The opening words of the second account of creation, which begins
in the fourth verse of the second chapter of Genesis, imply that
the earth and the heavens have already been created.
"In the day that Jehovah made earth and heaven, no plant of the
field was yet on the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung
up, for Jehovah had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there
was no man to till the ground; but a mist used to rise from the
earth and water the whole face of the ground."
It is possible that here only a part of the original story is
preserved. What is the order in the story of creation found in
this second chapter? The method of man's creation?
According to this account, the tree of life was planted in the
garden that man, while he lived there, might enjoy immortality.
Was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil placed in the garden
to develop man's moral nature by temptation or merely to inculcate
obedience?
The love between the sexes is apparently implanted in all living
beings primarily for the conservation of the species, but the early
prophet also recognized clearly the broader intellectual and moral
aspects of the relation. "It is not good for man to be alone" were
the significant words of Jehovah. Hence animals, birds, and, last
of all, woman, were created to meet man's innate social needs.
Man's words on seeing woman were:
"This, now, is bone of my bone
And flesh of my flesh.
This one shall be called woman,
For from man was she taken."
What fundamental explanation is here given of the institution of
marriage? Compare Jesus' confirmation of this teaching in Matthew
19:4-5:
"And he answered and said, Have ye not read, that he who made them
from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this
cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to
his wife: and the two shall become one flesh?"