The Genesis creation
narrative is the primary creation myth of both Judaism and Christianity. It is
presented in the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis,[1] the first book
of the Bible. This article primarily deals with the narrative elements or form
of the myth, that is, exegesis of the text of Genesis 1-2:24.[2]
In chapter one God (Hebrew אֱלֹהִ֔ים Elohim) creates the world in six days,
then rests on, blesses and sanctifies the seventh day. God creates by spoken
command ("Let there be..."), suggesting a comparison with a king, who
has only to speak for things to happen; each command is followed by name-giving
("And he called...").[3] The characteristic Hebrew verb used to
describe God's creative act in this chapter is ברא, bara, which throughout the bible is
used only with God as its subject - that is, only God can bara.[4] Chapter two
describes Yahweh, the personal name of God, forming the first man from dust,
placing him in the Garden of Eden, and removing a rib from his side to make the
first woman, Eve. In Genesis 2 the word used when God forms the first man is יצר, yatsar, meaning "fashioned",
a verb used in contexts such as a potter forming a pot from clay.[5] God
breathes his own breath into the man he has formed and he becomes a living
soul/being, נֶפֶש
nephesh. Man shares nephesh with all creatures, but only of man is this
life-giving act of God described.[6] Robert Alter described the combined
narrative as "compelling in its archetypal character, its adaptation of
myth to monotheistic ends".[7]
A common hypothesis
among biblical scholars today is that the first major comprehensive draft of
the Pentateuch (the series of five books which begins with Genesis and ends
with Deuteronomy) was composed in the late 7th or the 6th century BC by the
Jahwist source and that this was later expanded by the addition of various
narratives and laws by the Priestly source into a work very like the one
existing today.[8] In the narrative the two sources appear in reverse order:
Genesis 1 is Priestly and Genesis 2 is Jahwistic. The Israelites borrowed some
Mesopotamian themes but adapted them to their belief in one God as expressed by
the shema,[9] and their over-riding purpose was to establish a monotheistic
creation in opposition to the polytheistic creation myth of Israel's historic
enemy, Babylon. -Wikipedia
