If you want to go with the gnostic view then the true God created the nature of the universe. The God in genesis is the cruel god who holds this world captive.
Ah "Gnosis: The nature and history of Gnosticism" will you ever cease to pass the work day?
Good question arach, and I don't think we can know without looking at the culture of the day. I don't know too much about this time period. What was the consensus amongst the culture of the day? What were the beliefs of the religions in the time of the writing of Genesis? If we could answer these things, and see where Genesis was borrowed from we could get a much better idea.