The Two Accounts of Creation
PART II
In an earlier study (Part I), the synopsis of the Creation story seemed like an cataclysmic event of incomprehensible magnitude with: formless matter, order out of chaos, separation of Light from Darkness, the “Spirit” or ‘wind’ of God stirring up the unseen, invisible, and swirling cosmic energies, indefinite time periods called ‘Days’ or epochs, the creation of Heaven and Earth, vegetation, primeval life forms (fish, birds, cattle, creeping things, and beasts of the field); the creation of ‘Man’ (“them”) in God’s image and likeness; not a man called “Adam” and a woman who was his helper called “Eve,” but rather male and female who were told to replenish the entire Earth over which they have the dominion. This account in GENESIS should not be read as a continuous narrative but rather as an interwoven and sophisticated portrayal that might have had several authors, revisions, sources, and which may have been written at different time periods by Jewish scribes, including possibly, during the Assyrian and Babylonian captivity of the inhabitants living within the lands of Israel and Judah, respectively.
GENESIS 2: 4
The history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the ‘Day’ that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens:
NOTE: This is the ‘Title’ and in the following story, the ‘Creator’ is the Lord God (‘YHVH’) who creates everything in an indefinite period called ‘Day’ with the ‘Earth’ seeming to get preeminence because it is mentioned before the ‘heavens’ in the latter phrase.
5
Before any plant of the field or any herb had grown (??). It had not rained on the earth and there was no ‘man’ to till the ground.
NOTE: Man was given a very mundane occupation as opposed to having dominion over the Earth in the other version.
7
The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the ‘breath of life’ and man became a living ‘soul’ (Heb. “Nephesh;” the same word applied to animals??)
NOTE: This differs from being created in God’s image and likeness (Cp.1: 26-27)
8
The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and in there He put the man.
9
The Lord God made every tree to grow out of the ground that is (a) pleasant to the sight, and (b) good for food. The ‘Tree of Life’ was also in the midst of the garden, and also the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.’
16
And the Lord God commanded the man saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die [‘dying, you shall die’??].
19
Out of the ground the Lord God formed every (5) beast of the field, and every (2) bird of the air.
NOTE: (1) sea creatures and (4) creeping things are not mentioned yet as in the First Chapter.
20
So Adam [not the ‘man’??] gave names to all (3) cattle, to all (2) birds of the air, and to every (5) beast of the field. The Lord created Eve from one of Adam’s ribs [Heb. ‘tsala;’ side or rib] where he [Adam] names her “Woman” [‘Ishah’] because she was taken out of “Man” [‘Ish’].
24
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall be one flesh.
NOTE: Did Adam really say this? Nevertheless, this statement is quoted in the Gospels by Jesus (Cp. Matthew 19: 5; Mark 10: 7-8a) and the Apostle Paul (Cp. Ephesians 5: 31).
25
And they were both ‘naked,’ the man and his wife and they were not ‘ashamed.’
NOTE: Why is this point even mentioned??
3: 1
The ‘Serpent’ was more cunning [‘subtil’??] than any (5) beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
NOTE: Did Adam name the serpent (v. 20), and wouldn’t the classification necessarily be that of a (4) creeping thing?
3
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the ‘midst’ of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”
NOTE: Several things are worth noting here, namely, that the “Tree of Life” was in the midst of the garden as well as the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” and there was no such prohibition against ‘touching’ the forbidden tree; although it is quite possible that the injunction was so dire that even to brush up against it was a violation of God’s Law as far as Adam and Eve were concerned. Also, there is quite a distinction between ‘lest you die’ as opposed to ‘you shall surely die;’ even if it is just a matter of semantics.
4-5
The serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die [which is actually what the Lord God said, except for that little added word, 'NOT'].” For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing ‘Good and Evil.’
6
So when the woman saw the tree was (a) good for food, and that it was (b) pleasant to the sight, and a tree (c) desirable to make one wise, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
NOTE: When the serpent was having this conversation with Eve, was Adam just standing there next to her and didn’t interrupt? After Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, were her eyes opened at that instant and why did she not react differently after becoming aware of her “nakedness” before Adam and the ‘Serpent’? Lastly, one of the qualities for which the Lord God did not imbue the trees with was (c)“desirable to make one wise.”
7
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked [and they knew good and evil??]
NOTE: It seems the ‘Serpent’ was right after all. This could be like the the metaphysical or occult Egyptian "EYE OF HORUS" which has to do with the pineal gland at the base of the brain stem which awakens one to the higher consciousness of divine knowledge.
8b
Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden.
10-11
So he [Adam] said, “I heard Your Voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And the Lord God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded that you should not eat?”
20
And Adam called his wife’s name “Eve” [‘Life’] because she was the mother of all living (??).
NOTE: Who else was there besides the primordial human pair, the animals and vegetation?
21
The Lord made tunics [‘coats’??] of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
NOTE: What kind of animal was skinned and the fur used to cover their nakedness or was it ‘skin’ itself that Adam and Eve were clothed with? Adam and Eve were never told to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth [in this account].
22
The Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us (vs. 5b, 7), to know ‘Good and Evil.’ And now, lest he put out his hand and also take from the ‘Tree of Life’ and eat, and live forever.
NOTE: Why does it not say the man and woman or Adam and Eve has become like deity, as well as the next thing that the fallen couple wanted to do was to obtain immortality and was prevented from doing so?
23-24
The Lord God sent him [Adam] out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He [the Lord God] drove out the man.
NOTE: Nothing is mentioned about Eve being driven from the garden at this time.
QUESTION:
When the Lord God said in the very day that the forbidden tree was eaten from that Adam would die, what kind of “death” is it, or rather, what is the particular character or nature of this death? Adam and Eve did not die that ‘day’ in the physical sense because they had Cain, Abel, Seth, and Adam in fact lived about 950 years; although how long Eve lived is not mentioned in Scripture, which is surprising. Perhaps the death which Adam and Eve experienced had something to do with fear of God, separation and hiding from God, shame, and most importantly, the word "sin" was not used.
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
March 7, 2009
pbks@hotmail.com
