1:1-2:4a;
2:4b-25.
They are different stories with different orders of creation and different divine names. The second story features Adam and Eve and begins a narrative that continues until the end of Revelation whereas the first story ends with the day of rest following the creation of an unspecified number of men and women. Thus, this is a different universe created by a deity with a pre-Mosaic name and we are told nothing of its subsequent history. Before creation, God moved over water that covered the earth.
Day 1
Creation of light.
Separation of light from darkness.
Day 2
Creation of the sky.
Separation of water above from water below.
Day 3
Separation of land from sea.
Creation of plants.
Day 4
Creation of lights in the sky.
Day 5
Creation of fish and birds.
Day 6
Creation of animals and human beings (not just two).
Day 7
A special, blessed day, suggesting a happy universe.
I summarize all this because, although we know the general outlines, we might not remember every detail. If Yggdrasil exists in the multiverse, then so might this seven-day universe. Who are its inhabitants and what happens to them on the eighth and subsequent days?
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Actually, what you were discussing here were two different strains of early Jewish theological reflections: the Yahwist and Elohist. If my memory is correct, the Yahwist stratum was older and more primitive, and stemmed from Judah. The Elohist was later, had different emphases, and stemmed from the northern kingdom of Israel. Apparently, refugees fleeing the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom brought the Elohist tradition to Judah, where it eventually was incorporated in what became the book of Genesis.
No need to bring in pagan gods, this was simply an example of the Jews preserving more than one strain of Yahwist thought.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I think the Jews got the 7-day week in Babylon.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Of course! The Jews took over or adapted much from Mesopotamian culture before and during the Babylonian Exile. The Creation and Flood stories in Genesis, for example, were taken, adapted, and theologically recast from analogous Mesopotamian legends. That is, these tales became allegories teaching inspired truths about God and man in terms that could be understood by people living 2500 or 3000 years ago.
Ad astra! Sean
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