EVOLUTION AND THE BIBLE 



or clay thus formed, God takes a portion and, working like 

 a skilled potter, molds the body of the man. In the same way, 

 after causing the earth to produce all sorts of trees, the divine 

 artisan molds all the beasts and birds out of the ground 

 (Gen. 2:9, 19). No mention is made of created causality in 

 the production of plants, animals, and man; the author simply 

 prescinds from such activity, and attributes the entire causality 

 to God. 



The clay figure now receives a unique gift. God "breathed 

 into his nostrils the breath of life." And the man begins to 

 breathe. Although the animals are also fashioned out of the 

 ground, Yahweh's gift of breath is mentioned only in the case 

 of man, thus indicating his superiority. This insufflation of 

 life-giving breath probably does not refer directly to the 

 infusion of the human soul; Israelites of the time seem to have 

 had no explicit notion of the spiritual nature of the soul or its 

 function as substantial form of the body. To the mind of all 

 ancient Orientals, life was closely associated with breathing. 

 Life is a gift of God; and so the author, desiring to show that 

 man owes his life to God, depicts God as breathing His own 

 life into the man. 



The name adam, by which the man is designated, is derived 

 from the soil, adamah. If we examine the text alone, apart 

 from context, we cannot determine whether the term adam 

 (man) is collective or particular. But when we turn to the later 

 section which speaks of the formation of Eve (Gen. 2 : 18-24), 

 we learn that the word adam refers to the first man, in opposi- 

 tion to the first woman. Hence adam in the seventh verse and 

 in the passage in which he is distinguished from the woman, 

 seems to indicate a male individual. At any rate, when we 

 come to the fourth and fifth chapters, adam becomes the 

 proper nam.e of the first man, Adam. 



Throughout the second chapter the most disconcerting 

 anthropomorphisms, clashing with the simple austerity of the 

 first chapter, confront us at every turn. In the first chapter 

 God commands; in the second He works. This rapid transition 

 from one conception to the other clearly indicates that the 

 author of Genesis does not mean us to take the entire narrative 

 literally, that he introduces these anthromorphic figures as 

 literary forms to make vivid and to support the basic lessons 



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