Genesis
Chapter 2
That was how the sky and the earth were created, along with all their vast array.
By the seventh day, the work God had done was completed, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work.
And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on that day he rested from all the work he had done in his creation.
Paradise
These are the successive steps in the creation of the heavens and the earth.
On the day that the Lord God created the earth and the heavens,
there were no shrubs of the fields on the earth, nor had any plants yet sprung up, because the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the earth.
However, a mist arose from the earth and watered the surface of the ground.
Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.
God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man whom he had created.
The Lord God made every kind of tree grow from the ground that is pleasing to the eye and good for food, including the tree of Life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Then the Lord God commanded man, saying:
but the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, you will not eat, for on the day you eat of it, you will die.”
The Lord God said: “It is not good for man to be alone; I will give him a helper who will be like him.”
So man assigned names to all the cattle, the birds of the air, and every beast of the field. However, he did not find a helper comparable to himself among them.
The rib that the Lord God had taken from man, he fashioned into a woman and brought her to the man.
The man then said:
That is why man leaves his father and mother and is united with his wife, and with her becomes one flesh.
Commentaries
The Story of Creation.
For a long time, it was believed that this account was the first part written in the Bible, but it has since been shown to be untrue. Following the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Babylonians in 587 B.C., the Jewish people faced a crisis. They needed a narrative to help them regain perspective. Where was God? Why did he not defend his people? Why did he allow the city and the temple to be destroyed?
Through stories from various Eastern cultures, the editors create a hymn that conveys the message that, from the very beginning, God designed everything with harmony and goodness in mind. From the start, he desires the well-being of his people. This hymn serves as a comprehensive catechesis to foster adherence and strengthen faith in the One True God of Israel. Let’s examine some of the intentions and implications this narrative presents:
1. Creation is the result of God’s absolute goodness. During the primordial chaos, the Spirit of God moves; he is not absent, and his Word organizes things, causing everything that exists to emerge, with the characteristic note that everything is “good.”
2. In creation, everything follows a plan; nothing is random, and each element serves a specific function (even misfortunes). The pinnacle of creation is the human being, who has the other creatures at his command.
3. God creates man and woman in his image and likeness; He creates them male and female to oversee his work. Being a couple and living in community reflects a God who communicates, loves, transcends himself, and expresses his love for his creations. Through this dynamic, man and woman must also care for the creation that God places at their disposal.
4. God blesses his creation. Creation is not a cursed place or a place of punishment; rather, it is where all creatures are blessed by God and called to glorify him.
5. Finally, the Sabbath rest is the culmination of creation. God blesses and consecrates it. This “rest,” more than leisure, represents an expression of maturity and fullness. Like God in creation, human beings—men and women—along with all creatures, are directed toward it, toward fullness.
Paradise.
This new account, also known as the “creation account,” has distinct characteristics compared to the previous one. It is not a hymn. God does not give commands for things to appear. Like a potter, he shapes man from clay and breathes the breath of life into him. He places him in the Garden of Eden and warns him about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He creates all living things from clay to accompany him, and upon finding no suitable helper, puts him to sleep, and from his rib “forms” a creature: woman.
Long ago, this story was retold by the Israelites, primarily to explore the origins of humanity and the distinctions between humans and other creatures.
According to this account, humans share three common characteristics with animals:
1. Both have been formed using “soil clay” (7.19).
2. Both receive from God the “breath of life” (cf. 7:15,22).
3. Both are “living beings” (7.19).
But God makes man in his image and likeness (1:26), and this begins to take shape from the moment God breathes his breath into the nostrils of Adam, who has just been fashioned from “adamah”—clay from the ground—from which the animals were also made. Man’s actions should therefore differ from those of the animals, as he is not only driven by his instincts but also, and above all, by the Spirit of God within him. Thus, a human being is not human solely because they have a body; what is specific occurs when the Spirit of God inhabits them, and they live moved by him. In other words, humanity arises in man and woman when their materiality—their “adamancy”—is animated by the Spirit of God.
From this interpretation, we can draw valuable conclusions about living out our faith and achieving personal growth. This passage invites us to be aware of our natural “adamancy” (our instincts), but also to recognize that within each of us is the presence of the Spirit of God, who moves and waits for us to allow him to humanize us.