Myth #2:

God initiated Creation with a spoken word.

The Myth: And God said…. (Gen. 1:3)

The Reality: The initiation of Creation by spoken word comes from the Egyptian Creation myths.

The process of biblical Creation begins when God utters a commandment for light to appear. The idea of Creation by command has no counterpart in the Mesopotamian Creation myths. Among the Egyptians, however, Creation by command played a basic role.

The Egyptians believed in the power of the word to create and control the environment, and many Egyptian texts speak about Creation beginning with verbal commands. One describes Amen as “the one who speaks and what should come into being comes into being.” Another text describes Ptah in a similar manner when it says, “Accordingly, he thinks out and commands what he wishes [to exist].” A reference to the actions of Atum in the creative process tells us “he took Annunciation in his mouth.”

In the Theban Creation scheme, after Amen (i.e. , the wind) initiated Creation, he first appeared in the form of the four primary elements. He next appeared in the form of Ptah, the Creator god of Memphis, who initiated Creation by speaking a command. This is the same sequence as in the Genesis account, where “the wind” issues forth a spoken command, but the biblical author has eliminated any reference to Ptah as the speaker and merged the Memphite Creator deity (Ptah) with the Theban Creator deity (Amen). This distinction, however, is only cosmetic, since in the Theban view “Amen the wind” and “Ptah the Speaker” are both forms of the same deity.