Is there another creation account in Genesis chapter 2?

Answer 1

Strictly speaking the second creation account begins in Genesis 2:4b (the second sentence of verse 2:4). This account is attributed to the anonymous source now known as the Yahwist Source, unlike the first creation account in Genesis 1:1-2:4a, which is attributed to the Priestly Source. The Yahwist account is more primitive that Priestly account, and is much older in Hebrew belief. It differs in many respects from the Priestly account, most noticeably in that here Adam was created before the other animals, whereas in the first chapter, man (both male and female) is specifically created after all the other animals.

Leon R. Kass (The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis) says that 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 (and woman) that the first story simply reported. This is very much an example of selective reading, since the differences are so considerable. The second story should be read on its own merits, without considering what is written in the first account.

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

Answer 2

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).

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 and 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 support 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