Creation story (Yahwist)

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The creation story of the Yahwist is the second, but probably older, of the two different creation stories of Genesis in the Bible text . It includes the text Gen 2,4b – 25  EU . In the Bible text, the so-called priestly written creation story , Gen 1,1–2,4a  EU, precedes.

The quotations in this article are taken from the standard translation (text: EU ).

Older dating attempts

The term Yahwist was used by historical-critical biblical studies to designate one of the presumed source writings that could be explored in the five books of Moses using an editorial method. The traditional dating of Gen 2,4b – 25  EU was: the text was around the 10th century BC. Was written down, probably by a theologian at King Solomon's court . Werner H. Schmidt , one of the prominent representatives of the newer document hypothesis , had justified the dating of the Yahwist in the "heyday of Solomon" as follows:

  • There is an inner closeness to the stories of David's rise and succession to the throne (1. Sam 16 - 1. Kings 2);
  • The Yahwist is interested in the neighboring peoples who were politically relevant in the era of David and Solomon;
  • The story of Noah the winegrower (Gen 9, 18-25) with the submission of Canaan to the rule of Shem fits exactly to the Davidic empire .

Today the dating of the “Yahwist” (this name is used to denote various literary greats) in the early royal period has been abandoned because the image that researched from the 10th century BC. Does not fit the texts that are attributed to the Yahwist (example: sole worship of YHWH s).

Author's question

Since everything is at hand with regard to the Yahwist in current research, the context of Gen 2,4b – 25  EU is limited to prehistory (Gen 1–11), which has a certain independence within the Pentateuch. Jan Christian Gertz sees here a pre-priestly story of creation and the flood, which ended with Gen 8: 20–22 and was revised by a post-priestly editorial team. The actual paradise story of the “wisdom narrator” comprised the text Gen 2,4b – 3,24. The interest in good, life-promoting action and thus the question of the possibility of a successful life despite experiences of ambivalence are typically wisdom. The author is familiar with the educational assets of neighboring cultures. He can perhaps be thought of as a scribe at the court of King Manasseh of Judah.

Content characterization

The author relied on a number of stories that have been handed down in the vicinity of Israel: Among other things, the motifs of the life-giving Creator and the creation of a paradise are based on ideas of the ancient Orient. The text answers the question of the desert nomads who have settled in the cultivated land, who is to be venerated as lord of the fertile soil, namely YHWH .

In the Yahwist account of creation, anthropogony predominates , since at the beginning of this the world was already created and in the further course the human being and the history of his origins follows. In comparison to the priestly narrative of creation, the focus is more on creature and, subsequently, on the fallibility of man.

The creation

2.4 This is the story of how heaven and earth came into being when they were created. At the time when the Lord God made earth and heaven,
2.5 there were as yet no field bushes on the earth and no field plants were growing; for the LORD God had not yet let it rain on the earth, and there was still no man to work the earth;
2,6 But moisture rose up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.
2,7 Then the Lord GOD formed man from the dust of the earth, and breathed life into his nostrils. So man became a living being.
2,8 Then the Lord GOD laid a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man whom he had formed.
2,9 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground, desirable to look at and good to eat, but in the middle of the garden the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
2,10 A river springs from Eden, watering the garden; there it divides and becomes four main rivers.
2.11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is he who flows around the whole land of Hawaii, where there is gold.
2.12 The gold of that land is good; there are bdellium resin and carnelian stones .
2,13 The name of the second stream is Gihon; it is he who flows around the whole land of Kush .
2:14 The name of the third river is Tigris ; it is he who flows east of Assyria . The fourth stream is the Eufrat .
2.15 The LORD God took the man and made him abode in the garden of Eden to work and guard him.
2:16 Then the Lord GOD commanded man, You may eat of all the trees in the garden,
2,17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat; because the day you eat it you will die.
2:18 Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I want to give him help that is his equal.
2.19 The Lord God formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the sky, and brought them to man to see what he would name them. And as man called every living being, so should his name be.
2:20 Man gave names to all cattle, the birds of the sky, and all the beasts of the field. But he did not find help that was equal to man.
2,21 Then the Lord God caused the man to fall asleep deeply, and took one of his ribs and closed the place with flesh.
2.22 The Lord God built a woman out of the rib which he had taken from man, and brought her to man.
2.23 And the man said, This is finally bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh. She should be called a woman, for she was taken from man.
2.24 Therefore the man forsakes his father and mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
2.25 Both the man and his wife were naked, but they were not ashamed of one another.

Comparison with the creation account of the priestly scriptures in Genesis 1

The priestly and non-priestly creation stories are two independent narratives from the beginning of the world, which in their basic form (minus small adaptations) show no mutual knowledge or reference.

In the following, the two accounts of creation in the Book of Genesis are compared on the basis of various criteria:

Yahwist Priestly scripture
Time of origin traditionally around 900 BC BC, controversial today approx. 550 BC Chr.
Place of origin Israel Babylon (in exile) or after exile in Jerusalem
Original state Arable land, desert, dry land Emptiness, darkness, primeval flood
Duration 1 day / unclear 6 days
water invigorating, fertile Urflut, threatening (?)
Creation of man at the beginning a man, at the end a woman from the man's rib indefinite number, men and women at the same time, at the end of creation
human Man as farmer and guardian, then woman as help.

First body, then breath of life

Men and women as rulers over animals
Animals as opposite of humans should be used by people
Stars (no details) separate day and night, make calendars possible
Creation through the technical act Word and deed

literature

  • Jan Christian Gertz: The first book of Moses (Genesis). The prehistory Gen 1–11. (= ATD new) V&R, Göttingen 2018. ISBN 978-3-525-57055-5 .
  • Werner H. Schmidt: The creation story of the priestly scripture. On the transmission history of Gen 1,1-2,4a and 2,4b-3,24 . (= WMANT. Volume 17). Neukirchener Verlag, 3rd edition Neukirchen-Vluyn 1973. ISBN 3-7887-0054-8 .
  • Bernd Janowski:  Creation, Old Testament, content focus . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 7, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2004, Sp. 970-971.
  • Richard Friedli:  Creation, Models of Religious History . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 7, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2004, Sp. 967-970.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jörg Sieger: Two reports on the development of man. In: Private Homepage. March 15, 2011, accessed on September 18, 2018 (Sieger names the only source for his remarks: Alfons Deissler, Who are you, man? The answer of the Bible. Herder, Freiburg 1985. pp. 11-16.).
  2. ↑ a b Horst Heinemann: Creation. To prepare teaching projects in primary schools . In: Dieter Baltzer (Ed.): Teaching and learning with the Old Testament: Lesson plans for primary and secondary level I. A selection . 2nd Edition. LIT Verlag, Münster / Hamburg / London 2003, ISBN 3-8258-5542-2 , p. 3–5 (Heinemann's article was written as early as 1980. A section on page 4 deals with the Yahwist's account of creation).
  3. ↑ Werner H. Schmidt: Introduction to the Old Testament . 4th edition. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1989, p. 73-74 .
  4. ↑ Jan Christian Gertz (Ed.): Basic information Old Testament . 5th edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2016, p. 209 .
  5. ↑ Jan Christian Gertz: The first book of Mose (Genesis). The prehistory Gen 1–11 . S. 14-15 .
  6. ↑ Jan Christian Gertz: The first book of Mose (Genesis). The prehistory Gen 1–11 . Göttingen 2018, p. 16 .
  7. ↑ Werner H. Schmidt: The creation story of the priestly script. On the transmission history of Gen 1,1-2,4a and 2,4b-3,24 . 3. Edition. Neukirchen-Vluyn 1973, p. 196-197 .
  8. ↑ Bernd Janowski:  Creation, Old Testament, focus of content . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 7, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2004.
  9. ↑ Jan Christian Gertz: The first book of Mose (Genesis). The prehistory Gen 1–11 . Göttingen 2018, p. 12 .
  10. ↑ Werner H. Schmidt: Introduction to the Old Testament . 4th edition. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1989, p. 77 .
  11. ^ A b Sara Japhet : Image of God or Rib of Adam? The position of women according to biblical thinking in the view of the two accounts of creation . In: Manfred Oeming: Theology of the OT from the perspective of women . LIT, Münster 2002, p. 77.
  12. ↑ Gen 2.7  EU
  13. ↑ Gen 1.3  EU