The Authorship of the first two chapters of genesis
... animals, being lower in rank in nature, are created before man: “And God said “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have domination over the fish of the sea, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”” (Genesis 1:26) On the other hand, in the second story God creates man first and then all other living creatures: “And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he could call them…” (Genesis 2:19) The lack of congruence between the two versions of the creation in the beginning of Genesis suggests that they are written by different authors. Another fact that questions the authorship of the first two chapters of Genesis is the difference in the way things are created. The first story describes how God “let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth…” (Genesis 1:20), while in the second story “every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air…” (Genesis 2:19) is created out of the ground. Moreover, in the first version of the creation of the world “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1:27), while in the second one he “formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life…” (Genesis 2:7) Therefore, from the above evidence for the different contents of the two stories, it can be concluded that they are the works of two different writers. The first two chapters of “The Creation and the Fall” have different styles and diction as well. The first part consists of simple and repetitive refrains like “and God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25) and “And God said” (Genesis 1...