The First Hebrew Story of Creation

Author(s): William R. Harper

Source: The Biblical World, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Jan., 1894), pp. 6-16
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3135404
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 THE FIRST HEBREW STORY OF CREATION.

By WILLIAM R. HARPER,
The University of Chicago.

The sigznficant expressions in the first chatter of Genesis. The L

Structure of the first story.-The Characteristics of Style.-The Tea
the Passage.- The great Purpose of the Story.-Other Creation Stor
Harmonizing of the story with the results of Science.-A general Est
the Story.

The author of Genesis has introduced two stories of the cre-

ation of the world, the first contained in Gen. I:I -2:4a', the
second in Gen. 2: 4b-25. These stories treat of the same sub-
ject, but from entirely different points of view. It will be the
purpose of this article and of that which follows to indicate in a
general way the teachings and purpose of the two stories as con-
trasted with each other and as supplementing each other. It is
not without significance that in the Divine Providence there have
been given us two witnesses, rather than one, of the truths con-
tained in these wonderful stories.2

In even a hasty survey of the material of our first story, one

SThat is, through the first half of the fourth verse.

"Dods, Genesis; Kalisch, Genesis; Dillmnann, Die Genesis; Delitzsch, Genesis;

Driver, the Cosmogony of Genesis, Andover Review, vol. 8, Dec. I887; Dawson,
Origin of the World according to Revelation and Science; Dana, The first chapter of
Genesis, and Science; Guyot, Creation; Pritchard, Hulsean Lectures for 1867; Reusch,
Nature and the Bible; A jresbyter, Genesis in advance of present Science; Kinns,
Harmony of the Bible with Science; Heckel, History of Creation (translated);
Lenormant, Beginnings of History; Smith, The Chaldean account of Genesis;
Sckrader, The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament; Lefdbure, TSBA, IV.;

Chabas,
and 1tudes
Green, sur l'antiquitd
The Pentateuchal historique;
Question, Genesis Spiegel,
I-XII, Vol.Er.nische Alterthumskunde;
V.; Lenormant, The Book Harper
of Genesis; Briggs, The Hebrew Poem of the Creation, in Old Test. Student, Vol. III.;
Ewald, Old and New Testament Theology, pp. I I3-I39; Perowne, Notes on Genesis,
beginning in The Expositor, Oct. 1890; Geikie, Hours with the Bible, Vol. I., chaps.
I-VI; Godet, Biblical Studies (Old Testament), pp. 65-139.
6

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 THE FIRST HEBREW STORY OF CREA TION. 7

meets certain significant expressions which dteserve at least p

ing notice. Among these are the following:
I. The first three verses of the chapter-which for comp
hensiveness, sublimity, and strength have never been surpa
translated in strict accordance with Hebrew syntax would
" In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the ear
the earth being waste and void . . . then God said, let
there be light, and there was light."
2. The word "created" does not of itself signify creation out
of nothing. It is in this chapter used synonymously with
"make" or "form."

3. The phrase "heaven and earth" was not, in the write

mind, a chaotic mass, but rather the visible heavens and earth
4. In the phrase, "and there was light," the writer evide
has in mind the same light which we now have, for it
declared good, and from this time light and darkness are dist
guished.
5. The first da1y closes with the coming on of the second
darkness. Those for whom the narrative was first prepared, and,
indeed, all men until recently, understood this day, including the
night, to be one of twenty-four hours. Marcus Dods' has truly
said that "rationalism may twist scripture into any meaning it
pleases, if it may put a geologist's meaning into the word 'day.' "
The writer's meaning is fixed by his use of the word in the six-
teenth verse, where he speaks of the greater light as intended to
rule the day. The writer, as will appear more clearly later on,
seeks to represent not "second causes and physical processes,
but God directly creating." If we substitute the modern inter-
pretation suggested for these five verses, it would read, "Then
elapsed one hundred thousand years, which was the first day."
It will be seen at a glance that this introduces "an incongruous
and irrelevant element, suggesting the slow and long continued
action of second causes, when the writer means to suggest the
immediate action of God's creative fiat."

6. In verse 14 the writer does not say, "let the luminaries

appear," as, a little earlier, he said, "let the dry land appear;" in
' In Hand-book for Bible Classes, Genesis, in loc.

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8 THE BIBLICAL WORLD .

other words, he does.not teach that luminaries which have been

in existence are now brought forth, just as the land which had
already been created is now made to appear. He says, "let
there be luminaries," and then afterward, "and God made the
luminaries." The efforts of harmonists to interpret these words
otherwise in order to avoid the difficulty arising from the fact
that vegetation had appeared the day before, are well enough
meant, but without foundation.
7. From the order of creation in vs. 16 one gains a clear idea
of the method of representation-" the greater light," "the lesser
light," "the stars." The order shows that it is a representation
of things as they appeared, rather than as they really are.
8. In the phrase, "let us make man," in vs. 26, the writer
tells us that God here associates with himself the heavenly intelli-
gences-the sons of God, who, we are told elsewhere, shouted
for joy on the morning of creation. There can be no reference
to the trinity, as some have naturally enough suggested, nor may
we explain the plural form by understanding that it is something
like the editorial plural.
9. In the second member of the phrase, vs. 26, "in our image,
after our likeness," we are not to look for any deep theological
meaning, since it is but an emphatic repetition of the first
member.

Io. The words "and let them have dominion," vs. 26, might
be rendered "that they may have dominion," thus indicating the
great purpose of man's creation and his divine destiny.
II. The expression in vs. 27, "male and female he created
them," is so terse that one is not surprised at the various inter-
pretations which have been suggested. Does it mean that man
and woman were created simultaneously, or that originally they
were one being; or that the first creation was hermaphrodite?
12. In vs. 29 the meaning seems to be that man is assigned
only vegetable food. It is not until some time after this that
permission is given him to eat flesh. Is it the writer's view that
animals also were originally eaters of grain and not of flesh ?
I3. From the emphasis laid upon the seventh day in 2:1-4,
and its relation to the preceding six days, it is evident that this

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 THE FIRST HEBRE W STORY OF CREA TION. 9

is the climax of the narrative. The seventh day of rest

between the creation and all subsequent history.
14. The phrase "these are the generation of the heave
and the earth" (2: 4b) is similar in form to the introductory
of nine other sections of the Book of Genesis. cf. Gen.
6:9; Io:I; I1:Io, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1I; 37:2. Since in t
other passages the title precedes, it has been suggested
perhaps originally the first half of vs. 4 stood at the beg
of the first chapter.
The structure ofthis first story of creation is clear and def
It demands but a cursory examination of the passage to di
the following among other facts :
I. The work of creation is arranged in six days, with a
of rest.

2. These six days are divided into two closely parallel

tions:

First day, light. Fourth day, luminaries.

Second day, air and water. Fifth day, the animals of air
and water.

Third day, the dry land and Sixth day, land animals and
vegetation. man.
3. A study of these two sections dis
respondence between them. While the
second indicates the source of light
describes the origin of air and water, t
of air and water. The first section de
land and water, the growth of grass
presents the creation of wild beasts, cat
In other words, the first section presen
the second that of accomplishment. I
that the parallelism does not hold good
4. The artistic structure appears, mor
manner in which the whole narrative is made to culminate in
man, who is the outcome of the creation. Everything else has
been created beforehand, in order to prepare the way for the
coming of man, and, at the same time, to permit the divine
destiny of man as ruler of the world to be carried out.

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IO THE BIBLICAL WORLD.

5. Reuss has said that "the plan

order to bring under the eyes of h
immense work, and especially to
and definite idea of gradation wh
regards the importance and even
different groups of creatures."
6. A careful examination of the
of the symbolical numbers, 3, 7
Seven times he approves what h
the divine blessing is given. Thi
dental.

In close connection with the structure of the passage we may

note the characteristics of style which it presents.
I. The prominent use made of the days of the week; the
continually recurring phrase "and it was evening and it was morn-
ing;" the gradual leading up of the whole story to the Sabbath,
indicate a method of expression that is systematic.
2. The seven-fold division, and the strict order of creation,
indicate the chronological and statistical style.
3. From a reading of vss. II and 12, 24 and 25, 29 and 30,
and of 2: 2, 3, one surely is impressed with the fact that the
style is minute, precise, scientific.
4. From the frequent recurrence of the phrases, "and it was
evening and it was morning," "and God saw that it was good,"
"and it was so," the style is seen to be rigid, stereotyped.
5. It will be granted that thirty-five verses are none too many
in which to tell so great a story as that of the creation of the
world, and yet when one notes the fact that vs. 12 is a repetition
almost word for word of vs. I I, and that the same is true in
large measure of vss. 17 and 18 as compared with vss. 14 and 15,
of vs. 21 as compared with vs. 20, of vs. 25 as compared with vs.
24, and when one notes the many repetitions in vss. 28 to 30, and
in chapter 2:1-3, the conclusion must be drawn that the style
of the writer is verbose and repetitious.
6. It is clear that the writer is dealing with the human race
and not with any member of it; with the world and not with a
portion of it. He is accounting for the origin of every tree,

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 THE FIRST HEBREW STORY OF CREA TION. II

every herb and not a particular tree or a particular

in other words, the style is generic and not particu
Some have suggested that the whole passag
Much may be said in favor of this position, bu
been said the position is one which does not mainta
It is manifestly impossible to present as one
single article the teachings of so great and impo
It is possible, however, to suggest the main tea
to be conveyed by the writer. These may be put
propositions, and some of the more important are
I. The origin of all things in the universe is Go
2. This God who created all things is an intelli
being.
3. The world was created in a systematic order, beginning at
the lowest and rising to the highest-man.
4. Man was not only the last and the highest act of creation,
but all that preceded him prepared the way for his creation.
5. Thus man, the outcome of all creation, was created in the
image of God and endowed with divine intelligence.
6. The purpose of man's creation was that he should be the
lord of all creation.

7. Man and animals were intended to be graminiverous. The

world which came from God's hand, like the ideal world of the
future, cf. Isa. II : 6-9, was one of "painlessness, bloodlessness,
and peace."
8. Every stage of progress was "good," and everything
which God created was "very good."
9. God himself having worked six days rested on the seventh.
The law of rest and the seventh day as a day of rest are divine.
At this point we may stop for a moment to consider thepur-
pose of the story. The writer, led by the spirit of God, is seeking
to teach man certain truths which God would have man know.
But in connection with this desire to teach religious truths there
is a purpose; to accomplish this the writer selects certain
material from the abundance which was at his disposal, and
arranges this material in a form which will best serve the purpose.
If now we recall the order of the arrangement of the story, the

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 I 2 THE BIBLICAL WORLD.

six days of creation and the seven

and emphatic statements made in th
the Sabbath,-it would seem that the
the climax towards which he was
for which he was all along preparing
the story closes completely and sa
of the Sabbath. The purpose is th
ious one. It is not primarily how
how the Sabbath originated that
examine the material which conn
creation, as distinguished from the
with the second story of creation,'
tions there is a leading up to the
Noah, of the law of bloodshed. After still another decade of
generations we have the institution of circumcision; still later,
the covenant with Israel as a nation, and the institution of the
Mosaic ceremonial, and finally the fulfilment of the divine obli-
gations in these covenants in the apportionment of the promised
land. In other words, our writer has before him a definitely
constructed plan, and this story, culminating in the institution of
the Sabbath, is the first step in the realization of his plan. When
we consider the part which this institution has played in the his-
tory of the world we need not hesitate to say that the wisdom
which guided him was more than human.
One's task in the study of this story is far from finished
when he has examined the Hebrew account alone. It is neces-

sary to explain the existence of other creation stories in th

world's literatures. One of these stories, the Chaldaean, is pu
lished elsewhere in this issue of THE WORLD. This narrative,
arranged in a series of tablets which seem to correspond to the
Hebrew days, contains expressions which show a close connec-
tion with the Hebrew stories. The acts of creation are succes-

sive, and strangely enough the order is the same, although eac

SFor just as there are different stories of creation so there are two stories of the
descendants of Adam; two stories of the deluge; two stories of the peopling of the
earth after the deluge; and although we may explain this and other similar facts, th
material of Genesis is seen to have its origin in different stories.

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 THE FIRST HEBREW STORY OF CREA TION. 13

act is attributed to a different God. In the Phoenician account,

the name of the mother of the first human pair is Baau, the
same word found in vs. 2 of the Hebrew story, and translated
waste or chaos.

According to the Persian account Ahuramazda created the

universe and man in six successive periods. The last creation
was that of man. It was a Vedic idea that man was created
double and afterwards divided. The Asiatic idea introduced

into Greece in Plato's banquet, represented man originally

of three sexes, male, female and hermaphrodite. The person
the third sex was separated into two halves and made into m
and female, who desired to come together again in order t
return to their primitive unity. There is not space to descr
in detail these sister creation stories.I

Supposing the details of them to be tolerably familiar, it is

not unfair to'contrast them as a whole with the Hebrew story
which we have studied. They are polytheistic throughout; the
Hebrew story strictly monotheistic. They are everywhere extrav-
agant and ridiculous; the Hebrew story pure and simple.
Nowhere in these stories is there to be found to any degree the
presence of the element of sublimity, whereas the Hebrew story
is, of all writings known to man, one of the most sublime and
beautiful. The parallel stories are really degrading in their
influence, while the Hebrew story is elevating. No particular
religious teaching worthy of the name can be found in the others,
while the Hebrew story abounds, as we have already seen, in
teachings of the highest order. At once the question suggests
itself, What relation exists between the stories outside of the
Bible and the Hebrew story? To this question three answers
may be given:
I) They are departures far removed from the Hebrew story
itself, the latter being the original.
2) The Hebrew story is itself derived from the Babylonian
or Chaldean, obtained by the Hebrews through Abraham who
came out of Ur of the Chaldees; or later, when the whole Hebrew
nation lived as captives in the land of Babylon.
Full details will be found in Lenormant's Beginnings of History.

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 1 4 THE BIBLICAL WORLD.

3) The outside stories and the Hebrew story are s

derived from an earlier mother.

It will be granted that before any decision is reached, it is

our duty first to study the other Hebrew story found in Genesis
2:4b-25, and the outside stories which associate themselves with
it. Clearly no satisfactory opinion can be reached until all the
material has been examined. But still further, it is necessary to
place side by side with the several stories which are found in
Genesis I-II the parallel stories coming from the outside. What-
ever is true of one group of stories, for example, the creation
stories, will be true also of another group, such as the deluge
stories. It is better, therefore, to leave this question unanswered
until we shall be able, from a point of view obtained as a result
of the study of all this material, to reach a conclusion based
upon all the facts.
A subsequent article of the series will consider the question
in detail.

A still more difficult question connected with this story of

creation is that of its reconciliation, as it is commonly termed,
with science. In discussing this question, the writer desires to
point out two or three principles in accordance with which, as it
seems to him, the discussion must be undertaken:
I) The extent and character of agreement is not to be
determined by any a priori arguments. If the Bible story of
creation is divine in its origin and is true, it must agree with the
assured results of science; but there is room for difference of
opinion as to the kind of agreement which should be accepted.
"Why should we argue," says Bishop Perowne, "as if we knew
in what precise way God ought to convey to us a revelation."
Shall we set limits to the work of the Almighty? It is here
that the mistake has been made. The believer in revelation has

maintained that the agreement must be minute, and has twisted

the record into a new meaning with every fresh discovery of
science. The scientist has failed to find this agreement, and has
too frequently declared against the revelation. The apologist
and scientist have both been wrong.
2) Revelation is limited to what man could not otherwise

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 THE FIRST HEBRE W STORY OF CREA TION. I 5

know. Quarry has stated this principle as follows: " Matter

which are discoverable by human reason and the means of
human investigation which God has put within the reach of
man's faculties, are not the proper subjects of divine revelation."
Matters which do not concern morals, or bear on man's spiritual
relations toward God, are not within the province of revealed
religion. If, then, a person writing by inspiration of God on
things pertaining to religion, should have occasion to speak of
the things about him, it might be expected beforehand that he
would speak of them as phenomenal, that is, according to his
own existing conceptions or the imperfect apprehension of
those for whose use he might have been more immediately
writing. Hugh Miller has said: "The Scriptures have never yet
revealed a single scientific truth. Those who defend the literal
and exclusively correct acceptation of the text are men who
labor to pledge revelation to an astronomy as false as that of
the Buddhist Hindoo or the old Teuton."

3) In the Bible revelation, not science, is to be looked for;

in nature science, not revelation. The statement of this prin-
ciple is justified by the history of exegesis. Most discussions
of the subject before us ignore it. Too much time has been
spent in the effort to find in the Bible scientific truth in a scien-
tific form. Too frequently have men tested the affirmations of
nature by the biblical record. Does the sun really rise and set ?
Yes, the church answered, or the Bible is a lie. Were the days
of creation days of twenty-four hours ? Yes, said the men of
twenty-five years ago, or there is no truth in the Bible.
The acceptance of these principles rules out at one stroke
the great majority of the so-called theories of reconciliation;
theories which it is manifestly impossible even to undertake to
refute at this time.

The best attempt yet made is that of Professor Dana in his

pamphlet, "The First Chapter of Genesis and Science," and by
Guyot in his monograph on Creation. But the explanations
here offered without a doubt demand interpretations of Hebrew
words which no competent Hebraist will concede. There is no
question that the order of creation indicated in the story is in

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 16 THE BIBLICAL WORLD.

general that which science teaches. With this we sho

satisfied. It is not possible to press the reconciliation fu
Professor Dana himself acknowledges that, while the acco
is exact with the succession made out for the earliest spe
the grand divisions, in the case of the division of the birds
is doubt. In the main we may say with Sir G. G. Stokes
F.R.S.,' that if we " are to suppose that it was intended t
a miracle in the nineteenth century for the conviction o
sayers, we might expect to find complete accordance e
detail. But if we suppose that the record in Genesis was
for the people of the time and designed to give them ide
rect from a theological, or rather religious, point of v
would be preposterous to demand scientific accuracy of d
The question of the origin of this story and its va
so closely connected with that of the second story which w
treated in the second article of the series, that it seems best to
withhold a final estimate until the second story has been studied.
In anticipation, however, it may be said that, if viewed as lit-
erature, the story has no superior in sublimity, force, and beauty ;
if regarded as the introduction to the institution of the Sabbath
it contains no fault or blemish. It is sacrilege to treat this
material as a scientific treatise and to apply to it the scientific
test. The Bible knows no science. These things are spoken of
as they optically appear to the unscientific mind. But if we
regard it as the medium of the conveyance of religious truth,
and note what is taught of God, of man, recalling, at the same
time, how other nations struggled in vain for thesessame teach-
ings, and the age in the world's history in which all this was
delivered to man, we must, if we are honest, confess that we
find something here more pure, more true, more elevated than
any of the world's many traditions contains. What is this
something ? The answer is at hand: God. The same God, to
be sure, who is in all history and in all literature; but who is
here as he is not elsewhere.

SThe Expositor, January, 1891.

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