Genesis 2:7-25
Each year we try to find a special focus for Lent and this year we’re going to begin with one of the stories about creation in Genesis. Our scripture today comes from the second chapter and is the second creation story in the Bible. The first one is in chapter one and is actually the newer of the two stories. (We know that because of the vocabulary differences and because it uses a new name for God than the second one.)
Both of these stories are “origin” stories – they tell us how things came to be the way they are. They were probably written into what became Hebrew scripture when the people of Israel were in exile in Babylon. Most of scripture has a long history of oral tradition and then becomes written when there is danger of it being lost or forgotten. So some is written when the northern ten tribes are defeated by Syria in the 8th century BCE. The creation stories are probably written when Jerusalem is conquered and most of the people exiled to Babylon in the 6th century BCE. The first creation story shows significant influence of the creation myths of Babylon. Other stories such as Daniel were written when Alexander the Great conquers Jerusalem in the second century BCE. The Christian Gospels are written when it becomes clear that Jesus isn’t going to return before the original disciples die at the end of the first century CE. Scripture is made of the stories that were so important to the identity of our spiritual ancestors that they went to great trouble to preserve them, writing them down so they would survive if the people themselves were overcome by disaster.
One more note about the first story of creation before we leave it for another time and focus on the second…This story is the one with six days of creation and a seventh day of rest. It’s the one that usually gets turned into children’s books with lovely art. We know it as the one that starts out ‘in the beginning.” But the first word of this story isn’t “in the beginning.” The first word translates “while creating.” While creating, God created the heavens and the earth. It strikes me that this is a small but significant difference. “In the beginning” has taught us through the years that the first thing ever God did was create our earth. Everything else is subordinate to us – sun and moon to give us light, water and earth to give us live, all creatures to fill the earth with plenty and then as the piece de resistance the human to enjoy it all. “While creating” implies that creation isn’t a moment in time – a beginning – but is a process. “While creating” many amazing and wonderful things, God made the earth we know. It’s a very different perspective and a bit humbling to think that all we know was just one small part of a vast creation. Like when you pick up the dining room table on your way to do laundry. It’s an important thing to do, but not the most important. It’s good for us to be put in our place, perhaps.
But now on to the feature of the day – creation story two – which is quite different from the first with everything happening in reverse order. This story presumes the existence of earth, filled with dust. From that dust the first human is made. Human from the humus our translation says. That’s important because the Hebrew says “Adam” from “Adamah.” It’s an intentional play on words. (There are two more coming.) This first human is made of the ground and lives when God fills its nostrils with air – wind/breath/spirit are again a play on words. They are the word of being, just as now when someone stops breathing and their spirit leaves life stops and being is no more.