In my previous study[1] I showed that there is no real reason to believe the Jewish writer (Moses) of the Genesis record of creation plagiarized the pagan myth, the Enuma Elish. Of course, the scholars who presume the Bible did plagiarize the Babylonian myth don’t believe Genesis was written by Moses. They presume a Jewish priest did the plagiarizing, while the Jews were in captivity in Babylon/Persia. The first chapter of the Genesis creation record, according to these scholars, was plagiarized by a priestly zealot, who wished to give hope to his people in captivity.
What they conclude is, the Jews were conquered by a people having a strong god, Marduk, so a Jewish zealot thought there was no better hope he could give his people, than if he stole the heroic labors of this (almighty) pagan god and applied them to Yahweh, the Jews’ God. It is presumed that this would console the subjugated Jewish people held in captivity by their conquering masters, because, if Yahweh can be seen as almighty in the creation record, then perhaps he would show himself all powerful in restoring the Jews to their former dignity among the other nations of Mesopotamia.
Well, the whole idea is subjective. There isn’t a shred of objective evidence in the argument, whereby the scholars could single it out and say: “See, this is proof of the plagiarism!” Everything, not just some things, but everything they use to identify plagiarism is conjecture. Nothing is factual! Everything is opinion! Their argument consists of making Mesopotamia a kind of cultural melting pot, saying there are other similarities of the Enuma Elish among other nations there. However, instead of using Marduk and the other Babylonian gods, they use their own. As for the Jews, they were held captive in Mesopotamia (Babylon and Persia); therefore, they must have plagiarized the Enuma Elish. The argument is kind of circular. The creation accounts of the Mesopotamian nations are similar, so one copied from the other. We know one copied from the other, because they are similar. The projected reason is proof of the argument.
Nevertheless, when we turn to the books of the Bible that record the life experiences of the Jews at the time, when the plagiarism is supposed to have taken place, what we see is a zealous loyalty to the God of the Bible, and often, when the Jews seem to be slipping into the web of morphing into the pagan culture around them, Jewish leaders rise up to rebuke such activity, and they cause the people to repent and return to the ways of the Mosaic Covenant and embrace their God who had separated them from the nations around them to be peculiarly his own people.
Consider Daniel and his three brethren, who were taken to Babylon in the first wave of Jewish captives (Daniel 1:1-3, 6). They sought to be faithful in their devotion to God (Daniel 1:8, 11-12), and God brought them favor in the eyes of their captors (Daniel 1:9). Why would they wish to plagiarize pagan myths to support what scholars categorize as a defeated and weak god. Clearly, Daniel and his three brethren aren’t the least bit confused about the status of the heavenly pantheon. At the very beginning of the Jewish captivity in Babylon, no interest is shown in the Babylonians pantheon.
We could also consider Ezra, the priest (Ezra 7:7-11), who was permitted to lead a group of Jews to Jerusalem during the seventh year of Artaxerxes, who, when he discovered the Jews were mixing with the gentile nations around them (Ezra 9:1-3), led a revival in the Jewish community, causing all those guilty of marrying gentile wives to put them and their children away and return to the Lord God of Israel (Ezra 10:1-5), who caused them to be separate from other nations and cleave to him in the Mosaic Covenant. Why would Ezra, the priest, want to plagiarize pagan myths in an effort to strengthen or support the God of Israel? Where’s the evidence of a need for plagiarism in the historical accounts of the days immediately following the Jews’ release from captivity?
Where is the evidence of Jews copying pagan myths that some scholars believe must have occurred? It certainly isn’t found in the books of the Bible, where the record of events are concurrent with the time, when these scholars attempt to show a Jewish need to make Yahweh, the God of the Jews, as mighty as Marduk, the god of the Babylonians. Such scholarly thought is nothing but conjecture, without an ounce of objective evidence to support their theories.
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[1] See Does the Bible Plagiarize the Enuma Elish? Also, an interesting account, revealing why scholars say Jews did things like plagiarizing the Enuma Elish, can be found in the YouTube presentation of Scholars Exposed for Inventing a Biblical People, presented by Simcha Jacobovici.
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