Don't Know Much About the Bible - Kenneth C. Davis [22]
One of the most sudden and shocking surprises to readers who might be vaguely familiar with the biblical Creation story but have never read the Bible is that there are actually two Creations in Genesis. Separate and unequal. They differ in style, order, facts, details—in fact, about the only thing they share is that God appears in both of them.
Version One begins comfortably with the well-known “In the beginning.” Out of nothingness, and simply by speaking, God creates an orderly world and humanity. In this first Creation, which begins in the first chapter of Genesis, it takes God six days to create the heavens and earth, then come the animals, and finally, man and woman are created simultaneously, as apparent equals in “God’s image.” After a hard week at the office, God decides to put “his” feet up and take a day off—instituting the first sabbath. There is no mention of Eden, Adam, or Eve.
The second version of Creation—beginning in Genesis 2:4—is set in the Garden of Eden. It makes no mention of the number of days God took to accomplish this heavy lifting, and the order of creation is different from the first account. In the first, God had created “heaven and earth.” This time, he creates “the earth and the heavens.” More significant, in the second version, man is created before the trees and other animals. The other big difference in this second Creation is that man is created first and then woman is created out of man.
THE TWO CREATIONS
For centuries, people have taken the Chinese menu approach to the story of the Creation in Genesis. Choosing some from Version A and some from Version B, they have heaped together two different and conflicting stories to make a colorful but mismatched platter. The first account of the Creation is found in Genesis 1:1-2:3; the second Creation account is in Genesis 2:4-25. Side by side, they are are clearly two different stories featuring substantially different details.
VERSION A
“In the Beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…”
Over the course of “six days” God creates:
Light, then Day and Night
The Sky, separating the “waters from the waters”
The dry land is separated from the waters—Earth and Seas—and vegetation and trees
Sun, moon, stars, and seasons
Living creatures of the sky and sea: birds, sea monsters, fish
Living things of the earth: cattle, creeping things, wild animals. And lastly, mankind. Male and female are created together, both in God’s image.
And on the seventh day, God finished and rested, blessing the seventh day. He also blesses the male and female, telling them to “be fruitful, multiply,” and recommends a vegetarian diet. God concludes: “It was very good.”
VERSION B
“In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens…”
God creates man from the dust of the ground.
He plants a Garden in Eden and puts the man there.
In the Garden is a Tree of Life and a Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Man cannot eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or else he will die.
God creates every animal and bird to be man’s helper. The man names them all. But the man doesn’t find a suitable partner from among the animals. God steps in and puts the man to sleep, takes out one of his ribs, and makes woman from the rib of man. Naked together, “they become one flesh,” but “they felt no shame.” God doesn’t mention if that was very good; neither do Adam or Eve.
This is the where the “J versus P” version of biblical events discussed in Part One of this book first comes into focus.
The first of the Creation stories, found in Genesis 1, is attributed to P, the Priestly writer. God creates the heavens and the earth out of nothingness—a “void.” On six successive days, P describes the Creator neatly making the universe, setting up shop on earth, and finally getting around to making people. In the words of the King James Version:
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.(Gen. 1:27; emphasis added)
Most recent translations of the Bible, such as