Distinct Characteristics in the Two Stories - Research Paper Example

The two stories, The Seven Days Story and The Garden of Eden Story, demonstrate different characteristics of God, man and creation. In one, he creates everything perfect; in the other he tests man by placing him under testing circumstances. He even subjects them to punishment, thereby being a judge. Nevertheless, he is the creator, savior, and ruler according to both the stories. Man behaves differently under different circumstances, is also revealed through the two stories. The Seven Days Story begins with, “In the beginning God…..when the earth was without form…” on each day God adds to his creation and each time He commands, “Let there be light…let there be firmament….” and so on. This shows God was in total command and is omnipotent as the creator. He just created living beings and everything else that would be required by man on earth. There were no restrictions imposed and left man to take care of the creation. In The Garden of Eden Story, “No wild plants exist, because God had not caused rain to fall upon the land” shows that God could use discrimination. God has the power but would use it when He thought best, while in the first story he just gave. In Garden of Eden Story, God proceeds to rectify the absence of cultivated plants by fashioning a man from the ground, (2:7) which shows that his creation was not perfect, as it required rectification while in The Seven Days Story, creation was perfect. It further reveals that the first man was a peasant responsible for tilling the ground (Yee). In the first story, when Robert Alter says, “When God began to create heaven and earth, and the earth then was welter and waste….” , the word ‘welter’ has significance. It signifies a state of chaos or a body of turbulent water (Ackroyd, 2005). This again demonstrates the difference in God’s characteristics in the two stories. In The Seven Days Story, His command can calm the turbulent water and make things perfect, while in The Garden of Eden Story, he rectifies His own creation. God prohibits the man under pain of death from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the center of the garden (Gen 2:17; 3:3). In The Garden of Eden Story, this clearly states that God expected man to commit mistakes. Desires and wants in man would distract him to commit mistakes and God would be the judge. He becomes the savior too, when man commits mistakes. He imposed restriction and punishment in case of failure, while in The Story of Seven Days, God says, “… and to every beast of the earth,…I have given every green plant for food." This is the perfect creation, leaving man with no wants and desires. Hence, He remains omnipotent and omniscient, where no law is required. Eating of the tree of knowledge would make man equal to God, interpret some. In reality, God did not want man to open the physical eyes which lead him to desires, wants and distraction. It is only when they could see through their physical eyes, did the realization dawn that they were ‘naked’. The consciousness of the body arises when we see through our eyes. Before their physical eyes opened, they could still understand and feel each other; Adam could understand that the woman was formed from his substance. This shows that God knew that physical eyes are not required. God wanted man to follow His instructions while on earth and fulfill what God wanted. In the first story, God did not leave any such options to man and everything was just perfect. “He rested on the seventh day…” in The Seven Days Story, shows God’s creation needed no further intervention and man was capable of taking care of it. In the second story, he tests man’s will power and resistance to give in to evil spirits in the form of the serpent, who misguide us in life. God is not just the creator of the certain aspects of the universe; He is the creator of the entire universe (Waltke, 1975). This is revealed in The Story of Gardens, when “God made the firmament, God separated light and darkness, God placed the heavenly bodies, God created sea creatures….” shows the omnipotent characteristics of God. God created ‘man and woman in his own image’ in The Seven Days Story while he created woman from the ribs of the man in The Garden of Eden. Even Adam is created from the dust of the ground. Adham in Hebrew means man and adhamaha means earth or mud. Hence, by naming him Adam, God wanted man to realize that he has come from mud and will merge into the earth once God’s wish on earth is fulfilled. Man is weak by nature is revealed in The Garden of Eden Story, when Eve gave in to the desire to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree. The serpent represents the Satan in human beings which always tries to take them away from the path designed by God. When man deviates from the chosen path, he falters, and then God comes as the savior. In The Seven Days Story, man is in the image of God, hence does not make mistakes, and silently fulfills God’s command. God ‘…rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done’. In this, God can rest while in The Garden of Eden Story, he has to be constantly the savior. The concept of sin in man started from the eating of the fruit from the forbidden tree. In The Seven Days Story, man does not think; he just acts on God’s command. In The Garden of Eden Story, man uses his intelligence. When human beings start using intelligence rather than follow instructions, they subject themselves to corruption and distraction. It also demonstrates what lack of faith can lead man to. When the serpent says, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil” (3:5), the words ‘you will be like God’ implies that man was not created in the image of God as in The Seven Days Story. Then, the fact that Eve tried to attain wisdom through the fruit of the forbidden tree but in turn was cursed, conveys the message that God alone is the creator, ruler and sustainer. He alone can empower man as in The Seven Days Story. If man thinks he can attain wisdom without God’s permission, it is a myth. Satan can only lead man to commit sin and away from God. In the first story there was just water in God’s creation but in The Garden of Eden Story, the river that flowed out of Eden to water the garden had four branches. These show the different directions in man can take in life and are swayed. In The Seven Days Story God leaves nothing for man to get distracted. Thus, it is evident that while God is the creator in both stories, he also acts as the ruler and savior in The Garden of Eden Story. Man is created in the image of God in The Seven Days Story while in The Garden of Eden Story he is created from the dust. Man functions as per God’s wish in the first story but follows Satan’s dictates in the second. Creation took place as God commanded in both the stories. In the first story, man had all that he would require but in the second story he needed help, for which woman was carved out of his ribs. Woman was not required in the first story, as God’s creation was self-sufficient. God, creation, and man in the two stories have distinct characteristics. References: Ackroyd P (2005), The Five Books of Moses by Robert Alter, 15 July 2006 Waltke B C (1975), The Creation Account in Genesis 1:1-3, Part IV: The Theology of Genesis 1, 15 July 2006 Yee G A (n.d.), GENDER, CLASS, AND THE SOCIAL-SCIENTIFIC, 15 July 2006 Read More