Excurses: The Relationship Between
Genesis 1 and 2
The first two chapters of Genesis
differ perceptibly in style and content. A common way of explaining these
differences is to view ch. 2 as a detailed focus, a zoom perspective, on the
creation of animals and humanity and the omission of all other aspects of Gen
1. This theory reduces the number of conflicts between Gen 1 and 2, but it does
not eliminate their essential differences, which include the following:
·
Gen 1: deity is Elohim (God); Gen 2: deity is
YHWH Elohim (LORD God).
·
Gen 1: structured according to time (seven
days of creation, culminating in Sabbath); Gen 2: structured according to space
(a garden, with no reference to time/Sabbath).
·
Gen 1: sovereign creation by verbal fiat (divine
transcendence); Gen 2: creation by shaping male from “dust of the ground” (divine
immanence).
·
Gen 1: word for “create” is Hebrew bara;
Gen 2: word for “create” is Hebrew yatsar.
·
Gen 1: water is hostile and inimical; Gen 2:
water is source of life.
·
Gen 1: narrative of creation from lesser to
greater life-forms, culminating in humanity as male and female; Gen 2:
narrative commences with creation of male, followed by trees and animals, concluding
with creation of female from the male.
·
Gen 1: “Adam” designates both male and female,
created simultaneously; Gen 2: “Adam” designates only the male, from whom “woman”
is later fashioned.
·
Gen 1: humanity commanded to be fruitful, multiply,
and rule over creation; Gen 2: humanity given a prohibition.
·
Gen 1: major themes of “separating,” “species,” “imago
Dei” are absent in Gen 2; Gen 2: major themes of “garden” (Eden), “rivers,”
“trees” (good and evil/forbidden), “father and mother” are absent in Gen 1.
The above list evinces that the
theory of two separate creation accounts in Gen 1 and 2 rests on more than
differing names for the deity alone. The differences between the two chapters
are numerous and substantive. (James R. Edwards, In the Beginning: A Commentary
on Genesis and Its Reception in the New Testament [Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Pillar Books, 2026], 46-47)
