Chapter 2 Summary

In Genesis 1:1-25, God talks to himself as he creates the world and populates it with animals in five days; there are no people to hear him and if there are other divine beings on the scene, they are bystanders, not collaborators. God does not talk about himself or his motivation for the sudden action. Readers are eavesdroppers on his purposeful work, executed by command.

Gen. 1:26-31 then portrays God musing about creating man in his image and likeness before doing so. God made the world because he wanted humankind and wants humankind because he wants an image and he orders the male and female to reproduce and manage the earth. The male and female must be able to reproduce in order to be truly his image. There is no indication that he wants a servant, lover, or worshiper, simply an image. God...