In this post, I am going to discuss the differences between the 1st account and the 2nd account in these five points: God, means of creation, forethought, time, and sequence of events.
First of all, a major difference between the two accounts is about God; it is God in the 1st account; however, it is Lord God in the 2nd account. I looked it up on the Internet and tried to find out why there were God and Lord God in the Bible. When "God" is used, it is usually a rendering of the general Hebrew word for God, "Elohim." When "LORD GOD" or "Lord GOD" occurs, it is usually a rendering of a dual name for God "Adonai YHWH." ( from http://www.gotquestions.org/LORD-GOD-Lord-God.html)
Second, the means of creation is also different because in the 1st account, God created everything by speaking. In comparison, in the 2nd account, Lord God "breathes", "forms", "takes", "builds" and also "plants". In my opinion, in the 1st account, it seems that God has more power than Lord God in the 2nd account.
Third, the 1st account has a lot of forethought such as the 1st day created light; the 2nd day created sky; the 3rd day created sea and dry land; the 4th day created sun, moon and stars; the 5th day created fish and birds; the 6th day created animals and people. However, in the 2nd account, there isn't such forethought; instead, it seems that there is only improvisation throughout the whole account.
The next difference is the time used for the creation. God used 6 days in the 1st account; in contrast, Lord God only used 1 day. This also shows that there is enough forethought in the 1st account, but just improvisation in the 2nd account.
Finally, the last difference is the sequence of events. In the 1st account, God created vegetation earlier than people, but in the 2nd account, Lord God created man first, then vegetation, and at last Lord God created animals and woman. I think the 2nd account shows a predominance of men over women.
To sum up, there are mainly five differences discussed above. I like the first account better because I think creation is a serious thing and there should be lots of forethought.
English Bibles can sometimes be confusing in terms of their treatment of the divine name, and various websites often make mistakes about this question. In general, 'adonai Yahweh (literally, "Lord Yahweh") would be translated as "Lord GOD", while Yahweh 'elohim (literally Yahweh God) would be translated "LORD God". Confusing? ;-)
ReplyDeleteAs for your post itself, it is well-written and organized, and you understand the essential differences between the two accounts. Well done!
Thank you!
ReplyDeleteDifferent names of God are a little confusing:)