Why is the creation account in Genesis 1:1-2:3 outside the toledothic structure of the book as a whole? The reason is bound up with the meaning of “toledoth.” Rooted in the word for “beget,” it means “the begettings of” or “the product of.” Genesis 2:4-4:26 recounts the begettings of heaven and earth, 5:1-6:8 the begettings of Adam, etc.
Genesis 1:1-2:3 is a record of creating not begetting. God does order earth to bring forth plants and animals during the creation week, but still Genesis conceives of that as God’s own work rather than the begetting of earth. When we get to Genesis 2, earth is seen as a more active partner in making – Watered by rain from heaven, the earth will sprout with plants (2:5), and though God forms man from the dust of the ground, still man is presented as one of the “begettings” of heaven and earth, the product of earthy dust and heavenly Breath.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Ethics of Rhetoric in Times of War
What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times…
How the State Failed Noelia Castillo
On March 26, Noelia Castillo, a twenty-five-year-old Spanish woman, was killed by her doctors at her own…
The Mind’s Profane and Sacred Loves
The teachers you have make all the difference in your life. That they happened to come into…
