Key Terms Ch. 1 Flashcards
the second son of Adam and Eve; he was murdered by his brother Cain
Abel
the first male who God created; he and his mate, Eve, disobeyed God and were expelled from the garden of Eden
Adam/adamah
the god of the freshwater ocean in the Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation story
Apsu
the name of a Mesopotamian city with a tower as told in Genesis 11; means “gate of God”
Babel
divine favor and approval; a mark of God’s grace and evidence of his protecting and prospering presence
blessing
the first son of Adam and Eve; he murdered his brother Abel
Cain
the disordered state of unformed matter that existed before the universe was ordered
Chaos
a model of the structure of the physical universe; the Israelites viewed the world as an inhabitable region surrounded by water
cosmology
a pact or formal agreement between two parties in which there are mutual obligations and expectations
covenant
what has been brought into being; the Hebrew Bible attributes this to Israel’s God
creation
consisting of the “sons of God,” a council of angels who surrounded God and served perhaps as his deliberative assembly
Divine Council
the place God located the first created humans, Adam and Eve
Eden
a Babylonian story of creation, featuring Apsu, Tiamat, and Marduk
Enuma Elish
the first female who God created; her name means “life”
Eve
the disobedience and expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden
Fall
the watery inundation during the time of Noah that destroyed all life on earth except for Noah and the representative sample of created things that survived in the ark
Flood
a list or family tree of ancestors or descendants
genealogy
a Babylonian epic centering on Gilgamesh, an ancient king of Uruk; the eleventh tablet of this epic contains a story of a flood that has parallels to the biblical story of Noah and the ark
Gilgamesh Epic
one of the sons of Noah; he abused his father and Canaan, his son, was cursed for it
Ham
phrase deriving from Genesis 1:26-7; God created humankind in his own image
Image of God
a literary technique that begins and ends a unit of text with the same or similar words to create wholeness and literary closure
inclusion
one of the sons of Noah, he was blessed because with Shem he covered his father’s nakedness
Japheth
a compound divine name; a translation of YHWH Elohim
Lord God
the chief god of the Babylonians and patron god of Babylon; he is the hero-god of the Enuma Elish
Marduk
a story, theme, object, or character regarded as embodying a foundational aspect of a culture
myth
built a boat and survived the Flood with his family and representatives of the animal world; God made a covenant with him, promising never again to destroy the world with a flood
Noah
in classical Christian thought, the fundamental state of sinfulness and guilt, inherited from the first man Adam, that infects all of humanity but can be removed through depending on Christ
Original Sin
the account of earliest events found in Genesis 1-11
Primeval Story
the seventh day of the week, a day of rest and worship; extends from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday; it was the sign of the Mosaic covenant
Sabbath
one of the three sons of Noah, he was chosen for special blessing; he was an ancestor of Abraham
Shem
the female saltwater ocean goddess who fought Marduk; out of her body were created heaven and earth
Tiamat
the ten “generations” used in Genesis as a way of structuring the history told in the book
Toledot
the tower of Genesis 11 built by humans and interpreted by God as an act of defiance
Tower of Babel
the seas conceived as monsters who challenged YHWH’s power and authority
waters of chaos
of Sumerian origin, a Mesopotamian pyramidal-staged temple tower of which the tower of Babel was one
Ziggurat
