The God Squad: Genesis 1 and 2

Q: The "God Squad" column has meant so much to me through the years. The way you clearly address the thorniest questions is so helpful! I would appreciate your insight on a few questions that I have about the creation story. In Genesis 1 and 2 of the Bible there are two different versions of the story. Chapter 1 seems to say that God created humans, both male and female, at the same time. This seems to me to put the sexes on equal footing. However, Chapter 2 has man being created first, then woman created out of man's bone and flesh. What are your thoughts about these two very different versions? How did we end up with two? Thank you for your guidance. May God continue to bless you! – (From B in Annville, PA)

A: Dear B, thank you for your kind words and your careful reading of the biblical account of Creation — particularly the creation of people. The first and second chapters of Genesis (the first book of the Bible) do indeed seem to include two very different accounts of the creation as you indicated. The main difference, as you also rightly observe, seems to be the status of women.

In chapter 1, man and woman (unnamed) are made in the image of God out of red earth. In chapter two, the man, now named Adam, is made by God directly and the woman, named Eve, was also made by God but in a derivative way. She was created out of his rib.

Some have complained that the account in chapter 2 seems to indicate that men are more holy than women because they were made directly by God. This complaint seems to me a bit far-fetched. They are both created by God and one could argue that the creation of Eve from Adam’s rib reveals how closely intertwined male and female identities are at the very beginning.

However, there is no doubt that we have two different and substantially conflicting stories in Genesis. Academic scholars of the Bible who are not troubled by contradictions in the text the way religious scholars are, simply explain the contradiction by saying that these were two stories written by two different editors/authors of the Bible. One is the J source and the other is the E source. They are so named by their different preferences as to the name of God (Yahweh) or (Elohim).

The final editor of the Bible whom academic scholars call P (the priestly source) did not want to wipe out either story so they were both included, even though they contradicted each other.

Religious scholars who wrote midrashim (stories about the stories in the Bible) invented a bizarre story to reconcile the differences. It is the story of Lilith.

According to this midrash, which was finally codified in the 10th century, Genesis 1 and 2 are actually the stories of the creation of two different women. The woman created in Chapter 1 was named Lilith. She had long red hair (from the red earth) and was made to be the full equal of man by God. Unfortunately, the first man had problems accepting the equality of the sexes and so he would constantly argue with Lillith who had to constantly assert her equal status. Eventually, their bickering became so intense that Lilith flew away from Adam (oh, I forgot to tell you — Lilith had wings!).

God was upset with Adam and sent three angels, Senoi, Sansenoi, and Semangeloff (I think they now have a law firm in Manhattan) to try to convince Lilith to return to Adam and tried to convince Adam not to be such a chauvinist. Sadly, they failed in their mission and so God was forced to try another way. God created a second woman named Eve out of Adam’s rib. Adam falls in love with Eve whom he identifies as “bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.” Lilith remains a witch-like figure who seduces men and kills babies. Lilith also became a kind of symbol for religious feminism among women and men who try to this day to emancipate the biblical text from its patriarchal roots while also sanctifying the gender differences that religious folk do not want to fully erase.

The Legend of Lilith is psychologically complex and reveals how the effort to create spiritual harmony between the sexes was begun at the very beginning. And it all began with your question about Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2.

(Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including “Religion for Dummies,” co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman. Also, the new God Squad podcast is now available.)