Great job on the explanations, except i’m still unclear as to the two creation stories. they seem very different.
actually, my family is orthodox, i grew up learning that, but remember my mother not letting me eat watermelon on shabbat, but as to my lack of remembering too much about my childhood and my departure from Judaism, thats another story…
Just wanted to extend my appreciation to the posters in this thread for some excellent work. Very well done!
Soulsling:
They’re different in focus. The account in Genesis 1 is a summary of how all of creation came to be. The account beginning in Genesis 2:5 is a shift in focus to human history, beginning with a description of the Garden of Eden and providing more detail about the creation of Adam and Eve.
Chaim Mattis Keller
The two creation stories also come from different sources. The 7 days version was from the “P” or priestly sources, the 2nd is from “J” sources (‘J’ as in JHVH, as they use that word. the “J” source is also Judah writers. The “J” source is earlier. There is a 3rd source, and that is the “E” document, as they used the word “Elohim” for God. This does not detract from the tradition that moses wrote them, as he clearly had to depend on earlier sources for what went on before him.
This word, “Elohim” which is from a very early source, also has an indication that early Judaism was possibly polytheistic, as that word would be considered a plural, if it was not a name of God.