Genesis Chapter 2

Chapter: 2  has 24 verses

Author: J (According to Documentary Hypothesis) except for Day7 written by P (mentioned below).

Attributed Author: Traditionally Moses

Historical Context: J is attributed to an author that favors the kingdom of Judah. At the time of the writing, there are two regions known as the kingdom of Israel (E) and the kingdom of Judah (J). Probably written around 950 BCE

Theme: Origins and/or Creation Story

Content:

Day7

• God rests and blesses the seventh day

No day differentiation

• God creates heaven and earth and no one was alive to till the soil, no rain, no plants or animals
• A stream (that rises out of the earth) would water the whole face of the ground
• God Creates man out of the dust of the ground and breathes life into him
• God plants a garden in Eden (in the East)
• God creates all the trees good to the sight and for food. God creates the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
• A river flows out of Eden and branches out into the rivers Pishon (flows around the land of Havilah and contains gold, bdellium and onyx), Gihon (flows around the land of Cush), Tigris  (which flows east of Assyria) and Euphrates
• God puts man in Eden to till the soil and warned against eating the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The punishment for consuming would be death in “that day”
• God creates birds and other creatures and has man name them
• God realizes there is no partner for man and puts him under a deep sleep, removes a rib and makes a woman out of the rib
• Man is pleased to have a partner fashioned after himself and names it Woman, because “out of Man this one was taken”
• An conclusion is given for why man must leave his father and mother and “cling” to his wife and become one “flesh”
• They are both naked and not ashamed

Scholarly Annotations:

• God is referred to LORD God in most translations. LORD in this case is the word YHWH so it reads as “YHWH God”
• The story has much in common with the Enûma Eliš which is the Babylonian Creation story.
• The word for Man is Adam; Eden means Delight
• Mesopotamia has been described as the land between the Tigris and Euphrates
• Nakedness has been thought to imply that man at this time is uncivilized.
• Metathesis is apparent in the original Hebrew

TSA Annotations:

• References to tilling the soil are reminiscent of specific Babylonian stories which allude to the gods creating man to till the earth and to serve the gods

Misc and or Trivia: It’s important to note that as far as kingdoms go,  at the height of each, the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah combined are about the size of NJ.

Funny Related Youtube videos:

• EbolaWorld.com – Messed-Up Bible Stories – In the Beginning
• DarkMatter2525 – Comedy for Atheists: Creationism
• DarkMatter2525 – If Man Obeyed God
• DarkMatter2525 – The Most Wrong Anyone Ever Was
• DarkMatter2525 – Atheist Comedy – Fine-Tuned Universe
• DarkMatter2525 – Creationists Fail Again
• NonStampCollector – Genesis (take #1)
• NonStampCollector – Genesis (take #2)