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The Two Accounts Of Creation

It is a widely held belief in the scholarly community is that there are two creation stories in Genesis: the first creation story takes place in Genesis 1, while the second takes place in Genesis 2. The first creation account of man takes place on the sixth day and is as follows: "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on the earth.' And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and God said to them, 'Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth." (Genesis 1:26-28

The second account of creation explains that "the LORD God formed man from the dust of the earth. He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being." (Genesis 2:7) Genesis 2 then goes on to explain how God made the Garden of Eden. God also brought all the wild beasts and birds of the sky to Adam to name. Genesis also states that "for Adam no fitting helper was found. So the LORD God cast a deep sleep upon the man; and, while he slept, He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that spot. And the LORD God fashioned the rib that He had taken from the man into a woman; and He brought her to the man." (Genesis 2:20-22) The man then named the woman. "This one shall be called Woman" (Genesis 2:23) Genesis 2 then explains that this is why "a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh." (Genesis 2:24)
One distinctive feature of the stories is the names of the Creator God in each. The first refers to the Creator as God, or as Elohim (the plural majestic form of El) in Hebrew, while the second refers to the Creator as the LORD God, or YHWH, which is God's personal name in Hebrew. The first story does not use...