To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: Genesis 1 & 2
Date: Sat, 4 Dec 1999 18:37:34 +0800
I wrote (in part) and then Dave Washburn responded (in part):
> > But, as has been stated in previous discussions on this matter,
there is
> > also a change of verb roots here, from (&H in Gen 1:25 to YCR in
2:19.
> > The difference may be significant, with the Genesis 2 form referring
not
> > to a creation (in the sense that that word is normally used in a
> > biblical setting) but rather a forming of examples of lifeforms
> > previously created. If this is the case, the use of the wayyiqtol
can
> > still carry the sense of consecutive activities that many approaches
> > still ascribe, at least in part, to the wayyiqtol in Hebrew prose.
>
> I understand what you're saying, but I'm not sure how it resolves
> the apparent contradiction about the order of humans vs. animals?
I am not trying to reopen an old thread, but I will try to clear up this
one point.
Day 6, according to Genesis 1, God made animals, then man. The
formation of the animals in Genesis 2 could well have been God
fashioning examples only of the animals that he had already created in
order to check if any of them would serve as a suitable companion for
the man. IOW, if there were 100 giraffes before, there were now 101,
one of which was presented to Adam. What occurs in Genesis 2 is very
similar to our drawing illustrations on the chalkboard or forming
statues, only God could make them alive. That is why I think the use of
YCR in Gen 2:19 could well be significant, especially since the more
generic (&H could have been used, but wasn't. And it makes that actions
as subsequent to the formation of man from the dust of the ground.