This story has seven scenes that a change in actors, situations or activities identifies. [1] Moses constructed this section of Genesis in a chiastic (palistrophic, crossing) structure to focus attention on the central scene: the Fall. The preceding scenes lead up to the Fall, and the following scenes describe its consequences. [2][source]
AScene1 (narrative): God is the sole actor, and man is passive ( Genesis 2:4-17).BScene2 (narrative): God is the main actor, man plays a minor role, the woman and the animals are passive ( Genesis 2:18-25).CScene3 (dialogue): The snake and the woman converse ( Genesis 3:1-5).DScene4 (narrative): The man and the woman are primary ( Genesis 3:6-8).C"Scene5 (dialogue): God converses with the man and the woman ( Genesis 3:9-13).B"Scene6 (narrative): God is the main actor, man plays a minor role, the woman and the serpent are passive ( Genesis 3:14-21).A"Scene7 (narrative): God is the sole actor, and man is passive ( Genesis 3:22-24). [source][source][source]
The story of the Garden of Eden begins with a second, more detailed account of the creation of humankind that Moses gave as an introduction to the Fall and its consequences. [source][source][source]
"More light is shed on the relationship between Genesis 1and Genesis 2by a consideration of a literary structure that occurs throughout the entire book of Genesis: First, less important things are dealt with rapidly, and then the things more important to the central theme of the Bible are returned to and developed more fully." [3][source]
Note the following contrasts between the accounts of man"s creation. [source][source][source]Genesis 1:1-2:3 Genesis 2:4-25Name of GodElohim (Strong One)Yahweh (Covenant-keeping One)PurposeFacts of CreationGod"s relationship with human creaturesEmphasisThe world generallyHumankind specifically[source]
Moses identified Yahweh, the God who called Abraham ( Genesis 12:1) and the God who delivered Israel from Egypt ( Exodus 3:15), with Elohim, the God who created the cosmos. [4] The name "Jehovah" comes from combining the vowels of the Hebrew adonay ("lord") with the consonants of the Hebrew Yahweh (i.e, YHWH). [source][source][source]
"In Genesis 1 "elohim (God) refers to God"s transcendence over the world, while in Genesis 2-3 yhwh (LORD) speaks of God"s immanence with his elect. When the narrator combines the two names, he makes a bold assertion that the Creation God is the Lord of Israel"s history. Just as God ordered creation, he orders history. All is under God"s sovereign control, guaranteeing that Israel"s history will end in triumph, not in tragedy." [5][source]