When G-d began to create heaven and earth— the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from G-d sweeping over the water— G-d said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. G-d saw that the light was good, and G-d separated the light from the darkness. G-d called the light Day, and the darkness G-d called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day. G-d said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water, that it may separate water from water.” G-d made the expanse, and it separated the water which was below the expanse from the water which was above the expanse. And it was so. G-d called the expanse Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. G-d said, “Let the water below the sky be gathered into one area, that the dry land may appear.” And it was so. G-d called the dry land Earth, and the gathering of waters He called Seas. And G-d saw that this was good. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: seed-bearing plants, fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And G-d saw that this was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. G-d said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate day from night; they shall serve as signs for the set times—the days and the years; and they serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth.” And it was so. G-d made the two great lights, the greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to dominate the night, and the stars. And G-d set them in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth, to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And G-d saw that this was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. G-d said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and birds that fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” G-d created the great sea monsters, and all the living creatures of every kind that creep, which the waters brought forth in swarms, and all the winged birds of every kind. And G-d saw that this was good. G-d blessed them, saying, “Be fertile and increase, fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. G-d said, “Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts of every kind.” And it was so. G-d made wild beasts of every kind and cattle of every kind, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. And G-d saw that this was good. And G-d said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth.” And G-d created man in G-d's image, in the image of G-d G-d created him; male and female He created them. G-d blessed them and G-d said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.” G-d said, “See, I give you every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food. And to all the animals on land, to all the birds of the sky, and to everything that creeps on earth, in which there is the breath of life, [I give] all the green plants for food.” And it was so. And G-d saw all that G-d had made, and found it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their array. On the seventh day G-d finished the work that G-d had been doing, and G-d ceased on the seventh day from all the work that G-d had done. And G-d blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it G-d ceased from all the work of creation that G-d had done.
B. How is the first human created in this Creation story?
C. How are women created in this Creation story?
D. What is the human relationship with animals and the earth in this Creation story?
Such is the story of heaven and earth when they were created. When the L-RD G-d made earth and heaven— when no shrub of the field was yet on earth and no grasses of the field had yet sprouted, because the L-RD G-d had not sent rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil, but a flow would well up from the ground and water the whole surface of the earth— the L-RD G-d formed man from the dust of the earth and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. The L-RD G-d planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man whom G-d had formed. And from the ground the L-RD G-d caused to grow every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and bad. A river issues from Eden to water the garden, and it then divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon, the one that winds through the whole land of Havilah, where the gold is. (The gold of that land is good; bdellium is there, and lapis lazuli.) The name of the second river is Gihon, the one that winds through the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, the one that flows east of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. The L-RD G-d took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it. And the L-RD G-d commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you are free to eat; but as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for as soon as you eat of it, you shall die.” The L-RD G-d said, “It is not good for man to be alone; I will make a fitting helper for him.” And the L-RD G-d formed out of the earth all the wild beasts and all the birds of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that would be its name. And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky and to all the wild beasts; but for Adam no fitting helper was found. So the L-RD G-d cast a deep sleep upon the man; and, while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that spot. And the L-RD G-d fashioned the rib that He had taken from the man into a woman; and G-d brought her to the man. Then the man said,
“This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called woman, for from man was she taken.” Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh.
B. How is the first human created in this Creation story?
C. How are women created in this Creation story?
D. What is the human relationship with animals and the earth in this Creation story?
E. Note that this story is a continuation of the first source. Do the stories seem consistent, or do they contradict each other? Is there a way they can be harmonized into one story?
דרבי אבהו רמי כתיב זכר ונקבה בראם וכתיב (בראשית ט, ו) כי בצלם אלקים עשה את האדם הא כיצד בתחלה עלה במחשבה לבראת ב' ולבסוף לא נברא אלא אחד
Rabbi Abbahu raised a contradiction between the verses: On the one hand it is written: “Male and female, G-d created them,” (Genesis 1:27) and on the other hand it is written: “For in the image of G-d G-d made man” (Genesis 9:6), indicating that man was created alone. How, then, does he resolve the contradiction? At first, the thought entered G-d’s mind to create two, and ultimately, only one was actually created.
B. Are there questions left unanswered by this explanation?
...וְאִם תֹּאמַר, הֲרֵי כְבָר כָּתַב וַיִּבְרְָא אֶת הָאָדָם וְגוֹ' רָאִיתִי בִּבְרַיְיתָא שֶׁל ר"א בְּנוֹ שֶׁל רַ' יוֹסִי הַגְּלִילִי מל"ב מִדּוֹת שֶׁהַתּוֹרָה נִדְרֶשֶׁת, וְזוּ אַחַת מֵהֶן כְּלָל שֶׁלְּאַחֲרָיו מַעֲשֶׂה, הוּא פְרָטוֹ שֶׁל רִאשׁוֹן וַיִּבְרָא אֶת הָאָדָם זֶהוּ כְּלָל, סָתַם בְּרִיאָתוֹ מֵהֵיכַן, וְסָתַם מַעֲשָׂיו, חָזַר וּפֵירַשׁ וַיִּיצֶר ה' אֱלֹקִים וְגוֹ', וַיִצְמַח לוֹ גַּן עֵדֶן וַיַּנִּיחֵהוּ בְּגַן עֵדֶן וַיַפֵּל עָלָיו תַּרְדֵּמָה, הַשּׁוֹמֵעַ סָבוּר שֶׁהוּא מַעֲשֶׂה אַחֵר, וְאֵינוֹ אֶלָּא פְרָטוֹ שֶׁל רִאשׁוֹן...
...Should you say, however, it is already written, (1:27) “and G-d created the man etc.”, then I say that I have seen the Baraita [rabbinic statement] of R. Eliezer the son of R. José the Galilean, dealing with the thirty two rules of interpretation according to which the Torah can be interpreted, and the following is one of them: when a general statement of an action is followed by a detailed account of it, the latter is a particularization of the former: — “And G-d created the man” (Genesis 1:27) is a general statement, but it does not explicitly state whence he was created and what G-d did unto him. Now it repeats it and explains these things: “And the L-RD G-d formed man”, “and G-d made to grow for him the garden of Eden, and G-d caused a deep sleep to fall upon him” (Genesis 2). One who hears this might think that it is a different account entirely, whereas it is only the detail of the former general statement...
B. Are there questions left unanswered by this explanation?
As for the repetition of the story of man's creation, which is told both in the preceding and in the present section, it should be noted that such duplications, although they may seem strange to those who are accustomed to the Hellenic process of thought, are not at all incongruous to the Semitic way of thinking. When the Torah made use of the two ancient poetic sagas, both of which described man's creation—the one in brief, general outline as an account of the making of one of the creatures of the material world, and the second at length and in detail, as the story of the creation of the central being of the moral world—it had no reason to refrain from duplicating the theme, since such a repetition was consonant with the stylistic principle of presenting first a general statement and thereafter the detailed elaboration, which is commonly found not only in Biblical literature but also in the literary works of the rest of the ancient East.
...[T]hree investigators of who wrote the Bible each independently made the same discovery. One was a minister, one was a physician, and one was a professor. The discovery that they all made ultimately came down to the combination of two pieces of evidence: doublets and the names of G-d. They saw that there were apparently two versions each of several stories about the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob, and so on. Then they noticed that, quite often, one of the two versions of a story would refer to G-d by one name and the other version would refer to G-d by a different name.
In the case of the creation, for example, the first chapter of the Bible tells one version of how the world came to be created, and the second chapter of the Bible starts over with a different version of what happened. In many ways they duplicate each other, and on several points they contradict each other. For example, they describe the same events in different order. In the first version, G-d creates plants first, then animals, then man and woman. In the second version, G-d creates man first. Then he creates plants. Then, so that the man should not be alone, G-d creates animals. And last, after the man does not find a satisfactory mate among the animals, G-d creates woman. And so we have:
Genesis 1 Genesis 2
plants man
animals plants
man & woman animals
woman
The two stories have two different pictures of what happened. Now, the three investigators noticed that the first version of the creation story always refers to the creator as G-d— thirty-five times. The second version always refers to him by his name, Yahweh G-d— eleven times. The first version never calls him Yahweh; the second version never calls him G-d.
Later comes the story of the great flood and Noah's ark, and it, too, can be separated into two complete versions that sometimes duplicate each other and sometimes contradict each other. And, again, one version always calls the deity G-d, and the other version always calls him Yahweh. There are two versions of the story of the convenant [sic] between the deity and Abraham. And, once again, in one the deity introduces himself as Yahweh, and in one he introduces himself as G-d. And so on. The investigators saw that they were not simply dealing with a book that repeated itself a great deal, and they were not dealing with a loose collection of somewhat similar stories. They had discovered two separate works that someone had cut up and combined into one.
[W]e must clarify, to the best of our ability, why just in certain sections or verses the Torah narratives have the Tetragrammaton and in others ’Elohim. Is it possible to formulate rules with regard to the use of the Names in proximity to each other? I believe that we are able to answer this question affirmatively. On the basis of what we have stated so far, we may assume that in each case the Torah chose one of the two Names according to the context and intention, precisely as follows:
It selected the name YHWH when the text reflects the Israelite conception of God, which is embodied in the portrayal of YHWH and finds expression in the attributes traditionally ascribed to Him by Israel, particularly in His ethical character; it preferred the name ’Elohim when the passage implies the abstract idea of the Deity prevalent in the international circles of ‛wise men’—God conceived as the Creator of the physical universe, as the Ruler of nature, as the Source of life.
The Tetragrammaton is used, when expression is given to the direct, intuitive notion of God, which characterizes the simple faith of the multitude or the ardour of the prophetic spirit; the name ’Elohim, when the concept of thinkers who meditate on the lofty problems connected with the existence of the world and humanity is to be conveyed.
The name YHWH occurs when the context depicts the Divine attributes in relatively lucid and, as it were, palpable terms, a clear picture being conveyed; ’Elohim, when the portrayal is more general, superficial and hazy, leaving an impression of obscurity.
The Tetragrammaton is found when the Torah seeks to arouse in the soul of the reader or the listener the feeling of the sublimity of the Divine Presence in all its majesty and glory; the name ’Elohim, when it wishes to mention God in an ordinary manner, or when the expression or thought may not, out of reverence, be associated directly with the Holiest Name.
The name YHWH is employed when God is presented to us in His personal character and in direct relationship to people or nature; and ’Elohim, when the Deity is alluded to as a Transcendental Being who exists completely outside and above the physical universe.
The Tetragrammaton appears when the reference is to the God of Israel relative to His people or to their ancestors; ’Elohim, when He is spoken of in relation to one who is not a member of the Chosen People.
YHWH is mentioned when the theme concerns Israel’s tradition; and ’Elohim, when the subject-matter appertains to the universal tradition.
After G-d created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone.' He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.' But they would not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air.
Adam stood in prayer before his Creator: 'Sovereign of the universe!' he said, 'the woman you gave me has run away.' At once, the Holy One, blessed be He, sent these three angels Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof, to bring her back.
Said the Holy One to Adam, 'If she agrees to come back, what is made is good. If not, she must permit one hundred of her children to die every day.' The angels left G-d and pursued Lilith, whom they overtook in the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters wherein the Egyptians were destined to drown. They told her G-d's word, but she did not wish to return. The angels said, 'We shall drown you in the sea.’
'Leave me!' she said. 'I was created only to cause sickness to infants. If the infant is male, I have dominion over him for eight days after his birth, and if female, for twenty days.’
When the angels heard Lilith's words, they insisted she go back. But she swore to them by the name of the living and eternal G-d: 'Whenever I see you or your names or your forms in an amulet, I will have no power over that infant.' She also agreed to have one hundred of her children die every day. Accordingly, every day one hundred demons perish, and for the same reason, we write the angels' names on the amulets of young children. When Lilith sees their names, she remembers her oath, and the child recovers.
The creation of humans is described in Genesis 1 and in Genesis 2. The first account is fairly straightforward: “So G-d created humankind in his image, in the image of G-d he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). The second account describes how G-d formed man out of the dust of the ground and then creates woman from the man: “Then the L-rd G-d formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. … So the L-rd G-d caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the L-rd G-d had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man” (Genesis 2:7, 21–22).
In the post-Biblical period, some ancient Jewish scholars took the stance that Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:21–22 must describe two separate events, since it appears that woman is created differently in these accounts. ...Professor Janet Howe Gaines explains this reasoning: “Considering every word of the Bible to be accurate and sacred, commentators needed a midrash or story to explain the disparity in the creation narratives of Genesis 1 and 2. God creates woman twice—once with man, once from man’s rib—so there must have been two women. The Bible names the second woman Eve; Lilith was identified as the first in order to complete the story.” Accordingly, Genesis 1:27 describes the creation of Adam and an unnamed woman (Lilith); Genesis 2:7 gives more details of Adam’s creation; and Genesis 2:21–22 describes the creation of Eve from Adam.