1.(a)Give an account of the second creation story

In the second creation account, we see a
different creation story unfold. In Genesis
2:18-19, God decides that it is not good for
man to be alone and wants to find him a
partner.

It was also recorded God simply snatching that rib out of Adam
almost immediately and creating Eve.
However, that’s not exactly how the bible
reads. After God decides that Adam needs a
partner, he creates all the animals and birds
and brought them to Adam to name which
seems quite a bloody daunting t..
Adam was responsible to name the animals thereby finding new words
to name the animals. And finally, when
Adam completes his task of naming all the
animals, there is still not a suitor for him.
Talk about an unproductive day. Or week. Or
maybe even longer. I guess it’s then that
God takes matters into his own hands, puts
Adam to sleep, and stealthily steals a rib.
And from this, the first woman is created.
Donald Miller has suggested that maybe God
did this so that everyday of his life, Adam
would fully appreciate and cherish Eve,
because he would remember the long,
grueling process it took to obtain this
suitable partner. Because maybe it is only in
the absence of another that we can begin to
understand how blessed we are to have
them in our lives. But anyway, after the
creation of Eve, we hear the first words of
man recorded in the bible and it just
happens to be poetry: “This at last is bone
of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one
shall be called Woman, for out of Man this
one was taken” (2:23). So, from the very
beginning of the human race, we see an
interconnectedness between male and
female. Essentially, they share flesh and
bones with one another. That’s why I see
the end of the second chapter of Genesis a
fitting ending to the second creation
narrative. Verses 24-25 read, “Therefore a
man leaves his father and his mother and
clings to his wife, and become one flesh.
And the man and his wife were both naked,
and were not ashamed.” This idea of being
one with another is what the first human
relationship was about.
The other thing I wanted to mention is
Genesis 2:15: “The LORD God took the man
and put him in the garden of Eden to till it
and keep it.” I’ve been reading Andy
Crouch’s new book Culture Making, which I
actually posted on way back in September
believe it or not. So getting to Crouch’s
ideas, we should return to the idea that
humans were created in the image of God.
Crouch poses the question of just what this
connotes when we say humans are created
in the image of God. For him, at this point in
the biblical narrative, all we see is a God of
“limitless, extraordinary creativity.” So, being
created in the image of God means that we
as humans are also called to be creators, or
maybe not called to be creators – maybe
it’s in our blood that we are creators. But
we also see a God that is more than solely a
creator. Crouch writes, “Genesis presents
God as both Creator and Ruler of the
universe. Creators are those who make
something new; rulers are those who
maintain order and separation.” We are
presented with this artistic God who orders
his/her masterpiece in such a way that
humans can continue in this creation. Thus
the call to Adam to till and keep the earth
begins to be seen in a new light on account
of what Crouch proposes. We may not be
called to create something out of nothing
the way God did, but humans were first and
foremost caretakers of the garden. Adam
was called to not only care for life but to
help give rise to new life in the garden.

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