Allusions to the creation account in the Book of Mormon

In this article, David E. Bokovoy gives several examples of Book of Mormon prophets and sermons drawing on creation imagery and language. In Hebrew tradition, the essence of the creation is to make order out of chaos. It demonstrates the power of God on which humans can rely. Therefore, in the Old Testament, we frequently see the authors refering to the creation to promote faith. One well-known example is Job 38:4-7

4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Another is Isaiah 45:12

I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

The context here is freeing the captive exiles of Israel and the message is that God who has power to create the earth also has power to help his people. Here is Bokovoy's explanation of this ancient Israelite thought:

Since Israel’s God had assumed ownership over the unorganized primordial earth and miraculously provided that chaotic base with the structure manifested in the historical era, those encountering biblical references to creation should follow the example of chaos and obey the divine will. 

It seems that the Nephites carried on this tradition because we see many examples of this in the Book of Mormon. For instance, in Mormon 9:17

17 Who shall say that it was not a miracle that by his word the heaven and the earth should be; and by the power of his word man was created of the dust of the earth; and by the power of his word have miracles been wrought?

This fits the pattern from the Old Testament. We notice the chaos motif, dust, and we see how Moroni uses the creation to argue that God is a God of miracles. He miraculously created the earth and therefore can work miracles in our lives too. This is only one quite obvious example that fits this ancient Israelite thought. But Bokovoy argues that...

...while some Book of Mormon passages draw in a relatively vague manner on this broad biblical trend, certain Book of Mormon sermons can be shown to allude specifically to the creation stories in Genesis and to do so in a manner much more intricate in nature than what appears in comparable biblical sources. 

Mosiah 2:21 is an example of a more intricate and subtle allusion to the creation.

I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

I haven't made this connection before, but it becomes apparent when the multiple parallels are pointed out

• "created you from the beginning" reminds us of Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created..."
• "day to day" reminds us of the daily sequence in the creation account
• "lending breath" is an allusion to the "breath of life" in Genesis 2:7
• "serve" is less obvious, but the word often translated as "tend" or "dress" in Genesis 2:15, comes from the Hebrew root, "abad", which means to serve

All this in just one verse. Only a few verses later, in Mosiah 2:25, we read

And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you.

The dust motif shows up again and King Benjamin talks directly about the creation. Later in his sermon, King Benjamin refers to the creation again.

Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend. (Mosiah 4:9)

We are back in Genesis 1:1 where God created "the heaven and the earth".

Like Moroni, King Benjamin uses the creation account to argue that God has infinitely more power and wisdom than us, his creations. We would therefore be wise to humble ourselves and rely on Him.