Abstract
AbstractThe two creation accounts are pervaded by the complementarities: time and space; humanity as in the image of God, and humanity as made of clay; humanity as ruling the earth, and humanity as serving the earth; the divinity as transcendent (Elohim), and the divinity as closer to earth (YHWH Elohim), and so on. Even in the first words (1:1; 2:4b):“In the beginningGodcreatedthe heavens and the earth.”“On the dayYHWH God madeearth and heavens.”each word or phrase of the second line involves a precise complementarity with the first. It reflects the first, but in a down‐to‐earth way. The two accounts do not warrant the reconstruction of two hypothetical sources (P and J, priestly and Yahwistic, as in the documentary theory). Rather, the two accounts form a diptych, a single harmonious picture that is true to the complexity of creation. The account of the creation of woman (2:18–23) counterbalances the misogynistic account of Hesiod.
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