(See this entry for a comparison of the two Creation Accounts)
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The first Creation account begins with God in the heavens creating the cosmos, earth, and finally humanity. God takes his rest in his temple at the end of the first Creation account. The second creation account begins on earth, and specifically regards God’s relationship with Man and Woman (unnamed until chapter 3), and their relationship with each other.
The connection to the first Creation account remains in the idea of Creation as God’s temple. The compiler of these two stories places them beside one another to continue an idea as it affects the humans in God’s Creation.
Outside the temples of the Ancient Near East were the temple gardens. The gardeners were the priests, the highest lauded of the servants of their god. They worked the garden to produce food for the god, which would be offered by the people as sacrifices. The garden would be a place of preparation to enter the temple. The garden would be well maintained to reflect the glory of whatever god it represented.
In Genesis 2, God plants his own garden. He plants his own trees, and gives them as food to Man. The idea of a God who would feed humans would have been shocking to the ancient readers. This God had no needs. This Creator provides for the needs of his Creation. Therefore, Man does not serve in the garden as a slave to his God. His priestly duties flow outward, in an ambassador role. To all of Creation he serves as God’s representative in God’s world.
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Here is Genesis two with my notes.
Genesis 2:4b-25
When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens— 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground— 7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
MORTALITY, THE TWO TREES, AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD
Two details of Man’s creation are of note here.
First, man is made of dust. As in the first Creation account, material Creation is not of importance to the original authors and readers in this culture. This is still an account of Creation of function. When it says that man is made of dust, it shows that from the beginning, man was made mortal. Genesis 3:19 shows clearly the connection between Man’s creation from dust, and his mortality. This symbol is also used of the snake (eating dust), throughout scripture, and is common to the time period.
God plants a Tree of Life in the garden, another common theme (trees, streams, or pools that give eternal youth and immortality) in ancient literature. By eating of it, the Man and Woman are sustained immortal forever. God told them that on the day they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would die. On this day, God’s response was to remove them from the garden and separate them from this Tree of Life. He tells them that because of their sin, they will now suffer mortality. As long as they were in the garden and in God’s presence, they would live forever in their mortal bodies. The curse of their sin was to become mortal and experience death.
Secondly, God breathes into Man his breath. This is the same word as the spirit hovering over the waters at the beginning of chapter one. No matter how the form of man came to be before this moment, on this day humanity became a unique part of God’s Creation, the only beings with this direct connection to their Creator.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[e] and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.[f] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
Ancient literature usually describes the rivers and springs surrounding the temple and garden.
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL
Knowledge here is closely connected to intimacy and possession. It is a neutral word, often meaning sexuality (to KNOW in the Biblical sense). Here it connotes taking for oneself the right to judge what is good or evil. This is the realm of God, the Sovereign Creator.
18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
MAN’S COOPERATION
God is cooperating with Man in his creation. He breathed his breath into him. In the first Creation account we see God create humans in his image, and ordaining them as priests. Here we see this in practice.
God gives authority to Adam as he watches him name the animals. To name something can only be done by someone with authority over it. As God watches, he approves of Adam walking in this authority, still within the realm of God’s sovereignty and according to his direction.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
CREATION OF WOMAN – THE SUITABLE HELPER
Helper - working with
Suitable - perfect fit/opposite/counterpart
Woman is created from man’s side (another interpretation of the unclear word translated “rib”).
Like Man’s creation, this creation describes function, not material. Woman was not made of the material of man’s bones or flesh, but from his being. She is the same as him (as opposed to the animals, who were not).
Much has been said about these verses concerning gender roles. I will not attempt in this article to engage all of them. I will simply say that the text does not suggest by this creation that Woman is somehow inferior. To be created from Man’s side and of Man’s substance implies equality, similar nature, and intimacy.
I have a little more to say about sexuality in the creation of Humans, which I will post in a later article.
Man and Woman had a vocation. They worked the garden. They did this as stewards, in service of their God, in his holy temple. They were priests in the world. They had function and purpose, together. Each of us has a purpose and a role that we fulfill in our work and service on earth. It is all for God. There is no "secular" work.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Adam’s naming of “woman” in this verse is different than his naming of the animals. With the animals, a clear understanding of authority was illustrated. Here, Adam is simply recognizing that Woman is of his substance, and calls her that.
Man and Woman had not yet eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. There was no sin in the garden. They had not deigned to take the role of judge upon themselves. Without judgment, there is no shame. Without sin, intimacy is perfect.
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We are God's sacred space. His garden is us. Our time is his. The cultivation of our inner life creates an environment within us of worship and rest in which God dwells. Our faithful routines and patterns are the sacred time in which God creates purpose and function from our lives for his kingdom.
Our lives are not compartmentalized into "God time" or "sacred time" and "secular time". The routine and practical times we set aside (like church on Sunday morning, or reading the Bible every day) should serve to remind us that all our time and everything we have is God's.
(next – Human Sexuality in Genesis)
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