Cofresi Pop Quiz

1. Chapter 2 of Genesis gives another account of the story of creation. Despite its obvious  contradictions to the first story of creation, the Biblical authors must have put this story  next to the story in chapter 1 for a special purpose. 

2. This second account of creation contradicts the first account in several ways. For  instance, in the second account, in relation to the other living things, human beings are  not created last, but before plants and animals.  

3. In the second account, all creation seems to be happening in a very short time, unlike  the first account when creation lasted for 6 days. 

4. In the second account of creation, God does not seem far away from the work of  creation, but rather involved with his creation. 

5. God does not give commands in the second account to create things. We find these  differences: 

A. For his creatures, God created a garden called Eden by actually planting it. 

B. Like a sculptor, God himself molded the man out of the dust on the ground and to create a woman, God fashioned her from the man’s rib. 

C. To bring the man to life, God blew into his nostrils the breath of life. 

6. In the second account, God seemed to have difficulty in creating the right mate for the  man. None of the animals were suitable. It almost seemed as if God did not know what to  do. This is not typical divine behavior, but is more characteristic of a human being. 

7. God finally created a mate for the man by casting a deep sleep over him and removing  one of his ribs. 

8. In this second account of creation, God is referred to by the title of LORD God. 

9. Now, if there are two different versions of the story of creation in the Bible,  which is the true one? But perhaps this is the wrong question to ask. Remember, 

the stories are not intended to teach literal, scientific truth, but to present a  deeper meaning. 

10. Perhaps the stories were left in the Bible side by side because each story  contains some, but not all of the truth we are to learn about so that Bible can show us different perspectives and lessons.

11. We must study both accounts to grasp the full meaning of God's creation of  the world. 

A. From the first account, we learn that our God is all-powerful and can  create with just a word. 

B. From the second account, we learn that our God is a caring God, who is  not far away, but intimately involved with humanity. 

C. Creation was not done in a chaotic or haphazard way but with great order and purpose. 

D. In Genesis 1, man and woman are created together. In Genesis 2, woman is created from the same material as man. Both show that in terms of respect and  dignity, men and women are equal. 

12. Two very different accounts of creation suggest that the biblical story of the  beginning of the world was not written by one author or group of authors, but  by at least two different sources. 

13. In fact, the first account of creation was written by a group called the Priestly writers. The second account was written by a group known as the Yahwist writers. These two groups wrote two different stories of creation because each  group wanted to emphasize its own points of view.

14. The generally accepted date for the priestly writer’s account is c. 500 B.C.E. (which means Before the Common Era and is the term preferred in religious  studies). The Yahwist writer's generally accepted date is c. 950 B.C.E. Notice that  although the Yahwist writers composed their story first, that version comes after the priestly writers. 

15. By examining the two accounts, we can see the different characteristics of the  two writing sources: 

A. The Priestly source calls God by the term Elohim. 

B. The Yahwist source calls God by the term Yahweh. 

C. The Priestly source portrays God as being distant or transcendent. 

D. The Yahwist source describes God as being involved and anthropomorphic.