was that it was thought that this reading was recited as a ritual during a celebration or a ceremony. There are several different rituals that are performed during ceremonies and celebrations in our modern society. For example, every morning before class started in elementary school, all of the students would meet on the gymnasium to recite the pledge of allegiance. I understand this has nothing to do with the reading, but it is just of of the many rituals I went through. I find it interesting the throughout the ages, man has created thousands of different rituals in order to function smoothly as a society. Rituals will always be a part of society and they will change over time. It would be interesting to know how our society will look at this reading and interpret it fifty years from now.