We all think we understand the story of creation right? I thought I did! But then someone comes along and shares a perspective with you that blows your mind. That happened to me this week in my scripture class when my Professor introduced us to the biblical criticism of Phyllis Trible.
This is just one’s interpretation of the creation story but it is an intriguing one that I thought was well worth sharing! Trible argues that one must be careful with the language one uses to read the bible. Specifically she speaks about creation. She suggests that there is a play on words that is going on that because of problematic translations has been lost. ADAMAH in Hebrew means Earth, HA’ADAM means the Earth Creature, essentially this is an androgynous being. Not totally in our understanding of the word today but in a sense that one side was completely male and one side completely female but she does not use the word hermaphrodite because she claims it was not a combination of the two sexes it was completely both sexes.
In Genesis 2:22b God made “woman” ISHSHAH AND “man” ISH. Before this point sexuality was non-existent! That means “man” was not created first, but both were created at the same point in time. What we usually perceive as the creation of “woman” is truly the separation of man and woman from the original “Earth Creature” into two separate beings.
In essence EVERYTHING was “shared” by the two beings.
Another point of contention that Trible uses to support her theory is in the adjective used upon creation of the female being, ETZER. This word in Hebrew stands for both superior AND helper. The two translations would look as so: 1) God made man a helper or 2) God made man superior. Helper would imply equal partnership! Trible argues that “helper” is the more truthful translation. She goes on to support this concept with her conclusion that Song of Songs is the rest of the story of creation. The couple shares everything as the couple in Genesis and thus this is the completion and redemption of the fall in the creation story in Genesis.
As further support my professor personally added that there is a myth that exists in Greek mythology where by Zeus “separates” the one “creature” into two and thus they spend their entire lives trying to reunite, intimately with each other.
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4 comments:
If you look at the creation story as a metaphor for evolution, this makes sense, as single-sexed critters existed long before critters (like humans) with more than 1 sex. I think that this is the divine plan, backed up by God AND science. Cool, no?
Thanks for sharing!
To support what Sara said!!!
John Paul II would agree for the most part. Male is not created until the female is created and vice versa. Man means humanity not maleness. A lot of people make that mistake when the word man is used. Also to keep in mind that in the first creation account male and female are created together.
Female is the helper of male in that she completes the identity of the male and the male completes the identity of the female. They were made to be in a communion. That is the communion of persons. This communion is in the image of God because God is a communion of persons (Trinity). A male and female love is one and fruitful and so is the love of the male and female, it is one and fruitful.
Thanks Brian! That is great! We should start a joint theology blog! It could be a forum for sharing theological perspectives!!! Does that make us dorks?
Yes it does
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