God's Establishment of Order During Creation

Genesis 1-11 gives the accounts of God’s creation and recreation. It sounds very familiar to most of us, for we grew up hearing about it all the time. We have thought that it is a single creation story. However, the Hebrew Bible contains a few accounts of God’s creation. We will be looking further into the details of God’s creation story based on the given biblical texts: Isaiah 51:9, Job 9:4-14, Job 26:7-14, Job 38:1-11, Psalms 8:1-9, Psalms 74:12-17, Psalms 89:8-10, Psalms 104:1-9, Psalms 136:1-9, Proverbs 8:22-31.
 
Bandstra calls this pericope (Gen. 1-11) the Primeval Story, which consists of two parts: creation and recreation. The Primeval Story or Stories of Origins contain two narratives that are unrelated and different in their setting, characters, and plot. (Stanley, p. 205). According to the documentary hypothesis, one is called the Yahweh Elohim collection and the other the Elohim collection. (Bandstra, p. 75).  

 In reference to the two creation stories in Gen. 1:1—2:3 and 2:4-25, Bandstra states, “The first half of the Primeval Story contained two different versions of creation.  The first version was comprehensive in scope, giving account of the big moments of world creation yet also treating the creation of humans in God’s image. The second version makes only passing reference to the grand environment and dwells on human origination.” (Bandstra, p. 63). Therefore, we need to read the story behind the story in order to understand God’s creation of the universe.

Scrutinizing the given passages and Genesis 1-2 in comparison, I found more similarities than differences as listed below.

The similarities:

• God’s use of commanding and spoken words to create 
• Creation of heaven and earth, sun, moon and stars
• Setting boundaries of the earth; separating waters from the lands—water above and water beneath, stretching the vacuum to make the sky
• Humanity created in God's image and likeness to have dominion over all creation
• Creation of living creatures: animals, beasts of the field, wild beasts, fowls of the air, fish of the sea

The differences:

• The creation of Wisdom first and foremost
• The subjugation of mythical creatures (Rahab, Leviathan, dragon, flying serpent) 
• God putting chaos, disorder and darkness in control, and establishing order in the cosmos
• Humanity made slightly lesser than heavenly beings

 Here is my short alternate story of creation, using the differences found in the passages:

In the very beginning, God created Wisdom first (Prov. 8:22-31). Next, God encountered Rahab (Pride or Arrogance), Leviathan, dragon – the sea monsters, and the mythical beasts – causing chaos and disorder throughout the universe; armed with Wisdom, God defeated them all, struck them down, crushed and pierced them (Isa. 51:9; Job 9:13; Psa. 74:13; 89:10). He gathered clouds, sent wind and rain, and made lightning thunders to carry his message throughout the earth (Job 26:7-10; Prov. 8:27-29). God made humans slightly lesser than divine / heavenly beings (Psa. 8:4-7). God’s angels sang praise to him in unison, proclaiming the great wonders of his creation works when he established the order (Job 38:4-11). All was very good then.

This alternate story tells us about what happened during God’s creation. God armed with Wisdom (the first and foremost of God's creation) put the chaos and disorder under control and established the order of the universe. It also gives us information about some superpowers above and before the material world (the physical cosmos) was created. They are angels and other non-created beings such as Rahab, Leviathan, dragon, sea monsters, mythical beasts, who caused chaos and disorder during God’s creation. 

Therefore, I have quite a few questions concerning this story: How did these superpowers come into being? Had they coexisted with God before time? Or were they created some time in between? What about God’s angels? Was Yahweh Elohim of Israel finite or infinite for creation of all? I may not find all the answer to these, but I know that the creation stories in the Hebrew Bible are very interesting for us to read and tell people about our God the Creator of the heavens and the earth.


* Bibliography

Bandstra, Barry. Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2008.

Stanley, Christopher. The Hebrew Bible: A Comparative Approach. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2009.

Online Bible. Common English Bible (CEB) https://www.biblegateway.com