How many stories of creation are in the Old Testament?

Answer 1

There are certainly three and possibly four creation stories in the Old Testament, however only the first two are complete.

The first creation story is in Genesis 1:1-2:4a (the first sentence of verse 2:4), and is creadited to an anonymous source now known as the Priestly Source. The second creation story is in Genesis 2:4b-20, and is credited to the Yahwist Source (J Source). Although very clearly two different stories, pious readers, believing that the text cannot contain contradictions, ignore the major disjunctions between the two creation stories and tend to treat the second story as the fuller, more detailed account of the creation of man that the first story simply reported. However, even a brief parallel reading shows that second creation story departs from the first in content, as well as tone, mood and orientation. The most immediately obvious difference is that in the first, man (both male and female) is created last of all, after all the other living creatures, whereas in the second story, Adam is created first, then all living creatures and finally Eve.

Some scholars believe that Genesis chapter 5 began a third creation story. It begins (Genesis 5:1-2) with what seems like a summary of the second creation story, except that he called both males and females 'Adam'. This apparent quirk can be explained by realising that the word 'Adam' simply means 'man' in Hebrew. God called them (male and female) 'man'. It continues, with no mention of either Cain or Abel, to tell us that Seth was the son of Adam, after which he begat sons and daughters. If in fact, this was a separate creation story, rather than simply a summary of the second creation story, then the coincidence of the name Seth means that it was not entirely independent of that story.

Fragments of another, more primitive creation story can be found in the Book of Job and the Book of Psalms. This includes mention of the battles that God had with the chaos monsters (Behemoth and Leviathan) at the time of creation, just as in other ancient Near Eastern creation stories.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

Answer 2

There are certainly three and possibly four creation stories in the Old Testament, however only the first two are complete.

The first creation story is in Genesis 1:1-2:4a (the first sentence of verse 2:4), and is creadited to an anonymous source now known as the Priestly Source. The second creation story is in Genesis 2:4b-20, and is credited to the Yahwist Source (J Source). Although very clearly two different stories, pious readers, believing that the text cannot contain contradictions, ignore the major disjunctions between the two creation stories and tend to treat the second story as the fuller, more detailed account of the creation of man that the first story simply reported. However, even a brief parallel reading shows that second creation story departs from the first in content, as well as tone, mood and orientation. The most immediately obvious difference is that in the first, man (both male and female) is created last of all, after all the other living creatures, whereas in the second story, Adam is created first, then all living creatures and finally Eve.

Some scholars believe that Genesis chapter 5 began a third creation story. It begins (Genesis 5:1-2) with what seems like a summary of the second creation story, except that he called both males and females 'Adam'. This apparent quirk can be explained by realising that the word 'Adam' simply means 'man' in Hebrew. God called them (male and female) 'man'. It continues, with no mention of either Cain or Abel, to tell us that Seth was the son of Adam, after which he begat sons and daughters. If in fact, this was a separate creation story, rather than simply a summary of the second creation story, then the coincidence of the name Seth means that it was not entirely independent of that story.

Fragments of another, more primitive creation story can be found in the Book of Job and the Book of Psalms. This includes mention of the battles that God had with the chaos monsters (Behemoth and Leviathan) at the time of creation, just as in other ancient Near Eastern creation stories.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

Answer 3

931.

Note: Different Sects of Christianity and Judaism have different books or lengths of books in their canon Bibles, as a result, the number above is only true in the case of one of these various versions.

Answer 4

According to tradition, there is only one Genesis creation-narrative, with ch.2 serving as an expansion of the brevity of ch.1, not a separate set of events (Rashi commentary, Gen.2:8).Other passages, such as Job ch.38 and Psalm 139 are lyrical, not intended to give full detail or recap the Creation in any precise order.

It may be noted that the same literary devices which the Torah employs to enrich its text, have been seized upon by "Bible-critics" in their ongoing attempts to undermine it. The Jewish sages, based on ancient tradition, identified many of these devices, which include:

recapping earlier brief passages to elucidate,

employing different names of God to signify His various attributes,

using apparent changes or redundancies to allude to additional unstated details,

speaking in the vernacular that was current during each era,

and many more. While Judaism has always seen the Torah as an intricate tapestry that nonetheless had one Divine source (Exodus 24:12), others such as Wellhausen (the father of modern Biblical-criticism, 1844-1918) attempted to artificially turn the Torah's text into its own undoing. This need not concern believers, since his claims have been debunked one by one, as Archaeology and other disciplines have demonstrated the integrity of the Torah. No fragments have ever been found that would prove his Documentary Hypothesis, which remains nothing more than an arbitrary claim, whose falsehood has been pointed out:

http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=6&article=1131(a Christian author)

http://www.whoreallywrotethebible.com/excerpts/chapter4-1.php

http://www.pearlmancta.com/BiblicalcriticswrongRShlomoCohen.htm

And see also the wider picture:

http://judaism.answers.com/hebrew/does-archaeology-support-the-hebrew-bible

Answer 5

there are 56 stories in the old testament