Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 2/0
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Biblical Parallels Index – Bereshit 2
Two Creations – Bereshit 1 and 2
Tanakh Lab demonstrates that one of the chapters that shares the greatest number of textual elements with Bereshit 1 is Bereshit 2. These two chapters contain two accounts of the creation of the world.
Tools
See the Tanakh Lab to compare the two chapters and view their linguistic parallels.
Primary Sources
- Mishnat R. Eliezer 1, Rashi, R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, Rashbam – These sources view the parallel accounts of the Creation story in these two chapters as a literary technique in which the Torah first presents a general overview of the world's creation and then returns to provide greater detail about its most significant individual components.
- Hoil Moshe – According to Hoil Moshe, Chapters 1 and 2 describe two distinct events. While Chapter 1 describes the earlier creation of the whole world and the entire human race, Chapter 2 speaks of a subsequent and wholly separate creation of the Garden of Eden and the individual Adam.
Articles
- Two Accounts of Creation compares and analyzes the two accounts of creation in Bereshit 1 and 2. It presents three approaches to the parallels, viewing the doubled accounts as either a literary device, as complementary stories which each portray a distinct facet of creation, or as describing two totally distinct creations.
- R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik's The Lonely Man of Faith contains an extensive discussion of the two accounts of the creation of man and woman. He notes that Chapter 1 focuses on man in his majestic and creative capacity and his search for dignity through control over his environment, while Chapter 2 describes the submissive man of faith and his search for redemption. As each prototype approaches his surroundings differently, the descriptions of each creation differ.
- See Bereishit: The Two Stories of Creation by R. Menachem Leibtag for an exploration of the two accounts as reflective of two perspectives on the nature of human existence and the relationship between God and man. Chapter 1 presents man as existing in a physical world in which he must confront and struggle with nature. He is given dominance over it by God, realizes that God Himself is the master over all, but there is no description of man's actual relationship with his Creator. Chapter two presents man as also existing in a spiritual environment that allows him to develop a relationship with his Creator. In it, he can find spiritual life by following God's commandments while striving towards perfection.
- The Ideal and the Real by R. Zvi Grumet suggests that the first chapter of Sefer Bereshit describes what an ideal world would look like, followed in the second chapter by an account of the world as it actually existed. As such, Chapter 1 describes a harmonious world, marked by order, and evaluated as "good", without sin or strife. Chapter 2, in contrast, describes a creation that appears to lack an ordered plan, where mankind makes mistakes, and not all is good. Since a flawless world serves no purpose, as there is no potential for growth, God gave man free will, but at the cost of perfection. Both descriptions are included for man's goal is to strive to bring the imperfect world to resemble the flawless Divine model.
“These are the Generations”
Tools
Makbilot Bamikra points out the many times that the phrase “אלה תולדות” appears in Sefer Bereshit.
Articles
See this article by R. Menachem Leibtag for an exploration of the significance of genealogical lists in Sefer Bereshit.
