Part two of: "In the Beginning . . .

            So as I promised, we will look at some different creation accounts that are found in the scriptures. The two accounts found in Genesis, followed by the ones found in Job and the Psalms.  Of these four, we will spend our time today with the two found in the book of Genesis.

The first, and arguably the most known account of creation, can be found in Genesis 1-2:3 (I will for simplicity sake just call Genesis 1). I already discussed the context in which this story was added into the book of Genesis. I also stated that what is important for us to notice was who created the earth, not how the earth was created. But today I just want to sum up the order in which God created:

Day one: light,

Day two: the expanse between the water and sky, along with 

dry land,

Day three: vegetation,  

Day four: the heavenly bodies (sun, moon, and stars),

Day five: birds and sea creatures,

Day six: creatures that dwell on the ground, followed up with 

humans.

Day seven: rest.

One need not look towards science to question the order of creation, one need only to turn the page and just read the next few verses.  It is here were we can find a second creation account, Genesis 2:4-25 (which I will from here on out label Genesis 2). Here, we have a creation story which takes an unspecified amount of time, which means that it could have taken 7 days, or it may have not. But what is important is that the order in which the creation occurred is quite different from the story found in Genesis 1. Here, man was created first before all other living things upon the land. Now compare that with Genesis 1, there we are told that man was created after animals, and after plants. But now we are being told that man was created before plants and animals? How can this be so?

I believe that we have to look at the focus of the two stories. Genesis 1 as I have stated over and over, and which I cannot repeat enough these days, was concerned with who made the earth. Genesis 2 however is more concerned with how humanity ended up in the conditions that they found themselves, both in relation to themselves as well as in their relation with God. We are given a glimpse that this is the importance of this story in verse 4 with the statement “These are the generations. . .”  which informs us that the story is now going to focus on humanity. This is then followed up with an account of how man is related to nature, how he relates with woman, how humanity then relates with God after the fall of humanity, and finally how humanity then relates with themselves in the account of the nations; which were created interestingly enough because of one man’s sin against another, (something we may have to discuss later). But back to the focus here, the Genesis 2 creation account is really the main focus of the larger story of Genesis 2-11. In short, Genesis 2 is the opening to a larger piece of literature which revolves around humanity, and as a result we get a very human centered account of creation; where man is created by God before any other living thing was created on the earth.

Now I could easily conclude my section on “In the Beginning . . .” right here, but we still have more creation stories to account for. Therefore, I refuse to end here, and as a result I’m not giving away the destination of this series quite yet. But I do promise to answer the questions of “So what, who cares?” at some point. So we will stop here for now, and I am hoping that you will ponder and comment on these questions: “What does it do to my faith to know that there are two separate and contradictory accounts of the creation in scripture? Does it even matter? If it does affect it, why is it affected? If it is not affected, why is it not affected?” Of course, all other comments are welcomed as well.