Does the book of Genesis borrow from the “Enuma Elish”?
On the contrary, it would more likely to be the other way. The Enuma Elish dates to the 8. century BC. No evidence is found from the 2. millennium BC when Abraham, who would have been the recorder of the original chapters of Genesis (later taken into the Pentateuch by Moses)existed. Though there are similarities of motifs, the world view of the two creation stories is totally different. The Enuma Elish was written to justify the rule of Babylon over other Mesopotamian states (hence the eventual rise to supremacy of Marduk, the Babylonian patron god). The Hebrew account is completely non-partisan. It does not have a struggle between the god of the Hebrews and other local gods. It affirms the existence of one god only, the creator, not of a city, but of the world.
The Enuma Elish is certainly earlier than either Genesis 1 or Genesis 2. There may be some cognate mythological/linguistic motifs, but the universes are very different. The Genesis account is much cleaner and elegent. Both are partisan. Enuma Elish does try to illustrate the supremacy of Marduk. But clearly, Genesis tries to establish that the Torah requirements go back to the beginning. Nations that do not recognize Torah requirements would certainly see Genesis 1 as partisan.
