EVOLUTION AND THE BIBLE 



from a pair of lungs. On the other hand, the man is not 

 represented as a product of evolutionary forces. We should 

 be misreading the text if we placed excessive stress on the 

 earthly origin of the man's body; the emphasis is on its divine 

 origin. All that makes this favored being a living man comes 

 from God. He has a special relation to the earth, it is true, 

 for he dominates it. He also has a special relation to God, for 

 he is made to God's image. 



As seems clear, the sacred author did not intend to set 

 down a history of man's origins chronologically arranged. 

 Rather, he drew on existing ancient traditions familiar to him, 

 and from them adapted some elements as literary forms to 

 impart to simple minds a number of religious truths known 

 ultimately from revelation. 



D. Second Account: Origin o[ the First Woman 



The story of human origins is interrupted by the insertion 

 of the passage about the garden of Eden. In spite of all the 

 rich gifts received from God and the beautiful vegetation of 

 the garden, the man still lacked something. He was lonely. 

 He possessed certain physical and psychological characteristics 

 that required the companionship of another individual of his 

 own kind. God fully understood the predicament in which the 

 m.an found himself, and so, seeing that this solitude was not 

 good, decided to create another being equal to him. 



Though God was aware of the man's state of mind. He 

 postponed creation of the desired associate by proceeding to 

 form from the earth all the animals and birds, which He led 

 in parade before the man that the latter might assign names 

 to them. But sadness continued to assail the man, because he 

 could not find among all the animals of Paradise one that was 

 like him; not one of them met the yearnings of his heart. 



God, who had created all things good, could not allow a 

 desire that came from the man's nature to be thwarted. "The 

 Lord God cast the man into a deep sleep and, while he slept, 

 took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And 

 the rib which the Lord God took from the man. He made into 

 a woman, and brought her to him" (Gen. 2 : 21 f.). 



This account of the creation of the woman has always 

 baffled commentators and still annoys many of them. In des- 



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