In which an alternative view is offered regarding the exit of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, the action of women and the relationship of men and women are explored and the story of Cain and Abel is reinterpreted in light of the actions taken during the Garden of Eden Story.

 

In order to fully appreciate this discussion, it is recommended that the posts comprising the series “In God’s Image” and “Imagination and the Mind of Man” be read before reading the posts in this series.

 

Another Interpretation of the Garden of Eden Story

 

Review of the previous post.

 

The previous post, post number 5 of 19, discussed God’s “curse” with respect to Adam and Eve.

 

Preview of this post.

 

This post, post number 6 of 19, discusses the two creation stories in relation to the “banishment” of humans from the Garden of Eden.

 

Two Creation Stories

 

Genesis 1: 1-31 describes one creation story wherein 1.27, it is stated, “And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them….” ; yet in Genesis 2:15, it is said “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden…”. This appears to be two different stories[1]. Yet they aren’t, the second story is a continuation of the first story.

At first blush, the two stories appear to be different. For example, the First Story refers to “God;” whereas, the Second Story refers to “LORD God;” the First Story has God creating merely by speaking; whereas, the Second Story has God physically manipulating things; the First Story has God creating man last after all else, including the animals; whereas, the Second Story with man already created; and the First Story has man and woman created simultaneously; whereas, the Second Story has man created first and then woman created thereafter; there are things created in the First Story that are not mentioned in the Second Story, such as the sun, the moon and the stars),. As such, many scholars attribute the two stories to different authors^[2].

There is an alternative explanation for the existence of two stories.

As discussed in another series^[3], God created man, not as a replica of Himself, but by withholding certain characteristics which prevented man from being a replica of God yet giving man an attribute which set man apart and above all other creations. As discussed in that series, this attribute is an imagination. This is why there are two creation stories in Genesis, with the second story being the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The first story has the basic creation of man and the second story continues the first and completes that creation by showing man’s imagination evolving sufficiently so that, at the end of the two stories, man is finally sufficiently created in God’s image to fulfill the destiny set forth in the first story.

In the second story, at Gen 2:4-7, it is related “When the Lord God made earth and heaven – when no shrub of the field was yet on earth and no grasses of the field had yet sprouted, because the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil….the Lord God formed man from the dust of the earth.” However, referring back to Gen 1:11, it is related “And God said, ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation: seed-bearing plants, fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with seed in it.’ And it was so. In both stories, man is created after the fruits of the earth.

Gen 2:4 further states “Such is the story of heaven and earth when they were created.” This statement, when read in the context of the two overlapping stories, seems to imply that the second story is a continuation of the first story and that the creation mentioned in the second story regarding vegetation and man is a recapitulation or review of what had already occurred in the first story. That is, the second story begins with a quick review of where things stood at the time the second story begins to bring the audience up to date. Man was already created when the second story begins. Of course, there seems to be an inconsistency regarding the creation of women because the first story seems to imply that man and woman are created simultaneously in Gen 1:27. However, reviewing that passage in light of the second story, it can be read that God created man and woman, but not necessarily simultaneously. The first story merely says that God created man and woman, it really says nothing about the sequence. This sequence is supplied in the second story, along with some further exposition regarding God’s reasoning. However, the two stories can be read as being consistent with man being created first and woman being created second with God ultimately blessing both of them. The sequence of creation of man and woman is not important to the plot line of the first story, so it is simply related that God created both. It is also noted that the first story says nothing about how the humans were created, just that they were created by God. The second story fills this in by stating that God formed man “from the dust of the earth and blew into his nostrils the breath of life,” so that “man became a living being.” (Gen 2:7).

It is also noted that neither story indicates that man is to be considered greater than woman. In fact, the first story seems to clearly imply equality. This theme will be further developed in the series “Women of the Bible.”

Since the focus is on man and not creation in general, the events of the Second Creation Story can be viewed in terms of the development of human beings.

Preview of the next post.

The next post, post number 7 of 19, discusses how human imagination figures into the Garden of Eden story.

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[1] The existence of two stories each alleging to be the story of creation has caused much consternation and even division among Jewish schools from the first century A.D. onward (for example, Rabbi Jehoshua followed the Spring model; whereas, Rabbi Eliezer followed the Autumnal model) . It has been alleged that the first creation story (Gen 1) was composed in Jerusalem soon after the return from Babylonian Exile. God was named “Elohim.” The second story, Gen 2, is also Judean, and pre-Exilic. In the second story names God as “Yahweh,” (usually transcribed as “Jehovah,” and translated as “Lord”) which was changed by the priestly editor to “Yahweh Elohim” (The Lord God) to couple the God of Genesis 1 to the God of Genesis 2 in an attempt to make the two stories consistent. However, there are many details that remain inconsistent, particularly the order of creation. Thus, the first story resembles Babylonian cosmogonies and the second story resembles Canaanite geography and climate. Thus, creation in Genesis 1 could be a spring season and Genesis 2 the Fall when rain and mist follow a sun-scorched, parched Summer. Since the Genesis 1 version borrows from the Babylonian, and mirrors a spring season, the first of Nissan became the Jewish New Year’s Day; whereas, the autumnal version requires the first of Tishri to be observed as the true New Year’s Day. Further inconsistencies occur in the order of events. In Genesis 1, the order is: heaven; earth; light; firmament; dry land; grasses and trees; luminaries; sea beasts; birds; cattle, creeping things, beasts; man; and woman. Whereas, the order of creation in Genesis 2 is: earth; heaven; mist; man; trees; rivers; beasts and cattle; birds; and woman. Further puzzlement is caused by the difference in times for creation: the first story appears to cover seven days; whereas, the second story appears to have all of creation take place in a single day. Still further, the first story begins by describing a universe which exists before God begins creation of the Earth, whereas, the second begins with the earth already created.

These contradictions have puzzled scholars for generations. Some early rabbinic commentators tried to rationalize these contradictions away by viewing the main elements of creation taking place in the first three days and embellished in the second three, with rest on the seventh, with a close symmetry being present between the first and fourth days, the second and fifth, and the third and sixth. Such as scheme was used to prove that God was systematic.

Another explanation which creates symmetry is obtained if the creation stories of the Bible are considered rooted in other ancient creation stories, particularly, the story of planetary gods in the Babylonian week, and therefore tied to the seven branches of the Menorah. Both Zachariah and Josephus make this identification of the Menorah with the Seven Planets – and that God claimed all planetary powers for Himself. Since Nergal, a pastoral god, came third in the week whereas Nabu, god of astronomy, came fourth, pasture was given precedence to the stars in the order of creation. The Enuma Elish has the following order: separation of heaven from earth and sea; creation of planets an stars; creation of trees and herbs; creation of animals and fish; Marduk’s forming of man.

Creation, of course, is not limited to the two stories in the Hebrew Bible. There are many other creation stories, including accounts built up from Babylonian, Ugaritic and Canaanite cosmogonies. Some expand on creators such as El, Marduk, Baal, etc who must first struggle against water. Some viewed the creation as Locating the Garden of Eden Eastward of the habitable world, with the ocean being Westward, with a dessert located behind and Babylonia and Chaldaea being located Northward , with storehouses of Hell-fire, snow, hailstones, fog and demons of Satan being located behind Babylonia and Chaldaea. God fastened down the firmament to the rim of the Earth on three compass points, but left the North loose so anyone claiming to be God could prove it by fastening down that part of the firmament. These stories also envisioned seven Earths separated from one another by intervals of whirlwind, named (in ascending order): Eres, Adama, Harabha, Siyya, Yabbasha, Arqa, Tebhel and Heled, with Arqa being the Fifth Earth and containing Gehenna and its seven layers, each with a storehouse of darkness. Shoel was the highest and beneath lies others named. Yet another view of the universe is that the entire Universe hands from God’s arms (see Babylonian Talumd, B. Hegiga 12b): “Rabbi Yose said: ‘The earth rests on columns, the columns on water, the water on mountains, the mountains on wind, the wind on the whirlwind, and the whirlwind hangs from God’s arms.’”

Yet another explanation from the rabbis is that the existence of so many creation stories is intended to impress hearers with the amazing range and complexity of God’s works            with the very irreconcilability of any two theories supporting this theory.

^[2] For example, see The Priestly Vision of Genesis II by Mark S. Smith published by Fortress Press of Minneapolis, MN in 2010 as well as Who Wrote the Bible 2^nd Edition, by Richard E Freedman, published by Harper One in 1996 for views that different parts of the Bible were written by different authors.

^[3] “In God’s Image”

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