There is no denying that the creation accounts in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2/3 are different. In Genesis 1, God is Creator who, with great calculation and intentionality, creates all that there is in six days. In Genesis 2/3, the rhythm of the poetry seems to slow down to a crawl. Plants and greenery are not yet formed, and water seems to flood and recede from the earth as if the planet is breathing new life into existence. In Genesis 1, the focus is on humankind — both male and female — as presenting a comprehensive image of God. In Genesis 2, one human comes before the other and has to feel the pain of loneliness before God fashions for him an ezer, a deliverer, from his rib.
Some scholars claim that these are two accounts are different because they are based on a variety of source material. Others gloss over the differences and try to make the pieces work as if you can fit two puzzles (say, a 300-piece puzzle and a 1,000-piece puzzle) together to make a whole. I’ve always argued that the first account is a cosmic account, pulling back the camera with a wide-angle lens, whereas the second account hones in on the beauty of creation, in which the earth with its maternal nurture participates with God in providing the ingredients for creation. The two show that six days are not literal 24-hour days, but capture a lengthy process that evokes beauty, growth, and worship. The “Divine Worker, who is always patient, worked slowly then as He does now” (MaClaren, 2).
Debates aside, what is immediately recognizable is the difference we see of God. In Genesis 1, God seems to be a conductor, a bit aloof, a clockmaker hunched over his desk in the wee hours of night crafting everything just so. God speaks and things appear.
In Genesis 2/3, God fashions humanity, speaks in dialogue and debate, walks in cool evening breezes, instructs, searches, calls out, challenges, rebukes, weaves together clothing, and holds creation to account. God is personable, more of a pilgrim wandering through creation — a Grand Weaver or, in the words of one Rev. Nikki Hardeman, a Seamstress, who is an artist at work in her studio that is all of creation. God is anthropomorphic, that is, very human-like.
Restless Weaver, ever spinning threads of justice and shalom;
Dreaming patterns of creation where all creatures find a home;
Gathering up life’s varied fibers – every texture, every hue:
Grant us your creative vision, with us weave your world anew. (O. I. Cricket Harrison)
What I find most interesting is that it is this God, the anthropomorphic, meandering One, who must confront the downfall and sin of humanity. We don’t get the God from Genesis 1, looking to retool creation or put things back in order. Rather, we see humanity’s sin separating people from a very personable, and personal, God, who is as close to you as your spouse. It is this picture of God — which, I believe, is why Genesis 2 and 3 show God in this way — that reveals the depth of the hurt and deep divide that happens when God’s creation disobeys and sins against God.
When we walk away from God or choose not to have a personal relationship with God, it is not that we are offending a distant Clockmaker. Rather, we are striking the heart of a God who continues to weave, instruct, call, search, provide, and nurture. Our sin is personal and God takes it personally.
No wonder that God’s solution is to enter flesh by becoming one of us. Jesus is God’s face, God’s heart. Jesus is the extent to which God is willing to bridge the divide between Divine holiness and our sinfulness. We respond to this gift not by walking through life mechanically, following rules and improving our religiosity. We respond as God responds to us — We call on God, search for God, co-create and weave beloved community with God, respond, dialogue and debate, and take responsibility for getting to know God personally in our hearts through a process of discipleship.
So the next time you wrestle through the first three chapters of Genesis, don’t be disoriented by the details of creation so much as walk with God from cosmic Creator to personal Caretaker. Like camera angles that shift between two narratives, moving from a wide-angle lens to a focused take, we are called to move from the large story of sin and salvation and to focus in on how we make that salvation deeply personal in our relationship to Jesus Christ.
Source:
Alexander MaClaren, Exposition of the Holy Scripture, vol. 1 (New York: Goerge H. Doran Company, 1959).
Baptist Spirituality 