Genesis 1:20-23: God Creates Air and Aquatic Creatures

Read: Genesis 1:20-23

What people worship often reveals what they fear. Ancient cultures deified wild beasts, powerful rivers, and the depths of the sea, seeing divine power in their unpredictability. But Genesis strips these fears of their authority, declaring that all things, whether feared or revered, are merely works of God's hands. On Day 5, God creates marine life and birds, marking one of the two days in which animals are introduced to fill the formed creation. This act of creation, like all others in Genesis, occurs through divine speech which distinguishes it from many Ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian myths. In these other traditions, creation often involves physical actions, such as shaping beings from clay or life emerging through the union of gods. Unlike narratives such as the Enuma Elish or the Egyptian stories of Atum, the Genesis account does not depict creation as a struggle or battle among deities. Instead, it is a peaceful process carried out by a single sovereign God. Furthermore, while many Egyptian and Mesopotamian traditions deified animals, such as the falcon representing Horus in Egypt or Mesopotamian gods taking animalistic forms, the creatures in Genesis hold no divine status. They are simply part of creation, filling the earth and seas to serve functional and ecological roles rather than being objects of worship. In essence, the Genesis narrative asserts, “All the things you revere as gods—my God made them.”

The mention of “sea monsters” in Genesis 1:21 stands out in the creation narrative, especially when compared to Ancient Near Eastern creation myths. In Genesis, these creatures appear on the fifth day, created along with all the animals that move in the waters and the birds that fly in the air.

The Hebrew term "tanninim" is often translated as "great sea creatures," "monsters," or "dragons." In Enuma Elish, Tiamat, a goddess that embodies chaos, takes the form of a monstrous goddess. The god Marduk defeats her in a battle that becomes central to the Babylonian story of cosmic order. Canaanite myths present similar ideas. Creatures like Lotan, similar to Leviathan in the Hebrew Bible, represent chaos and are defeated by deities like Baal. Unlike in many ANE myths, the creatures in Genesis are not gods or hostile forces. They belong to God's orderly creation and remain under His dominion. This reflects Genesis's central theme: all creation, even the most formidable and chaotic beings, falls under the authority of the one sovereign God.

Genesis is not the only place that mentions sea creatures. The Bible refers to "tanninim" and "leviathan," two different words for sea monsters, in other passages where they battle God. Isaiah 51:9 describes "tanninim" as an ancient creature struck down by God. Ezekiel 29:3 refers to it as a creature in the Nile in a prophecy against Pharaoh.

Similarly, “leviathan” appears in Ugaritic and Canaanite myths, which come from a language similar to ancient Hebrew. These myths often portray a chaos beast, usually a twisting sea serpent with many heads, representing the sea or watery disorder. Ancient Near Eastern mythology frequently includes this creature as a symbol of chaos. Isaiah describes Leviathan as a "coiling serpent," a depiction that aligns with the Ugaritic Baal Epic. In this epic, the storm god defeats "Litan" (a form of Leviathan), the twisting serpent. Both stories share a theme: a divine figure representing order and fertility triumphs over a chaos monster. But still, the Bible describes Leviathan as a creature under God’s dominion in several passages. Job 41 portrays it as a powerful and fearsome creature beyond human control but easily subdued by God. Psalm 104:26 describes it as a creature God made to frolic in the sea. Isaiah 27:1 and Psalm 74:14 depict its defeat by God.

The theme of the absolute sovereignty of the Hebrew God in the creation narrative of Genesis is markedly emphasized through the portrayal of God's relationship with the sea monsters, commonly found in other Ancient Near Eastern mythologies as formidable adversaries to the gods. In these mythologies, gods often engage in epic struggles against such chaotic sea creatures, but in the Hebrew narrative, these creatures are simply created by God and are entirely subject to His control. This portrayal establishes God's dominion over the sea creatures and serves as a powerful theological statement about His supremacy over all other deities. This not-so-subtle contrast effectively elevates the Hebrew God above the pantheons of contemporary cultures, firmly establishing His singular and sovereign role in the cosmos, unchallenged and unthreatened by any deity or form of chaos.

Lord, all creation is under Your command.

Help me to trust in Your sovereignty rather than fear the unknown.