Yahwist Creation Story (2:4b-3:24)

2. Yahwist Creation Story (2:4b-3:24)According to the Yahwist creation story, the LORD God, YHWH Elohim in Hebrew, created the shape of a man out of clay and breathed life into him. This man cared for the garden of Eden and was allowed to eat from any tree except the tree of knowledge. When the man did not find fit companionship among the animals, God anaesthetized him and fashioned a woman out of one of his ribs. The man and woman were thus made companions matched to each other.
    The perfect harmony of the garden was shattered when the serpent appeared. This creature instigated Eve and Adam to disregard God's command not to eat from the tree of good and bad knowledge. Realizing their transgression Adam and Eve tried to hide their shame from God, but with no success. God placed curses on all of them, including the serpent, and then expelled Adam and Eve from Eden. The Yahwist creation story thus shapes an enduring morality tale of human craving, personal responsibility, and divine punishment for wrongdoing.

 Garden of Eden Gallery. The garden of Eden, especially Adam and Eve's disobedience, is the subject of many artistic renditions.

    The Yahwist creation story includes the separate creation of the man and the woman. The account of the first sin in the garden of Eden (3) is an integral part of this creation tale.

Source Analysis. The Yahwist story of creation is the first episode of the Yahwist narrative. Its stories of Genesis 1-11 establish the basic plot of the Primeval Story. They primarily focus on the growth of the human race, and they demonstrate how sin dogged that development. They are told by learned court scribes who wanted to account for the big issues: Where did we come from? To whom are we accountable? Where did sin come from? Why do we have to die?
    In the Yahwist creation account God is referred to as YHWH Elohim, translated "the LORD God." This designation is perhaps a deliberate literary and theological way of combining the name for God used by the Priestly source (Elohim), with its connotations of power, and the personal name of God used throughout the Yahwist source (YHWH).
    In Genesis the older Yahwist creation story follows the younger Priestly one, but the order makes sense if the ruling logic was to move from a comprehensive world picture to an intimate tale of the earliest humans living in a God-created world. The Yahwist account focuses on the first human couple.
    When comparing the two accounts one might notice that there are seeming inconsistencies, as when the creation of animals precedes the creation of humans in the first account, but follows the creation of the male in the second. Still, such tensions do not get in the way, and the Yahwist story effectively communicates the humanity of the earliest people: their desires, needs, aspirations, and transgressions.