Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

Paul Zellmer wrote:

> [...]Similarly, just because YCR in verse 7 refers to YHWH God making 
> something (man)
> which
> context indicates was the first of its kind, this does not imply that the 
> animals,
> etc., which were YCR'd in verse 19 were things that were the first of their 
> kind.
> Besides, YCR in itself does not imply the causing something to come alive.  
> Verse 7
> had two actions take place before man lived.  Is it not completely 
> reasonable to see
> that verse 19 could describe God forming the *shapes* of all the animals, 
> etc.?

The idea of YCR is to fashion or form something from a material that you 
have. Thus, man
is formed out of the dust. Similarly, the animals are formed out of the 
ground. The woman
is [lit] "built" or "put together" out of the man's rib (yes, Lewis, we know 
what other
connotations are involved in that word tzela` <g>). Unless you are willing to 
say that the
man was around but had no shape before YHWH forms him, then it seems fairly 
illegitimate
to say something along the same lines about the animals. It seems quite clear 
what is
being said: "X did not exist, until YHWH took some Y-stuff and formed it into 
an X."

> I see the fallacy in the argument that Jason is counteracting to be reading 
> too much
> into the verbal root YCR.

Only in so far as it is used as an argument for atheism. A bit like saying 
"Cars are
different from trucks, therefore automobiles do not exist."

However, the only reason for assuming that animals were around in the 
abstract, but then
shaped by YHWH when he "formed" them, is trying to say that Gen 1 and 2 are, 
essentially,
the same narrative and there is some sequence leading from Gen 1 to Gen 2. 
This doesn't
really seem to be the case, and it actually detracts in a huge way from the 
narrative of
Gen 2 if a narrative sequence is assumed from Gen 1. It is plainly clear that 
Gen 2:19
implies that, in this particular narrative, the animals are created after man 
in order to
find a helper suitable for him. No theological comment - just a common sense 
reading of
the text.

BTW, Paul, what does "HTH" mean?

Best regards,
GEORGE ATHAS
Dept of Semitic Studies,
University of Sydney
- Email: gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au
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