On the first day, God creates the
heavens, the earth, and light, day, and night. Next, God separates the water to
create the sky and the ocean, which God condenses into seas to expose areas of
land, which God then proceeds to vegetate. On the third day, God creates and
places the sun, moon, and stars; next, God puts animals in the ocean and birds
in the air; next, God creates livestock and then humans, men and women, in God’s
own image, and God commands humans to be fruitful and multiply and gives them
dominion over all living creates; on the seventh and final day, God takes a
break and blesses the day.
Alternatively, God begins with
streams, then creates a man out of dust, and puts that man in a garden of
plenty called Eden which is in Mesopotamia. The land is well-resourced, with
abundant foods and pleasing plants, and God tells the man that he may eat from
any tree but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God then pities man
for being alone, and so creates animals; when this doesn’t suffice, God creates
a woman from the man’s rib. A snake then tricks the woman into eating the
forbidden fruit; she offers it to the man, and they eat it. They realize and
feel ashamed of their nakedness; when God stops by, they cover themselves and
hide. God is unhappy for they have eaten from the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. The man blames the woman, the woman blames the snake, and God punishes
them by forcing the humans to work for their food, making childbirth painful
and women subservient to men, and making the snake generally disliked. The man
and the woman are banned from Eden and thus this creation story ends.
The second creation story appears
to contradict the first: for instance,
animals are created after man. The second also holds some interesting gender
roles: unlike in the first, Eve is created from and for Adam; Adam immediately
blames Eve for the forbidden fruit and she (and all women) are more heavily
punished than Adam (and subsequent men). In a straightforward reading, this
treatment of gender appears to favor males over females, though the first
creation story does nothing of the sort. Another interesting aspect of the
second story is that some knowledge is perceived as harmful. This is an
interesting and tough question, and I’m not sure how I feel about how knowledge
should be sought and when we should maintain ignorance.
My origins, like those of many
people, are quite complex and convoluted. I have Scandinavian, German, and
Austro-Hungarian Jewish ancestry. Perhaps, especially written in and for a
region long troubled by sectarian strife, both creation stories but
particularly the Garden of Eden seek to emphasize a common lineage and thus
encourage some general human fraternity. Insofar as this story was for the
Jewish nation (in a historical sense, of course), though, it seems like there
would be minimal division to quell. But in terms of modern relevance, the
common descent is the most valuable idea I draw from these stories.
