Reading the Old Testament

The first creation story articulates the creation of the universe over a period of seven days, beginning with the cosmos and culminating in the creation of male and female, who are to have "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:28). The second creation story does not use the seven-day motif but rather concentrates upon the order of creation. It begins with a description of a barren firmament that had been created but not infused with life. After God causes a mist to lend life to the creation so far, He takes some dirt and out of that molds man--that is, the male. Then he proceeds to mark off man's dominion in the garden of Eden, caution man against partaking of the tree of knowledge, and supplying man with a "helpmeet" in the form of woman, to whom man shall cleave, by inducing a deep sleep in Adam and using one of Adam's ribs to shape woman and then to declare man and woman man and wife.

The first major difference between the Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 stories is t

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erally "true," or accept that both are possibly in error but that one is definitely in error. Or, one can accept the vagaries implicit in the statement that the bible was written by men of faith, not by men of science. Since both Genesis stories are in the religious canon, however, it is legitimate to determine under what conditions each account of creation could be considered acceptable. According to Campbell, the two accounts represent the cultural values of the two kingdoms of the Hebrews, Israel in the north, which referred to God as Elohim, and Judah in the south, which referred to God as Yahweh. The Yahwist, or Jahwist, idea of Creation in terms of mankind's (moral) responsibility rather than authority, according to Campbell, by and large prevailed. In the Yahwist view, says Campbell, man is "created to be God's slave or servant" (103). Another view of the Yahwist text is that it is theologically significant for putting man "at the beginning of creation, and all other creatures are made for him" (Marcheschi 39). Both of those ideas differ from the Elohim view of man in Genesis 1 as God's highest and best creation, suited to dominion over an orderly cosmos. Indeed, the Creation has constructed order itself: "Chaos, with a ca
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Approximate Word count = 1269
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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