Priestly Creation Story (1:1-2:4a)

  1. Priestly Creation Story (1:1-2:4a)The Priestly creation story opens with an earth that was "shapeless and void." This world was dominated by vast depths of ominous and unruly water. Into the watery wilderness God injected his voice and created life, along with the means to sustain it. First came light, then the firmament to control the waters, then land and vegetation to sustain life. In succession God created birds, fish, terrestrial animals, and human beings.

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Separation of Land and Water, by Michelangelo (1475-1564) The work of God in the Priestly account of creation consisted both of calling elements into being and separating one element from another: darkness from light, water above the earth from water below the earth, and sea from land. 1512, Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome -- ChristusRex

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    The individual creative acts are spread out over six days and culminate with the creation of human beings as the image of God. God gave them charge of his entire realm, both to care for and utilize it. On the seventh day, later termed the Sabbath, God ceased creating and reflected with satisfaction that everything was very good.     The account of creation in the Priestly document is structured symmetrically. The distribution of the separate creative acts into six 24-hour days was a deliberate scheme utilized by the Priestly writer. Organizing the activities in this way implies that God's design had rhythm and intentionality. The world that humanity inherited was well-formed. A hint of artificiality is evident in that there are eight discrete creating acts, yet they are contained within a six day structure. Additionally, this six-day structure is symmetrically bracketed by day zero representing primeval chaos and day seven representing cosmic order.
   Table 1.1 clarifies the structure. Notice especially the obvious connection between the environments created on the first three days and the creatures made to inhabit them on the last three days. Each living being has its place within the structure. Also noteworthy is that humanity stands as the culmination of all God's acts, and in some sense as their goal. God ceased making new things after he made man and woman.

Table 1.1 Bilateral Symmetry of Genesis 1

Day	Environment	Day	Inhabitant
1	Light	4	Sun, Moon, Stars
2	Sky and Sea	5	Birds and Fish
3a	Dry Land	6a	Land animals
3b	Vegetation	6b	Humanity

 The Priestly creation story uses repetitious phrases to order the events of creation into six days. For a list of the repeated words and phrases that provide the structure of Genesis 1:1-2:3 see Table 1.A Repetitions in the Priestly creation account.

Priestly Source. As the term priestly indicates, the authors responsible for this account were priests. In addition to being spiritual leaders they were concerned with ritual matters, including Sabbath rules and food laws. These concerns are implicit in the creation story, with its seven-day structure and clear distinctions of types of animals. The cadence is so repetitious that some have classified Genesis 1 a liturgy, that is, a text used in formal temple worship.