16. The miracle of creation varies with ancient cultures and beliefs, as well as within the Bible
In the Bible the world and all that inhabits it, as well as the stars and planets, and everything else which comprises the universe, were created in six days. According to the beliefs of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the world was created, deliberately by God, out of nothing, in accordance with His own design. The recounting of the event, which was presumably later shared with man since there was no man present to observe its occurrence, is considered to be, by true believers, sacrosanct and literally true. The Genesis story is neither the only nor the oldest of the creation stories which were believed by the ancients, and it shares some features with myths which preceded it, at least if the age of the Book of Genesis is considered as its point of origin.
The creation tale recounted in Genesis – the miracle of God’s creating the universe – isn’t even the oldest such story contained in the Bible. The Books of Job and Isaiah, both of which were likely available to the writer (s) of Genesis, contain another account, which also appears in Psalm 74. Hence the miracle of creation which begins with the words, “In the beginning”, references other works which preceded the beginning with which Genesis begins. The earlier account contains a description of God slaying a great beast known as Leviathan in the Hebrew stories and as Litan in the account contained within what is known as the Ugarit text, named for the Canaanite city in which tablets which contain the story were found. The oldest miracle in the Hebrew bible shares some of its story with miracles recorded earlier, which were themselves undoubtedly passed down the generations by oral tradition before being recorded in stone.
