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Genesis creation narrative

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The Genesis creation narrative is a description of the creation of the world, as written in the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible.

Chapter one describes the creation of the world by Elohim (God), by means of divine incantation in six days and the designation of the seventh day as Sabbath, a holy (set apart) day of rest. Man and woman are created to be God's regents over his creation. Chapter two tells of YHWH (God) creating the first man, whom he forms from clay (or dust) and into whom he "breathes" the "breath of life". The first woman is formed from the side of the first man, and God plants a garden "east of Eden" into which he places them. Chapter two ends with a statement concerning why men and women are given into marriage.

It shares features with several other ancient Mesopotamian creation myths, while differing in its monotheistic outlook.[1][2][3] As a sacred narrative it is part of the biblical canons of Judaism and Christianity.[4]

According to Old Testament scholar Gordon Wenham this creation account bears the marks of a carefully contrived literary creation, written with a distinct theological agenda: the elevation of Yahweh, the god of Israel, over all other gods, and notably over Marduk, the god of Babylon.[5]

Overview

The opening passages of the Book of Genesis consecutively contain two creation stories. In the first story God progressively creates the different features of the world over a series of six days, resting on the seventh day.Gen. 1:1–2:3 Creation is performed by divine incantation: on the first day God says, "Let there be light!" and light appears. On the second day God creates an expanse (firmament) to separate the waters above (the sky) from those below (the ocean/abyssos). On the third day God commands the waters below to recede and make dry land appear, and fills the earth with vegetation. God then puts lights in the sky to separate day from night to mark the seasons. On the fifth day, God creates sea creatures and birds of every kind and commands them to procreate. On the sixth day, God creates land creatures of every kind. Man and woman are created last, after the entire world is prepared for them; they are created in the image of God, and are given dominion and care over all other created things. God rests on the seventh and final day of creation as Sabbath, which he marks as holy.

In the second story the creation of man follows the creation of the heavens and earth, but occurs before the creation of plants and animals.Gen. 2:4–2:25 God takes dirt (adamah, ochre) from the ground to form a man and breathes life into him. God prepares a garden in the East of Eden and puts the man there, then fills it with trees bearing fruit for him to eat. The man is invited to eat the fruit of any tree but one: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God commands the man not to eat of that one tree "for when you eat of it you will surely die."Gen. 2:17 Birds and animals are then created as man's companions and helpers, and God presents them to the man. The first man gives names to each one, but finds none of them to be "like him." So God puts the first man into a deep sleep and removes something from man's side, and uses it to make the first woman. "For this reason," the text reads, "a man will leave his father and mother for his wife, and they shall be joined as one flesh."

Summary

God creating the land animals (Vittskövle Church fresco, 1480s).

First narrative: creation week

Genesis 1:3–2:4

The creation week consists of eight divine commands executed over six days, followed by a seventh day of rest.

  • First day: God (Elohim) creates light ("Let there be light!")Gen 1:3—the first divine command. The light is divided from the darkness, and "day" and "night" are named.
  • Second day: God creates a firmament ("Let a firmament be...!")Gen 1:6–7—the second command—to divide the waters above from the waters below. The firmament is named "skies".
  • Third day: God commands the waters below to be gathered together in one place, and dry land to appear (the third command).Gen 1:9–10 "earth" and "sea" are named. God commands the earth to bring forth grass, plants, and fruit-bearing trees (the fourth command).
  • Fourth day: God creates lights in the firmament (the fifth command)Gen 1:14–15 to separate light from darkness and to mark days, seasons and years. Two great lights are made (most likely the Sun and Moon, but not named), and the stars.
  • Fifth day: God commands the sea to "teem with living creatures", and birds to fly across the heavens (sixth command)Gen 1:20–21 He creates birds and sea creatures, and commands them to be fruitful and multiply.
  • Sixth day: God commands the land to bring forth living creatures (seventh command);Gen 1:24–25 He makes wild beasts, livestock and reptiles. He then creates humanity in His "image" and "likeness" (eighth command).Gen 1:26–28 They are told to "be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it." The totality of creation is described by God as "very good."
  • Seventh day: God, having completed the heavens and the earth, rests from His work, and blesses and sanctifies the seventh day.

Literary bridge

Genesis 2:4 "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created."

This verse lies between the creation week account and the account of Eden which follows. Its significance is found in that it is the first of ten tôledôt ("generations") phrases used throughout the book of Genesis, which provide a literary structure to the book.[6] Since the phrase always precedes the "generation" to which it belongs, the "generations of the heavens and the earth" can logically be taken to refer to Genesis 2; a position taken by most commentators.[7] Nevertheless, Rashi argues that in this case it should apply to what precedes.[8]

Second narrative: Eden

Genesis 2:4–25
Painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), depicting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
The Creation stained glass window at St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Charleston, South Carolina

Genesis 2:4–2:25 tells of God (YHWH) forming the first man (Adam) from dust, then planting a garden, then forming animals and birds for Adam to name, and finally, creating the first woman, Eve, to be his wife. The two stories are linked by a short bridge[9] and form part of a wider unit in Genesis labeled by some scholars as the primeval story.[10]

This second creation narrative in Genesis is thought to be much older, and reflects a different historical and literary context.[11] Its presentation uses imagery reflective of the ancient pastoral shepherding tradition of Israel,[11] and it addresses the creation of the first man and woman in the Garden of Eden:

  • Genesis 2:4 Genesis 2:4b—the second half of the bridge formed by the "generations" formula, and the beginning of the Eden narrative—places the events of the narrative "in the day when YHWH Elohim made the earth and the heavens...."[12]
  • Before any plant had appeared, before any rain had fallen, while a mist[13] watered the earth, Yahweh formed the man (Heb. ha-adam הָאָדָם) out of dust from the ground (Heb. ha-adamah הָאֲדָמָה), and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils. And the man became a "living being" (Heb. nephesh).
  • Yahweh planted a garden in Eden and he set the man in it. He caused pleasant trees to sprout from the ground, and trees necessary for food, also the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Some modern translations alter the tense-sequence so that the garden is prepared before the man is set in it, but the Hebrew has the man created before the garden is planted. An unnamed river is described: it goes out from Eden to water the garden, after which it parts into four named streams. He takes the man who is to tend His garden and tells him he may eat of the fruit of all the trees except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, "for in that day thou shalt surely die."
  • Yahweh resolved to make a "helper"[14] suitable for (lit. "corresponding to")[15] the man.[16] He made domestic animals and birds, and the man gave them their names, but none of them was a fitting helper. Therefore, Yahweh caused the man to sleep, and he took a rib,[17] and from it formed a woman. The man then named her "Woman" (Heb. ishah), saying "for from a man (Heb. ish) has this been taken." A statement instituting marriage follows: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." The lack of punctuation in the Hebrew makes it uncertain whether or not these words about marriage are intended to be a continuation of the speech of the man.
  • The man and his wife were naked, and felt no shame.

Biblical creation narratives outside of Genesis 1-2

Descriptions of creation abound throughout the Bible. The Harper's Bible dictionary writes that, "Divine struggle with waters, victory over chaos, and cosmogonic promulgation of law/wisdom are found throughout biblical poetry."[18] For some examples of this in the Old Testament, see, Job 38–41; Psalms 18, 19, 24; 24; 33; 68; 93; 95; 104; Proverbs 8:22–33; Isaiah 40–42. In the New Testament, see, John 1; Colossians 1; Hebrews 3; 8.

Structure and composition

Michelangelo's painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel shows the creation of the sun, moon and earth as described in the first chapter of Genesis.

Two stories or one?

Until the latter half of the 19th century Genesis 1 and 2 were seen as one continuous, uniform story with Genesis 1:1–2:6 outlining the world's origin, and 2:7–2:25[19] carefully painting a more detailed picture of the creation of humanity. Modern scholarship, citing (1) the use of two different names for God, (2) two different emphases (physical vs. moral issues), and (3) a different order of creation (plants before humans vs. plants after humans), believes that these are two distinct scriptures written many years apart by two different sources, chapter 1 by the Priestly source and chapter 2 by the Jahwist, with the bridge the work of a "redactor", or editor.[20][21]

Structure

See also: Framework interpretation

Genesis 1 consists of eight acts of creation within a six day framework followed by a day of rest. In each of the first three days there is an act of division: Day one divides the darkness from light; day two, the waters from the skies; and day three, the sea from the land. In each of the next three days these divisions are populated: day four populates what was created on day one, and heavenly bodies are placed in the darkness and light; day five populates what was created on day two, and fish and birds are placed in the seas and skies; finally, day six populates what was created on day three, and animals and man are place on the land. This six-day structure is symmetrically bracketed: On day zero primeval chaos reigns, and on day seven there is cosmic order.[22]

Genesis 2 is a simple linear narrative, with the exception of the parenthesis about the four rivers at 2:10–14. This interrupts the forward movement of the narrative and is possibly a later insertion.[23]

The two are joined by Genesis 2:4a, "These are the tôledôt (תוֹלְדוֹת in Hebrew) of the heavens and the earth when they were created." This echoes the first line of Genesis 1, "In the beginning Elohim created both the heavens and the earth," and is reversed in the next line of Genesis 2, "In the day when Yahweh Elohim made the earth and the heavens...". The significance of this, if any, is unclear, but it does reflect the preoccupation of each chapter, Genesis 1 looking down from heaven, Genesis 2 looking up from the earth.[24]

Composition

Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam (1512) is the most famous Fresco in the Sistine Chapel

Traditionally attributed to Moses, today most scholars accept that the Pentateuch is "a composite work, the product of many hands and periods.”[25] Genesis 1 and 2 are seen as the products of two separate authors, or schools: Genesis 1 is by an author, or school of authors, called the P (for Priestly), while Genesis 2 is by a different author or group of authors called J (for Jahwist — sometimes called non-P). There are several competing theories as to when and how these two chapters originated — some scholars believe they each come from two originally complete but separate narratives spanning the entire biblical story from creation to the death of Moses, while others believe that P is not a complete narrative but rather a series of edits of the J material, which itself was not a single document so much as a collection of material. In either case, it is generally agreed that the J account (Genesis 2) is older than P (Genesis 1), that both were written during the 1st millennium BC, and that they reached the combined form in which we know them today about 450 BC.

Exegetical points

"In the beginning..."

Main article: Genesis 1:1

The first word of Genesis 1 in Hebrew, "in beginning" (Heb. berēšît בְּרֵאשִׁית), provides the traditional Hebrew title for the book. The inherent ambiguity of the Hebrew grammar in this verse gives rise to two alternative translations, the first implying that God's initial act of creation was before time was created[26] and ex nihilo (out of nothing),[27][7] the second that "the heavens and the earth" (i.e., everything) already existed in a "formless and empty" state, to which God brings form and order:[28]

  1. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void.... God said, Let there be light!" (King James Version).
  2. "At the beginning of the creation of heaven and earth, when the earth was (or the earth being) unformed and void.... God said, Let there be light!" (Rashi, and with variations Ibn Ezra and Bereshith Rabba).

The names of God

Two names of God are used, Elohim in the first account and Yahweh Elohim in the second account. In Jewish tradition, dating back to the earliest rabbinic literature, the different names indicate different attributes of God.[29][30] In modern times the two names, plus differences in the styles of the two chapters and a number of discrepancies between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, were instrumental in the development of source criticism and the documentary hypothesis.

"Without form and void"

The phrase traditionally translated in English "without form and void" is tōhû wābōhû (Template:Lang-he). The Greek Septuagint (LXX) rendered this term as "unseen and unformed" (Greek: ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος), paralleling the Greek concept of Chaos. In the Hebrew Bible, the phrase is a dis legomenon, being used only in one other place, Jeremiah 4:23,Jer. 4:23 where Jeremiah is telling Israel that sin and rebellion against God will lead to "darkness and chaos," or to "de-creation," "as if the earth had been ‘uncreated.’".[31][32]

The "rûach" of God

The Hebrew rûach (רוּחַ) has the meanings "wind, spirit, breath," but the traditional Jewish interpretation here is "wind," as "spirit" would imply a living supernatural presence co-extent with yet separate from God at creation. This, however, is the sense in which rûach was understood by the early Christian church in developing the doctrine of the Trinity, in which this passage plays a central role.[28]

The "deep"

The "deep" (Heb. תְהוֹם tehôm) is the formless body of primeval water surrounding the habitable world. These waters are later released during the great flood, when "all the fountains of the great deep burst forth" from under the earth and from the "windows" of the sky.Gen. 7:11 [7] The word itself may show literary or linguistic parallels with the Babylonian Tiawath (chaos) or the Assyrian Tamtu (deep sea).[33]

The "firmament"

The "firmament" (Heb. רָקִיעַ rāqîa) of heaven, created on the second day of creation and populated by luminaries on the fourth day, denotes a solid ceiling[34] which separated the earth below from the heavens and their waters above. The term is etymologically derived from the verb rāqa (רֹקַע ), used for the act of beating metal into thin plates.[7][35]

"Great sea monsters"

Heb. hatanninim hagedolim (הַתַּנִּינִם הַגְּדֹלִים) is the classification of creatures to which the chaos-monsters Leviathan and Rahab belong.[36] In Genesis 1:21, the proper noun Leviathan is missing and only the class noun great tannînim appears. The great tannînim are associated with mythological sea creatures such as Lotan (the Ugaritic counterpart of the biblical Leviathan) which were considered deities by other ancient near eastern cultures; the author of Genesis 1 asserts the sovereignty of Elohim over such entities.[35]

The number seven

Seven denoted divine completion.[37] It is embedded in the text of Genesis 1 (but not in Genesis 2) in a number of ways, besides the obvious seven-day framework: the word "God" occurs 35 times (7 × 5) and "earth" 21 times (7 × 3). The phrases "and it was so" and "God saw that it was good" occur 7 times each. The first sentence of Genesis 1:1 contains 7 Hebrew words composed of 28 Hebrew letters (7 × 4), and the second sentence contains 14 words (7 × 2), while the verses about the seventh dayGen. 2:1–3 contain 35 words (7 × 5) in total.[38]

Man in "the image of God"

Main article: Image of God

The meaning of the "image of God" has been debated since Hellenistic times. The medieval Jewish scholar Rashi believed it referred to "a sort of conceptual archetype, model, or blueprint that God had previously made for man," while his colleague Maimonides believed that it referred to man's free will.[39] Modern scholarship still debates whether the image of God was represented equally in the man and in woman, or whether Adam possessed the image more fully than Eve.[citation needed]

Typology

Since the earliest days of the Christian church, theologians have interpreted incidents in Genesis and other Hebrew Bible passages as containing prefigurations (prototypes) of cardinal New Testament concepts, including the Passion of Christ and the Eucharist.[40]

Interpretation

Questions of genre

In academic circles the Genesis creation narrative is often described as a creation or cosmogonic myth. The word myth comes from the Greek root for "story" or "legend", and describes a culturally significant or sacred account explaining the origins of existence by using metaphorical language and symbolism to express ideas. In academic use, the term myth generally does not pass judgment on the truth or falsity of the story.[41] The text has also been variously described as historical narrative[42][43] (i.e., a literal account); as mythic history (i.e., a symbolic representation of historical time); as ancient science (in that, for the original authors, the narrative represented the current state of knowledge about the cosmos and its origin and purpose); and as theology (as it describes the origin of the earth and humanity in terms of God).[44]

Ancient Near East context

Cuneiform tablet with the Atra-Hasis Epic in the British Museum
The Sumerian god Ningizzida accompanied by two gryphons. It is the oldest known image of snakes coiling around an axial rod, dating from before 2000 BC (see Caduceus)

The worldview which lies behind the Genesis creation story is that of the common cosmology of the ancient Near East[34] in which Earth was conceived as a flat disk with infinite water both above and below. The dome of the sky was thought to be a solid metal bowl (tin according to the Sumerians, iron for the Egyptians) separating the surrounding water from the habitable world. The stars were embedded in the lower surface of this dome, with gates that allowed the passage of the Sun and Moon back and forth. The flat-disk Earth was seen as a single island-continent surrounded by a circular ocean, of which the known seas—what today is called the Mediterranean Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea—were inlets. Beneath the Earth was a fresh-water sea, the source of all fresh-water rivers and wells.[34]

The two Genesis creation stories—Genesis 1:1–2:3 and Genesis 2:4–2:25—are both comparable with other Near Eastern creation stories—notably Narrative I has close parallels with the Enûma Eliš[45][46] and Narrative II has parallels with the Atra-Hasis[47]

According to the Enûma Eliš the original state of the universe was a chaos formed by the mingling of two primeval waters, the female saltwater Tiamat and the male freshwater Apsu.[48] The opening six lines read:

When skies above were not yet named
Nor earth below pronounced by name
Apsu, the first one, their begetter
And maker Tiamat, who bore them all
Had mixed their waters together,
But had not formed pastures, nor discovered reed-beds.[49]

Through the fusion of their waters six successive generations of gods were born. A war amongst the gods began with the slaying of Apsu, and ended with the god Marduk splitting Tiamat in two to form the heavens and the earth; the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers emerged from her eye-sockets. Marduk then created humanity, from clay mingled with spit and blood, to tend the earth for the gods, while Marduk himself was enthroned in Babylon in the Esagila, "the temple with its head in heaven."

Adapa (cognate with Adam) was a Babylonian mythical figure who unknowingly refused the gift of immortality. The story[50] is first attested in the Kassite period (14th century BC). Mario Liverani[51] points to multiple parallels between the story of Adapa, who obtains wisdom but who is forbidden the 'food of immortality' whilst in heaven, and the story of Adam in Eden.

Ningishzida was a Mesopotamian serpent deity associated with the underworld. He was often depicted protectively wrapped around a tree as a guardian. Thorkild Jacobsen interprets his name in Sumerian to mean "lord of the good tree."[52]

Despite apparent similarities between Genesis and the Enûma Eliš, there are also significant differences. The most notable is the absence from Genesis of the "divine combat" (the gods' battle with Tiamat) which secures Marduk's position as king of the world, but even this has an echo in the claims of Yahweh's kingship over creation in such places as Psalm 29 and Psalm 93, where he is pictured as sitting enthroned over the floods[48] and Isaiah 27:1. "In that day, the Lord will punish with his sword; his fierce, great and powerful sword; Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea." Thus this creation account may be seen as either a borrowing or historicizing of Babylonian myth[53] or, in contrast, may be seen as a repudiation of Babylonian ideas about origins and humanity.[54]

Theology

Jewish and Christian theology both define God as unchangeable since he created time and therefore transcends time and is not affected by it.[55]

Traditional Jewish scholarship has viewed it as expressing spiritual concepts (see Nachmanides, commentary on Genesis). The Mishnah in Tractate Chagigah states that the actual meaning of the creation account, mystical in nature and hinted at in the text of Genesis, was to be taught only to advanced students one-on-one. Tractate Sanhedrin states that Genesis describes all mankind as being descended from a single individual in order to teach certain lessons. Among these are:

  • Taking one life is tantamount to destroying the entire world, and saving one life is tantamount to saving the entire world.
  • A person should not say to another that he comes from better stock because we all come from the same ancestor.
  • To teach the greatness of God, for when human beings create a mold every thing that comes out of that mold is identical, while mankind, which comes out of a single mold, is different in that every person is unique.[56]

Among the many views of modern scholars on Genesis and creation one of the most influential is that which links it to the emergence of Hebrew monotheism from the common Mesopotamian/Levantine background of polytheistic religion and myth around the middle of the 1st millennium BC.[57] The "creation week" narrative forms a monotheistic polemic on creation-theology directed against gentile creation myths, the sequence of events building to the establishment of Biblical Sabbath (in Hebrew: שַׁבָּת, Shabbat) commandment as its climax.[58] Where the Babylonian myths saw man as nothing more than a "lackey of the gods to keep them supplied with food,"[59] Genesis starts out with God approving the world as "very good" and with mankind at the apex of created order.Gen. 1:31 Things then fall away from this initial state of goodness: Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the tree in disobedience of the divine command. Ten generations later in the time of Noah, the earth has become so corrupted that God resolves to return it to the waters of chaos sparing only one man who is righteous and from whom a new creation can begin.

Creationism

See also: Creationism and Creation-evolution controversy

Since the 18th and 19th centuries literalist interpretations of Genesis have been in conflict with the growing scientific consensus that the age of the earth is around 4.5 billion years.[60]

There still remain some movements of Biblical literalism in both conservative and Jewish orthodoxy who are committed to interpreting the Bible by adhering closely to the explicit words given in the text.[61] Strict literalists view Genesis creation as a historical event that transpired exactly as written,[62] but do not all agree on how literally to interpret the creation account in Genesis. "Young earth" creationists, for instance, maintain that the Genesis creation took place between 6,000 and 10,000 years in the past, and that the seven "days" of Genesis 1 correspond to normal 24-hour days.

Beginning in the first half of the 20th century, such interpretations have been divided in a variety of schools of thought.

  • "Day-age" creationists believe that each "day" in Genesis's opening represents an "age" of perhaps millions or billions of years.
  • Progressive creationists infer that each day of creation represents an eon of development rather than a 24 hour day, but place importance on both the numerical and naturalistic features in the account and claim these Genesis passages can be seen to have anticipated later scientific findings regarding the creation of the planet and solar system.[63]
  • Gap creationism is a form of Old Earth creationism that posits that the six-day creation, as described in the Book of Genesis, involved literal 24-hour days, but that there was a gap of time between two distinct creations in the first and the second verses of Genesis.

In the United States, the concept of "Creation science" or "Scientific Creationism" has been forwarded since the 1960s, dedicated to casting creationism in scientific terminology. Proponents maintain that the science behind the age of the earth and evolution is flawed, and claim to have scientific evidence of their own that fully supports the Genesis account.[64]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Leeming 2004 - "To the extent that this myth was influenced by Mesopotamian concepts, it can be said that it purposely establishes a monotheistic creation as opposed to the Babylonian polytheistic one."
  2. ^ Gordon & Sarna 1997, p. 50 - "In order to develop their beliefs, the Hebrews borrowed some Mesopotamian themes but adapted them to the unique conception of their one God."
  3. ^ Alter 2008, p. xii - "Genesis opens with a narrative of origins—Creation and the Garden Story—that is compelling in its archetypal character, its adaptation of myth to monotheistic ends ..."
  4. ^ Leeming 2004 - "Although it is canonical for both Christians and Jews, and in part for followers of Islam, different emphases are placed on the story by the three religions."
  5. ^ Wenham 2008, pp. 15–18
  6. ^ Cross 1997 The other nine are for:
    • 2 Adam "Bereishit - Genesis - Chapter 5". Genesis 5:1
    • 3 Noah, Genesis 6:9
    • 4 Noah's sons "Bereishit - Genesis - Chapter 10".,
    • 5 Shem, Gen. 11:10
    • 6 Terah, Gen. 11:27
    • 7 Yishmael, Gen. 25:12
    • 8 Isaac, Gen. 25:19
    • 9 Esau, Gen. 36:1 and
    • 10 Jacob. Gen. 37:2
  7. ^ a b c d Wenham 1987
  8. ^ Rashi, "Commentary on Genesis", chapter 2, verse 4. The argument is based on several grounds, notably the fact that Genesis 1 uses the phrase "heavens and earth" to introduce and close the creation, while the account in Chapter 2 is introduced by the phrase "earth and heavens." Advocates of the other view argue that Genesis 2:4 is designed as a chiasm. (Wenham 1987, p. 49)
  9. ^ Alter 1997, p. 7
  10. ^ Rendtorff 2009, p. 41
  11. ^ a b Hyers 1984, Chapter 5, p 107
  12. ^ The lack of punctuation in the Hebrew creates ambiguity over where sentence-endings should be placed in this passage. This is reflected in differing modern translations, some of which attach this clause to 2:4a Genesis 2:4 and place a full stop at the end of 4b, while others place the full stop after 4a and make 4b the beginning of a new sentence, while yet others combine all verses from 4a onwards into a single sentence culminating in Genesis 2:7.
  13. ^ in some translations, a stream
  14. ^ `ezer: Most often used to refer to God, such as "The Lord is our Help (`ezer)"Ps. 115:9 and many other Old Testament verses. (Strong's H5828)
  15. ^ footnote to Gen. 2:18 in NASB
  16. ^ Kvam, Schearing & Ziegler 1999
  17. ^ Hebrew tsela`, meaning side, chamber, rib, or beam (Strong's H6763). Some scholars have questioned the traditional "rib" on the grounds that it denigrates the equality of the sexes, suggesting it should read "side".(Reisenberger 1993) Others note: "Eve was created from a rib taken from the side of Adam, signifying that she was not to control him as the head, nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior, but to stand by his side as an equal, to be loved and protected by him."(White 1958, p. 46)
  18. ^ Achtemeier 1996, p. 193
  19. ^ Stagg 1962, p. 297
  20. ^ Metzger & Murphy 1991
  21. ^ Metzger & Coogan 1993, pp. 140–141
  22. ^ Bandstra 1999 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBandstra1999 (help)
  23. ^ Carr 1993, pp. 577–595
  24. ^ Friedman 2005, p. 35
  25. ^ Speiser, E. A. (1964). Genesis. The Anchor Bible. Doubleday. p. XXI. ISBN 0-385-00854-6.
  26. ^ Yonge 1854
  27. ^ Schaff 1995
  28. ^ a b Orlinsky 2001 page number needed.
  29. ^ Kaplan 2002, p. 93
  30. ^ Wylen 2005, p. 108
  31. ^ Huey 2001, p. 85
  32. ^ Thompson, 1980, p. 230
  33. ^ Spence 1995, p. 72
  34. ^ a b c For a description of Near Eastern and other ancient cosmologies and their connections with the biblical view of the universe, see Paul H. Seeley, "The Firmament and the Water Above: The Meaning of Raqia in Genesis 1:6–8", Westminster Theological Journal 53 (1991), and "The Geographical Meaning of 'Earth' and 'Seas' in Genesis 1:10", Westminster Theological Journal 59 (1997).
  35. ^ a b Victor P. Hamilton. The Book of Genesis (New International Commentary on the Old Testament). William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1990.
  36. ^ Vocabulary of Biblical Hebrew, Texas A&M University.
  37. ^ Meir Bar-Ilan, The Numerology of Genesis (Association for Jewish Astrology and Numerology, 2003)
  38. ^ Wenham 1987, p. 6
  39. ^ Footnotes to Genesis translation at bible.ort.org
  40. ^ Janzen, David. The social meanings of sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible: a study of four writings. Walter de Gruyter Publisher, 2004. ISBN 978-3110181586
  41. ^ Wright, N.T. Meaning and Myth. The BioLogos Foundation » Science & the Sacred. Web: 1 Mar 2020. Meaning and Myth.
  42. ^ Feinberg, John S. (2006). "The Doctrine of Creation—Literary Genre of Genesis 1 and 2". No One Like Him: The Doctrine of God. Foundations of Evangelical Theology. Vol. 2. Good News Publishers. p. 577. ISBN 1581348118.
  43. ^ Boyd, Steven W. (2008). "The Genre of Genesis 1:1-2:3:What Means This Text?". In Terry Mortenson, Thane H Ury (ed.). Coming to Grips with Genesis: Biblical Authority and the Age of the Earth. New Leaf Publishing Group. pp. 174 ff. ISBN 0890515484.
  44. ^ Sparks, Kenton. God's Word in Human Words: An Evangelical Appropriation of Critical Biblical Scholarship. Baker Academic, 2008. ISBN 0801027012 (see Chapters 6 & 7 on Biblical Genres)
  45. ^ Heidel, Alexander. Babylonian Genesis Chicago University Press; 2nd edition edition (1 Sep 1963) ISBN 0226323994 (See especially Ch3 on Old Testament Parallels)
  46. ^ Smith, Mark S. The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts Oxford University Press USA (30 Aug 2001) ISBN 019513480X (See especially Ch 9.1)
  47. ^ Dalley, Stephanie Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and others Oxford World Classics, Oxford University Press (2000) ISBN 0192835890 (see esp. p.4 Atrahasis Introduction on 'Creation of Man')
  48. ^ a b Bandstra, Barry L. (1999), "Enûma Eliš", Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible, Wadsworth Publishing Company.
  49. ^ Oxford World Classics Dalley, Stephanie (2000). Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and others. Oxford University Press. p. 233 The Epic of Creation. Tablet 1. ISBN 0192835890. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) I-CIAS.com
  50. ^ Adapa: Babylonian mythical figure
  51. ^ Liverani, Mario. Myth and Politics in Ancient Near Eastern Historiography. Cornell University Press (August 30, 2007) (Ch1 Adapa, guest of the Gods pp.21-23) [1]
  52. ^ Jacobsen, Thorkild The Treasures of Darkness: History of Mesopotamian Religion Yale University Press; New edition edition (1 July 1978) ISBN 0300022913 (page 7)
  53. ^ Heidel, Alexander Babylonian Genesis Chicago University Press; 2nd edition edition (1 Sep 1963) ISBN 0226323994; Smith, Mark S. The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel William B Eerdmans Publishing Co; 2nd edition (18 Oct 2002) ISBN 080283972X; Smith, Mark S. The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts Oxford University Press USA; New Ed edition (27 Nov 2003) ISBN 0195167686; Frank Moore Cross 'Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel' Harvard University Press; New edition edition (29 Aug 1997) ISBN 0674091760]
  54. ^ K. A. Mathews, vol. 1A, Genesis 1-11:26, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001), p. 89.
  55. ^ Clontz 2008
  56. ^ Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 37a.
  57. ^ For a discussion of the roots of biblical monotheism in Canaanite polytheism, see Mark S. Smith, "The Origins of Biblical Monotheism"; See also the review of David Penchansky, "Twilight of the Gods: Polytheism in the Hebrew Bible", which describes some of the nuances underlying the subject. See the Bibliography section at the foot of this article for further reading on this subject.
  58. ^ Meredith G. Kline, "Because It Had Not Rained", (Westminster Theological Journal, 20 (2), May 1958), pp. 146–57; Meredith G. Kline, "Space and Time in the Genesis Cosmogony", Perspectives on Science & Christian Faith (48), 1996), pp. 2–15; Henri Blocher, Henri Blocher. In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis. InterVarsity Press, 1984.; and with antecedents in St. Augustine of Hippo Davis A. Young (1988). "The Contemporary Relevance of Augustine's View of Creation". Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith. 40 (1): 42–45. {{cite journal}}: External link in |Format= (help); Unknown parameter |Format= ignored (|format= suggested) (help)
  59. ^ T. Jacobson, "The Eridu Genesis", JBL 100, 1981, pp.529, quoted in Gordon Wenham, "Exploring the Old Testament: The Pentateuch", 2003, p.17. See also Wenham 1987
  60. ^ Stenhouse 2000, p. 76
  61. ^ Lindbeck 2001, p. 295
  62. ^ Scott 2005, pp. 227–8
  63. ^ Hyers 1984, Chapter 4, p 80
  64. ^ Scott, Eugene (2001). "Antievolutionism and Creationism in the United States". National Center for Science Education.

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