The first book of the bible, Genesis, has come from many a translation; from Latin, to the Greek Transliteration to mean generations. The book as a whole can be described as the story of creation. However, it is evident that within the first two chapters that there is a clear contradiction about the story of the world’s creation.
In chapter one, you have what is known as the “Creation Story’ or the Priestly account, whereas, in chapter two we can find the “Paradise Story” or the Yahwistic account. Westermann (2004) describes the book of Genesis as an account of everything that occurred during the creation of the Earth, from start to finish. He highlights the point that there is no other book that has been written that gives detail in depth about the early history of mankind.
Throughout this essay, I will discuss the main similarities and differences between the two chapters of Genesis, leading on to why the creation stories are still relevant and of importance in society today.
One of the main differences which can be spotted straight away is the timing of when man was made. In chapter one, we don’t read about the creation of mankind until day 6 of creation, where both man and woman are created together, as equals, after the rest of creation had already unfolded. In this chapter, God creates man in his own image. It’s notable, that when God was creating the essence of man on earth, he envisioned himself as he was doing so. In other words, man will behave and portray the way in which God is.
Whereas, in the paradise story, Man alone is created first. Lord God, creates man from the dust of the ground, before breathing His breath into the nostrils of the empty vessel, giving it a living soul. God then goes on to plant the Garden of Eden, where he places man, who he has named Adam, to tend and keep the garden. God gave Adam the task of naming the entirety of the remaining creation.
From the first narrative, when man is created on the sixth day, it is almost like God is depicting mankind as the pinnacle of his creation. Humans are dependent on vegetation to survive which is foreshadowing for today’s world view. God placed man on earth once He knew that there was enough substance available for survival. Genesis (1:1:28) reads, “… have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living that than moveth upon the earth.”
The way in which God is referred to in each of the narratives differs, but each has its own meaning and cause for understanding in the chosen story. Looking at the first text, God is always referred to as “God” (Genesis 1:1:1). Using the one name portrays the fact that God is in fact the one and only, or he is taking up the main role in the creation story. God himself is responsible for all that happened in those seven days, he is proud of his work. Everything is good. In this narrative, God can be described as both transcendent and also anthropomorphic. Describing Him as transcendent it’s saying that, God came to do a specific job, for example, he created the initial man, placed them on earth (Garden of Eden), and that was that. He placed everything where it was meant to be. Anthropomorphic is essentially saying that, while God himself is not human, he is capitalising on the breakdown of human resilience.
Chapter two on the other hand, He is referred to as Jahwest, translated from the oldest language in the Hebrew bible as Lord God (Genesis 1:2:4). Although He is referred to as both, and while God did create all on his own, man, or Adam was given the role of naming the creations which came after him. The Lord God can be described as transcendent in this text, as by God giving Adam this role of naming his creations, it’s God showing that he has a bigger role to play in the story, showing that He is, while still showing characteristics of a human (by taking a rest on the seveth day) but also that He is a much greater being that we must strive to be. He makes man first, followed by vegetation and animals, hereby he gives Adam the rules of how he shall live out his life on the newly created land.
One part of the creation story which everyone is familiar with is that of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, and the Tree of Life. Both these trees are mentioned only in the second narrative. Once God created the Garden of Eden, he placed Adam within to tend and care for the land, He had spoken to Adam and instructed him that he can eat of any tree from the garden, but not of the tree of knowledge. I believe that the image of the forbidden fruit is to show that there will always be temptations that we as humans must learn to resist and not indulge in what is not meant for us. It shows more of a reality of the world and what it is like today. The first narrative talks of how everything God did in that first week “was good,” and there is no denying that, nonetheless, there is no mention of the temptation or evil that was planted in the garden that man must learn to resist.
The way in which God separates his creation is again different in each of the narratives. Throughout the first text, it is described that God places a firmament between the elements that he wishes to separate; first of all, He creates the light, which He then separates from the dark, a firmament is then placed between the water (above and below), forming the divide between Heaven and earth. In other words, before God started anything, His fresh canvas was a “raging ocean” (Genesis 1:1:2). From this, God placed the land between, naming it Earth, while the water was named the Sea.
In the narrative of chapter two, there are no mention of the seas, but it talks of the one stream that carries water to Eden to water and also carry it away, where, further downstream, it splits into four different rivers, flowing out to different parts of the lands. Each stream transporting different precious stone and perfume. These seemed to be the main water sources for the earth at the commencement, through which everything would thrive.
One other difference that is important to note is the timing of which woman was created. As mentioned earlier, in the first narrative, God created both man and woman together, as equal parts, to ‘rule’ over His wonderful creation, together, forever. God saw his mankind, both male and female, His crowning glory of his work. They would be the ones to build upon and expand on what He had produced over the six days for the entirety of time, together. Comparing this to the Paradise story in chapter two, very clearly starts with one of God’s first creation was man, the male. Man was needed in place for the same purpose as narrative one, God had already decided man’s position in His plan was to “till the ground” (Genesis 1:2:5), but what was the purpose of woman in this story?
Following Adam identifying and naming all beasts that God had placed on earth with him, he had no help. When God noticed this, he decided to create companionship for man in the form of woman. A single rib was removed from Adam, and the wound sealed, from which God created the first woman (meaning she was taken out of man [Genesis 1:2:23], which was Adam’s reasoning for the name). Woman was not placed there to help man; her role was simply for companionship. Man would leave his mother and father to be with his female counterpart, his wife. I believe this can be looked upon in a number of different ways; one being, that it can be the same what we read in the first chapter, meaning that man and woman are of equal parts. Woman was made of man, meaning they are one, which suggests a sense of equality between the two sexes. Other way to look at this section of the text, that is of course, that woman was created for companionship for man, that she had only the purpose of company for man, while he tended and cared for the land. Conversely however, this could be looked upon as, God felt that man could not survive within his creation just him and the beasts, he needed something more. I feel this produces a link between the narratives here. In chapter one, God placed man on earth to “multiply” (Genesis 1:1:22). Meanwhile, in chapter 2, it talks about the companionship of man and woman becoming one through marriage, but no mention of God wanting them to multiply their race upon the earth.
While both narratives are essentially telling the same story, they are interpreted through a different view point, or a different way of thinking. Looking right back at the beginning of the essay, with the transition to gaining the name of the book Genesis which came from the Greek translation which meant generations. Chapter two of Genesis (1:2:4), describes the seven days of creation as “the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created…” The fact that there are two sides to the creation story gives it a very natural and relevant sense, in that, even today, stories are told and retold, details changing slightly each time, but ultimately coming to the same conclusion with the same meaning behind it. I believe these creation stories are still relevant today, not only for the fact, which was highlighted earlier from Westermann, in which he talks of these stories being one (or two) of a kind. The bible being the only book that we have today that goes into detail about the creation of humans. There are valuable lessons to be learnt from just the first two chapters of the Bible. One being from chapter 1, that we are created in God’s image. We must strive to be the best people we can be, avoiding temptation that was put in place for us in chapter two with the tree of knowledge. Another being our purpose on earth. This is put into perspective in both chapters, that God has placed humans on earth to look after and care for the creation that he is proud of. Taking this point, it’s clear that we must not only act the way God would have, but we must care for the land that He gave to us from the very beginning.
Reference List.
- King James Version, Bible, Genesis, 1-2
- Westermann, G., 2004, Genesis, Bloomsbury
- Clare Richards (2002) Introducing the Old Testament, Kevin Mayhew Publications
- Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales teaching document (2005) The Gift of Scripture, CTS Publications.
Originally published 15.10.2019