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Reading the Old Testament

The purpose of this research is to identify appropriate ways to read the Old Testament, with reference to two different creation stories in Genesis, at 1:1-2.3 and 2:4-25. The research will set forth the content of these accounts of creation and how they differ, and then discuss the theology of each passage, with a view toward explaining why there is more than one account of the Creation in the opening chapters of the text.

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 that the order of creation is reversed, with nature dominating most of the day-by-day activity of Genesis 1 and man coming in immediately after the materials for making him appear in the firmament in Genesis 2. A second major difference between the stories arises in connection with the position of mankind in the cosmos. The declaration of human dominion over Creation in Genesis 1 implies that mankind is the chief accomplishment of creation, having a special rela...

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Reading the Old Testament. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:00, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1687236.html