Careful readers may notice that already, we find evidence that Genesis includes not one but two distinct creation accounts. Not only does God have a different name in Genesis 2 (“Lord God”), but the order and means of creation change as well. Male and female humans are created separately, with vegetation and animals following, rather than preceding the first human. And rather than the spoken word as creative act, the Lord God stoops down and gets dirty fingernails in the process.
As was the case with Genesis 1, this chapter tells the story of beginnings in a way that addresses its own context. This is likely the earlier account, probably coming from an agrarian setting (notice how vital water is here). God plants a garden; the man tills the soil. Already we can see the diversity of claims we find in scripture, and it’s important to notice that the biblical editors didn't need to reconcile the two accounts.
What does this second creation story add to our thoughts about where we come from and who and whose we are? On one level, we find here not a remote, sovereign God calling the shots from above but a vulnerable, immanent God, at work in and among creation itself. Who doesn't long for a sense of God’s creative presence in our very midst?
There’s another dimension of this story that caught my attention this time around. Notice how important partnership is in this story. Since there was “no one to till the soil” (2:5), God made someone; since that someone was alone, God made first animals and, when they didn't fit the bill, a woman. It turns out that God needs us, and we need each other—not to do our work, but to share with us in the care of our world.
- How have you experienced partnership with God, or partnership with others in God’s work?
- How do you respond to the one limit God places on the first human? What does the tree of knowledge of good and evil represent for you?
- What other details did you notice in today’s reading?
Prayer: Sometimes we prefer to go it alone, O God. Remind us today of the bounty that comes when we recall we’re created for partnership with you and one another. Amen.
Breath Prayer: God breathed [inhale] the breath of life [exhale].
