A Partner In The World

Genesis 2:18-24

I was brought up in a Pentecostal home. Our view of religion was whatever the minister said it was. After all, their point of view was authoritative according to the words in the bible, right?

So, imagine my shock when I discovered there were actually two creation stories in the bible. Yes, I know, what the heck are you talking about? When I mentioned this to a group of youth at a church I served a few years ago they actually asked me, "Do you mean earth was created twice?"

It was a difficult idea for me to wrap my head around, but when my heart took over and allowed my mind to open enough to at least listen to what was being said I saw, without a doubt, that there were definitely two stories about the creation of the world. The first story, conveniently told in Genesis 1, talks about the way in which the world was created in a precise, ordered way, giving the Hebrew people the main reasons for following certain rules of the Law.

The second story, as told in (I bet you already guessed where it's told) Genesis 2 is a more poetic telling of a close relationship between God, humankind, and creation. Words such as partner and helper bring with it an image of God working with humankind to take care of our earth. Two other words, however, have been reason to bring division between humankind, and to an extent God; man and woman. It would seem that some people will use this passage as a reason to tell of God's intent for the male to be dominant over all things just as much as it is for the woman to be subservient as she is made last of all creation and comes from man's rib.

Nothing could be further from the truth. If we take a look at the story as told in Genesis 2 we see that man is created first and woman created last. When we look at the word used for man in the Hebrew, 'adam, we see that in a way it's a play on the word for dirt - 'adamah. In contrast the Hebrew word for woman is 'ishsha which literally translates as the opposite of man. A closer look at the two words also reveals that when 'ishsha is used as a pronoun the word defined isn't she, or her...it's every or each; 'adam does not have a pronoun form.

Could it be then that the creation of the opposite of the first created was a partner and helper who was not exactly like the first created, but someone that was an opposite but could still be compatible? Would it be fair to say that the creation of 'ishsha is a culmination of all things and all creation bringing to full circle all of God's creation? Could it be, then, that God's intent for us is to be in relationship with all of creation, all people, and with God?

Could it be?