012. I. The Story Of Man’s Creation
§ I. THE STORY OF MAN’S CREATION Genesis 2:4-9; Genesis 2:16-24
1. Conditions before man’s creation. In the day that Jehovah made earth and heaven, no plant of the field was yet on the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up, for Jehovah had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole face of the ground.
2. Creation of man. Then Jehovah formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Thus man became a living being.
3. Provisions for his development. And Jehovah planted a garden in Eden far in the East, and placed there the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground Jehovah made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And Jehovah commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest eat freely, except of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; from it thou shalt not eat, for in the day that thou eatest of it thou shalt surely die.
4. His social needs. Then said Jehovah, It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make a helper suited to him. Therefore out of the ground Jehovah formed all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the heavens, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature that was its name. Thus the man gave names to all cattle and all the beasts of the field; but for the man himself there was found no helper suited to him.
5.Creation of woman. Then Jehovah caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, so that he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up its place with flesh. But the rib, which he had taken from the man, Jehovah fashioned into a woman and brought her to the man. Then said the man, This, now, is bone of my bone And flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called woman, For from man was she taken.
Therefore a man leaves father and mother and cleaves to his wife, so that they two become one flesh.
I.Literary Form and Character of the Story. This narrative gives the primitive answer to the question which every child of the human race has earnestly and often asked. How were we made ? How were all living things made? Man is pictured as the first being to be given life. Trees, beasts, and birds (of lesser importance than man) are made later. Last of all, woman is created that man may have a suitable companion. Jehovah is thought of as a God who himself moulds the human form from the dust, breathing into the clay his own life-giving breath. This same God is represented as experimenting to find what companions are best suited to man. Thus this ancient story reflects those ideas about the universe and the origin of things which men held in the childhood of the human race. There is little trace of that later belief in an orderly gradual process of creation, in which God is thought of as a sovereign spirit issuing his commands from afar (Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:4 a, cf. Appendix I). The literary style of the narrative, that of the earliest prophetic historian (cf. Introd. VI), is concise, picturesque, graphic and concrete. Five short paragraphs tell vividly the story of creation and of Jehovah’s provisions for man. With a few strong strokes each scene and character is clearly portrayed.
II.The Original Introduction to the Biblical Story. This earliest Hebrew story of creation was placed after the later narrative of Genesis that it might precede the account of man’s sin in chapter 3 (§11) which it introduces. From references to the early tradition made in the poetic and prophetic sources one may infer that it originally told how at first there was no earth or heaven but only chaos; how Jehovah set fast the foundations of the earth and reared up its pillars in the waters, and then spread out the canopy of the heavens, establishing the courses of sun, moon and stars. All of these opening sentences have apparently been condensed by the compiler of the two accounts of creation into the statement, In the day that Jehovah made earth and heaven. At this point the story begins. No vegetation or life was on the earth, but a mist constantly rose from the earth to water the surface of the ground and thus make plant and animal life possible.
III.Man’s Creation. Jehovah’s presence and personal activity in the work of creation are strongly emphasized. By him the body of man was shaped out of the dust of the ground. What were the exact methods and the time required—whether a gradual process of evolution, extending through countless ages, or by the hand of God in a moment of time— is not stated. Doubtless the primitive story-teller, with his limited scientific knowledge, had in mind the simpler explanation. Then Jehovah breathed into the nostrils of the human form the vital force that made the moulded dust a living being. Thus the primitive belief in man’s relationship to the Deity was reasserted in nobler form. That which gave mankind life was the breath of God within him. Hence, when that was withdrawn, his body returned to its native dust (§ II, 8).
IV.Traditional Site of the Garden of Eden. To meet man’s physical and spiritual needs, Jehovah then planted a beautiful garden far in the distant East. A later compiler, perhaps familiar with Babylonian tradition, added a note to the effect that this garden was beside a river. This stream was probably the Persian Gulf, which was called by the Babylonians “the bitter river.” As one ascended it, this river divided into four branches. Two of these were the Tigris and the Euphrates. The other two may have been (1) the modern Wady-er-Ruma, which extends far into Arabia, where the Assyrians placed the land of Havilah, and (2) the Kerkha, east of the Tigris. Or, in view of the incredibly vague geographical ideas held by the ancients, the Pishon may be identified with the Indus or Ganges, and Gihon with the Nile. The original prophetic historian had, however, no interest in mere geography. It was the significance of the garden itself that commanded his attention. The garden provided for man a home, the fruit of the trees food, and the life-giving tree in its midst the possibility of enjoying unending life, while he dwelt beside it and could eat of its fruit.
V.The Provisions for Man’s Higher Needs. The divine care did not cease, however, with provision for man’s physical life. Beside the tree of life grew another tree, the fruit of which, as its name implied, gave to him who ate of it the knowledge of good and evil. This knowledge was to come, as the sequel shows, through experience. This tree of knowledge was hedged about by the divine command not to eat of its fruit under penalty of death.
Without wholesome and helpful companionship man’s happiness and development would be incomplete. Among the Semitic peoples the name was supposed to represent the character of a person or thing. As the primitive man gave names to the beasts and birds, he established his dominion over them and voiced the impression which each made upon him. But none of these creatures satisfied his need of a companion and helper. Therefore, from man’s own body a portion of bone and flesh was taken, and from this Jehovah fashioned woman. When she was brought to the man, he recognized her kinship with him. The name which she bore in the Hebrew, ishsha, woman, was, in sound at least, suggestive of innate relationship with ishah, her husband. This close kinship and the inborn needs of man and woman constitute the eternal basis of that marriage bond which leads a man to leave parents and to enter into the most intimate relation with his wife, so that they, indeed, become one flesh.
VI.Aim and Teachingsof the Story. The primary aim of the narrative is to introduce the facts and characters which figure in the subsequent story of man’s sin. It is the prologue to the great tragedy of human history. Briefly, but with inspired skill and authority, it sets forth the basal facts of history and religion. (1) Back of all the universe and the world, with its teeming life, is a personal Creator and Ruler. (2) Man is the highest product of God’s creation, and the object of his tenderest care and solicitude. (3) Man’s Creator is a God of infinite love, providing for his human child all that is best for his happiness and true development. (4) It was God’s aim from the first to deliver man from everything that seems evil, such as pain, wearisome labor, and death. (5) The beauties of the natural world and the inhabitants of air and earth were all created for the sake of man. (6) Man and woman were made akin and yet different, that together they may fully meet each other’s deepest needs. (7) The obligations of the marriage bond are absolute and sacred, because they are based upon the innate character of man and woman. (8) Temptation is not an accident in God’s creation, or in itself an evil, but rather is absolutely necessary for man’s moral development.
VII.The Oldest Babylonian Account of Creation. The different elements that enter into this story of creation are found in ancient oriental literature which existed centuries before the Hebrews became a nation. An old Sumero-Babylonian tablet tells of the time when all lands were sea and nothing had yet been made. Then Marduk built the city of Babylon (where he was especially revered), and made the gods, the spirits of earth. The poem adds:
Marduk laid a reed on the face of the waters, He formed dust and poured it out beside the reed; That he might cause the gods to dwell in the dwelling of their hearts’ desire, He formed mankind; With him the goddess Aruru created the seed of mankind. The beasts of the field and living things in the field he formed; The Tigris and Euphrates he created and established in their place; Their names he proclaimed in a goodly manner. The grass, the rush of the marsh, the reed and the forest he created, The lands, the marshes and the swamps; The wild cow and her young, the wild calf, The ewe and her young and the lamb of the fold. As in the oldest Hebrew version of the story, man is created before the other living things.
VIII.The Later Babylonian Version. From the library of Asshur-banipal, who reigned over Assyria during the middle of the seventh century B.C., comes a later and more highly developed version. First, the firmament is created, then the heaven above and the great deep below. Then in the sky are placed the stars, moving in their fixed orbits, to determine the year and months. The moon god he caused to shine forth, and to him he entrusted the night;
He appointed him as the luminary of the night to determine the days. A recently discovered fragment of the sixth tablet of this epic tells of Marduk’s purpose in creating man: My blood will I take and bone will I form, I will make man that man may . . .
I will create men who shall inherit the earth, That the service of the gods may be established and their shrines built.
IX.The Later Biblical Account of the Creation.(Cf. for the text Appendix I.) The priestly author of Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:4 a has accepted the order and picture of creation which are given in this later Babylonian version, but he rejects the polytheistic and unworthy elements. He has arranged the story in six great acts, which lead up to the divine origin of the sabbath. Being a priest, he was supremely interested in this institution. God is represented as an omnipotent spiritual Ruler who reveals his benign purpose at each stage of creation. Man, as in the older Hebrew version, is the central figure; but he is created last rather than first, thus completing the evolutionary process. He is made in the image of God in that he is gifted, like his Creator, with intelligence and will, and is given authority to rule as God’s viceroy on earth.
X.Other Creation Stories. The literature of the Phoenicians, and Egyptians indicate that they also were acquainted with the common Semitic tradition. Most primitive peoples have their myths which explain the origin of the natural world, and in many of these myths there are striking parallels to the Semitic version. Of them all, the Persian tradition presents the closest analogies to the early Hebrew narrative. It tells of a region of bliss where dwelt two beings, subsisting only on fruit, until they were tempted by a demon to disobey God’s commands.
XI.The Tree of Life. Among the Babylonians it was a common belief that certain heroes, as for example, the Babylonian Noah, were granted immortality, and were allowed to dwell forever “ in the distance at the confluence of the streams,” in a blessed abode guarded by scorpion men.
Many analogies to the tree of life, the fruit of which was believed to give immortality to the eater, can be traced. The hero of a very ancient Babylonian story, after long searching and countless trials, finds the plant called “the restoration of old age to youth,” but fails to attain immortal life, for the precious plant is snatched away by a serpent. A legend has also been found on a Palestinian tablet of the fifteenth century B.C. which tells of a fisherman Adapa who was admitted to the dwelling place of the gods, and, having learned their secrets, was offered “the food of life,” which conferred immortality.
XII.The Tree of Knowledge. Trees also figure in the thought of the ancients as a medium of revelation. To Moses the call to service came in connection with the burning bush (§ XXI, 1). A famous diviners’ tree was found in the days of the Judges near Shechem (§ XXXVII). The movement in the balsam trees was the divine signal to David to go forth to battle (§XLIX, 4). The oaks of Dodona and the laurels of Delos and Delphi were consulted even by kings and philosophers in ancient Greece. The Arabs believe to-day that the box-thorn sometimes utters prophetic words. Hence a tree, the fruit of which gave the eater knowledge of good and evil, was perfectly consistent with the belief of the East.
XIII.The Story of Eabani. An old Babylonian poem also tells of a primitive hero, Eabani, who was created by a goddess from a bit of clay. Clad only in the long locks of hair which covered his body, he ate and sported with the wild animals in a state of savagery. To lure him from his strange companions a beautiful woman was sent to him, and by her charms she wooed him from his barbarous life. The resemblance of this early Babylonian hero to the man of the Hebrew story is strikingly close. These various analogies in the thought and traditions of the East at least suggest that there lies back of the marvellous biblical story of the garden in Eden an older Semitic original which has been adapted by the Hebrew prophet to illustrate his noble spiritual messages.