The Two Creation Stories of Genesis, Part 1: Elohim Does It All—in Just Six Quick Days
by Richard W. Coffen | 27 August 2024 |
It’s exegetical—that is, interpretive—malpractice to claim, as some Bible readers do, that Genesis 2 amplifies Genesis 1, as though it is a map inset. (See, for instance, Andrews Bible Commentary: Light Depth Truth, vol. 1, p. 144.)
A close reading reveals something quite different. “Close reading,” by the way, is a semi-technical term used by biblical scholars to denote a particular kind of careful analysis.
This essay and its sequel will argue that the narrative of Genesis 1 is a freestanding account, independent of the storyline in Genesis 2.
Heads up
Caution 1—I write as an editor for 34 years. Had this part of Genesis been submitted to me for possible publication, I’d have returned it, urging the author to make up his mind. Which story does the author want to use?
Caution 2— I’m using “first” and “second” for the creation accounts, not because of chronological concerns, but because of the order each appears in our Bibles. Again, I am asserting that Genesis contains two separate creation stories—and for our purposes, precisely when each was written is of little relevance.
Caution 3—Both accounts were written millennia prior to the scientific revolution. They’re not refereed scientific reports, nor authored by experts who controlled for variables. Had divine inspiration spoken in the context of today’s scientific mindset, using 21st-century language, the stories would have been quite different—and probably unhelpful for the people back then.
Meet the creator
The creators in each narrative go by different names. In the first story, Elohim (a noun borrowed from the Canaanites) does the creating; in the second an Elohim named YHWH is the creator. Biblical scholars have proffered various speculations as to why a monotheistic culture appropriated their neighbors’ plural deity noun.
In the first Hebrew creation story, the deity in charge of the creation project is Elohim. Elohim is plural; the singular is El. El was a Canaanite deity. After emigrating from Egypt and entering Canaan, the Hebrew people adopted the language spoken there (Isaiah 19:18). Their dialect is a variation on Canaanite—hence, Elohim or other variations of El.
In Scripture there are 13 usages of El, sometimes as a description, such as El Shadai.
El administered the Canaanite pantheon. He was the husband of Ashera and father of all other deities except Ba’al. Images of El show him either bearded or beardless. He was sometimes called “creator/possessor of heaven and earth.”
(Until the time of certain Greek writers, everyone believed in at least one deity. All were creationists. Aristophanes [c. 448 B.C. – 380 B.C.] may have been the first “atheist.” He wrote: “Shrines! Shrines! Surely you don’t believe in the gods? What’s your argument? Where’s your proof?” Some have described Anaximander [c. 610 B.C. – c. 546 B.C.] as the first evolutionist for his views on origins.)
The first Hebrew creation story
Some scholars say that Genesis 1 is poetry. Wordsmiths understand poetry to use symbolic language. “YHWH is my shepherd” shouldn’t be regarded as a tintype of YHWH, shepherd’s crook in one hand and sling in the other, but a word picture of YHWH’s personal care.
Hebrew poetry—A major earmark of Hebrew poetry is repetition of thought (synonymous parallelism), but using different terminology for each segment. For example: “Shew me thy ways, O YHWH/teach me thy paths” (Psalm 25:4). Each half reiterates the other, but with variations.
Recurring elements in Genesis 1 include “God said . . . and it was so,” and “There was evening and there was morning. . . .” These aren’t precise synonymous parallelisms but they come close. Most writing in Genesis 1 seems like prose as we read it, despite the above-mentioned repetition. We might use the word prosody to denote a literary type that blends prose and poetic elements.
Historical Setting and Literary Type—Assuming the primary audience was the Hebrew people, surely during their four centuries (Acts 7:6; 13:20; Galatians 3:17) of servitude in Egypt, they would have heard stories about Ptah, “creator of the universe,” who “sculpted humans from mud and clay.”
The Shabaka Stone (c. 722 B.C.) relates that Ptah created by using his “heart . . . and tongue.” That is, he created by speaking. According to the Memphite Creation myth, “Ptah was identified with the first bit of dry land to emerge from the endless depths of the waters.”
And indeed, Genesis 1 opens with watery chaos.
“Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
Read against that Egyptian background, Genesis 1 can be identified not only as prosody but also as argument—that is, polemic. “You think Ptah created by speaking? Our God did the same—but better!”
Unlike the multiple Egyptian creator deities, though, just one actor is the subject of the creation verbs in Genesis 1: Elohim. Distant, he enunciates, and something happens. He’s Coolidge-like-terse until he creates Homo sapiens.
Chronology—Timeline is important in the first Hebrew creation story. One can almost hear a metronome ticking. Sequence is essential. Elohim first creates ecosystems, then fills them with life forms. Finally Elohim abandons his work, resting on the final day of creation week, the Sabbath.
You’ve heard people claim that God didn’t really rest because a deity doesn’t need rest. Besides, speaking things into existence can’t be exhausting! However, note what Exodus 31:17 says: “On the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” The Hebrew implies that he caught his breath while resting.
Divine Image—Humans are the only fauna that the first Hebrew creation story says Elohim made in “our image, after our likeness” (verse 26). Were we to take this expression as referring to general anatomical form, we might have to assume that chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, etc., likewise bear the imago dei (divine image). However, we can interpret this polemic as making a theological and psychological point. Appropriately, Ellen White (Education, p. 17) defines “divine image” as “the power to think and to do.”
The earliest commandments
In 1:28, Elohim speaks four commands, directing humans to be his agents. He orders that they
- reproduce;
- govern;
- replenish the earth; and
- subdue it.
As Elohim’s alter egos, they are to execute their office as Elohim would. Over what parts of the new creation must these agents exercise their conferred responsibility?
- Fish;
- birds and insects;
- flying creatures; and
- fauna that creep, crawl, and walk.
Importantly, God does not authorize Homo sapiens to have dominion over their own species. Most of the verbs in the first Hebrew creation story describe divine activity. Only a few denote what other agencies will do. Humans are Elohim’s custodians in 1:26 . In 1:16 the astronomical bodies are given a governing function.
Ptah couldn’t create as effortlessly as Elohim. Ptah’s modus operandi included not only creation by fiat but also spitting and masturbating.
Not so with the Elohim of Genesis! He’s so powerful that the mere energy of his voice becomes matter, contra-E=mc2. The process of creating proceeds with never a false move. Everything is “good” (verses 4,10,12,18,21,25) and “very good” (verse 31).
In the following essay, I’ll discuss the second Hebrew creation story, and show how it differs from the first. I’ll also take a look at the fall in chapter 3.
Richard W. Coffen is a retired vice president of editorial services at Review and Herald Publishing Association. He writes from Green Valley, Arizona.
