The Ancient World (HUM 124 - UNC Asheville)/Genesis Creation Story

Overview

Genesis is the first of 66 books that make up the modern day Christian Bible; it can also be found in the Jewish Torah by the name בְּרֵאשִׁית‎ (Bereishit). Within the book of Genesis, Chapters 1 and 2 cover the creation of the universe and is universally accepted by the multiple sects of Christianity and Judaism as the accurate and true creation story for all of humanity. The text introduces God, an immortal, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent deity that predates all things and existed before time itself. In chapter 1 God spends six days systematically creating different aspects the world as we know it. In Chapter 2 the story from Chapter 1 is revisited with some more detail, emphasizing the creation of the first man and woman know as Adam and Eve.

Genesis 1

"Creation of Adam", painted by Michelangelo (1508-1512AD)

The Creation of the World

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,

   in the image of God he created him;

   male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 2

The Seventh Day, God Rests

God rebuking Adam and Eve, by Dominiquin

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

The Creation of Man and Woman

4 These are the generations

of the heavens and the earth when they were created,

in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LordGod had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the LordGod planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones

   and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

   because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Religious/Cultural Significance

Foundational Ideology

The genesis creation story establishing the rigid monotheistic framework for the Judeo-Christian faith. Early development of God's character as a insurmountable force that has the power to create and presumably destroy all things at will while simultaneously showing benevolence in his creation of mankind is fundamental to the christian faith. Being the ultimate creator of all things known to man including their own existence promotes the necessity to worship God and submit to his will, a key pillar of Judeo-Christian faith. Without the story of creation and the first display of God's power the incentive to submit to an unseen and intangible higher being is lost. Furthermore the story shows God's capacity for mercy and compassion which are also pillars of the faith.

Dominion over Earth

Verses 28-30 of chapter 1 establishes somewhat of a hierarchy of earth and provides a potential origin for mankind's long perceived superiority over the earth. The verse essentially say that God "blessed" mankind with dominion over earth and everything contained within it including all animals and organisms as well as every tree bush or plant. In addition the chapter also states that God created mankind in his own likeness, this in itself could lead to feelings of entitlement and privilege. It's very easy to see how this religious text could foster a systemic belief of societal primacy and ethnocentrism amongst its followers.

Related links

The Ancient World (HUM 124 - UNC Asheville)/Religions#Christianity

The Ancient World (HUM 124 - UNC Asheville)/Texts/Genesis 1-2

Study of Genesis/Creation

https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/genesis-1/

https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/genesis-2/

Torah