CHAPTER XIII.
TWO COSMOGONIES OF GENESIS.
A stereotyped claim of Bible believers is this: “The account of creation given in Genesis is in harmony with the accepted teachings of science.” But which account? In the opening chapters of Genesis are presented two ancient poems, written by different authors. The first comprises the first chapter and the first three verses of the second chapter; the second comprises the remainder of the second chapter. Each poem contains a cosmogony. But neither of them agrees with the demonstrated truths of science. Above all, they do not agree with each other. The points of disagreement are many, chief of which are the following:
1.
In the first cosmogony the appellation of Deity is uniformly “Elohim” (the gods), translated “God.” This term occurs thirty-five times.
In the second, the appellation of Deity is uniformly “Jehovah (Yahweh) Elohim,” translated “Lord God.” This term occurs eleven times.
The first belongs to the Priestly code, the second to the Jehovistic document. They represent different schools of Jewish thought and different periods of Jewish history.