Genesis 1:1-2:4 The Whole Story

When studying the topic of creation, a lot of focus is put on Genesis chapter 1.  Chapter 1 ends with the evening and morning of the sixth day, which seems like a reasonable stopping point.  However, this chapter break is not part of the original text and it can make it difficult to actually determine where the first narrative of Genesis ends and the next begins.  However, we can, and should, turn to language experts for this.  We return to Interpreting Genesis One for this nugget of understanding: "The narrative finally ends with a "colophon," a statement that identifies a document's contents, which we generally put at the beginning of a book."  This refers to Genesis 2:4.

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven. (NASB)

These [are] births of the heavens and of the earth in their being prepared, in the day of Jehovah God's making earth and heavens; (YLT)

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. (ESV)

There is some disagreement among scholars as to whether Genesis 2:4 is a summary wrapping up the creation account that begins in Genesis 1 or whether it is an introduction to the story of Adam and Eve that follows.

Either way, Ages of Joy considers Genesis 2:4 to support the concept that the six days of creation represent six periods of time that are only like days, rather than being actual days.  Taken as a summary, Genesis 2:4 supports the idea that the creation week involved multiple generations, or beginnings.  This perspective is further developed in another post.

The phrase translated "these [are] births" (YLT) appears 10 times in Genesis 1 and are considered to provide the structure of the Book.  Is it necessary that all 10 occurrences must function the same way?  It's not clear.

The most similar phrase in the OT is in Numbers 3:1 harkening back to Numbers 1:1:

And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first of the second month, in the second year of their going out of the land of Egypt, saying: `Take ye up the sum of all the company of the sons of Israel by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names -- every male by their polls; (Numbers 1:1-2 YLT)

And these [are] births of Aaron and Moses, in the day of Jehovah's speaking with Moses in mount Sinai. (Numbers 3:1 YLT)

This structure supports the idea that Moses would use a phrase such as Numbers 3:1 or Genesis 2:4 to sum up the preceding section and possibly also as a continuation into the following section.  Since Mosaic authorship is attributed to both Genesis and Numbers, the connection is highly relevant.

I think this argument supports the concept that Genesis 2:4 summarize the creation week as a series of births and thus a development over signifiant amount of time.

Whether or not you agree this analysis, perhaps you agree that we want to know what the "whole story" is when we set out to understand it.  Knowing where a story starts and ends in of some importance.