A Comparative Analysis of the Yahwist and Priestly Traditions of the Creation Story

Traditionally, Moses is considered to be the single source of the written form of the Pentateuch. However, the identification of inconsistencies in the Pentateuch renders the notion of a single source incredible. For example, the use of two distinct names, Yahweh and Elohim, for God which are used in Genesis and the repetition of the story of Abraham telling a foreign king that Sarah, his wife, was in fact his sister indicates that the contemporary form of the Pentateuch was compiled from multiple sources. Indeed, the ancient Israelite historian had a bias toward the retention of multiple sources, despite contradictions among sources, because the inclusion of several parallel stories was considered superior to providing merely one, less complete, account in which variations are reconciled (Boadt 79). Thus, the final editors of the Pentateuch have retained two unique accounts of the creation story, the Yahwist (J) account and the Priestly (P) account. The Yahwist and Priestly sources complement each other because each source achieves a variant purpose, as reflected by the conditions contemporary to their composition. The overriding historical theme relevant to the Yahwist account is that it was composed during the Davidic monarchy. Consequently, the J source seeks to glorify the monarchy and the land of Judah. In contrast, the P source was composed in the period after the Babylonian Exile, a trauma where God seemed to be absent. Therefore, the post-Exilic community required a more powerful, yet more impersonal God.

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The Priestly and the Yahwist accounts of creation vary significantly. The Yahwist account was written during an age of optimism, strength and monarchy, and consequently allowed for a more personal relationship with God, an intimate relation evidenced by an apparently blessed Israel. The Priestly source, however, is written after Israel has endured much suffering, and consequently contains a God who is awesomely powerful, yet distinctly distant. The final editors, thus, have retained a story that relates both the magnificence of creation, and also the intimacy between God and his creation. Works Cited

Here is the order in the first (Genesis 1), the Priestly tradition:

Day 1: Sky, Earth, light Day 2: Water, both in ocean basins and above the sky(!) Day 3: Plants Day 4: Sun, Moon, stars (as calendrical and navigational aids) Day 5: Sea monsters (whales), fish, birds, land animals, creepy-crawlies (reptiles, insects, etc.) Day 6: Humans (apparently both sexes at the same time) Day 7: Nothing (the Gods took the first day off anyone ever did) Note that there are "days", "evenings", and "mornings" before the Sun was created. Here, the Deity is referred to as "Elohim", which is a plural, thus the literal translation, "the Gods". In this tale, the Gods seem satisfied with what they have done, saying after each step that "it was good". The second one (Genesis 2), the Yahwist tradition, goes: Earth and heavens (misty) Adam, the first man (on a desolate Earth) Plants Animals Eve, the first woman (from Adam's rib)

1. In the Beginning. The story of the people of Israel really begins with chapter 12 and the call to Abraham. The earlier chapters collect a variety of folk traditions about the beginning of things, bringing them into line with the religion of Israel as it had developed at the time of the writer. o 1.1 In the first chapter and the first few verses of the second, we have the "Priestly Code" source's account of creation. God here is the universal god that Israel had come to recognize by the time of the exile. 1.1.1 God's spirit moves over the water, as in Mesopotamian traditions, but the darkness of the deep is not his active opponent. 1.1.2 God puts "two great lights" in the sky--not named in the original as the Sun and Moon because these were objects of pagan worship. o 1.2 The second account of creation, in chapters 2 and 3, is from the Yahwist, writing in about 900 B.C. It is somewhat more primitive in conception. 1.2.1 God is an anthropomorphic being, walking in the garden. 1.2.2 Woman, created at the same time as man in Genesis 1.27 is seen in this account as a secondary creation. 1.2.3 Eating the apple from the tree threatens to make humanity god-like (v. 22). o 1.3 The story of Cain (chapter 4) assumes a developed civilization. Originally an account of the origin of the Kenites, a North Arabian tribe later associated with the Mt. Sinai revelation of Yahweh, it has been moved here by the Yahwist as a moral lesson. 1.3.1 It also begins the theme of the preference for younger sibling, carried through in many later stories (Isaac, Jacob, Rachel, Joseph, Solomon).

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1.4 The "Priestly" genealogy in chapter 5 is provided to connect the creation story of Chapter 1 with the story of the Flood. 1.5 The Flood story itself derives from Mesopotamian sources, though it is given a more moral twist here. Its aftermath, the following genealogies, and the story of the Tower of Babel (originally a Mesopotamian ziggarut) provide sources for the various peoples known to the Israelites. 1.5.1 The gigantic Nephilim mentioned in the opening verses of chapter 6 are legendary characters parallel to the Titans of Greek mythology.

2. Traditions of the Patriarchs. One major source of later Israelite tradition is the traditional notion of God as the patron deity of the tribe and its leader---the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. [The other major source, of course, is the devotion to Yahweh associated with the time in the desert and with the figure of Moses.] o 2.1 The God of Abraham. In the Yahwistic and later accounts, all of Israel is descended from Abraham and participates in his great Covenant with God [God's covenant with Noah included all humanity]. From a religious point of view, their view of Abraham is probably more important than any historical details. 2.1.1 Many historians, however, have doubted whether all of the later tribes of Israel were originally linked to the Abraham traditions. Some, in fact, have suggested that there was more than one Abraham. One seems especially connected with Haran in northern Mesopotamia. Another seems more connected with tribes on the Arabian penisula. Some have suggested that the name change in chapter 17 is somehow involved in reconciling separate traditions about originally separate figures. 2.1.2 Although later Israelite religion had a single center at Jerusalem, the Abraham traditions are associated with some other sites as well. Abraham, like the other patriarchs, is also pictured as being able to reconcile a devotion to his personal deity with acknowledging their identity with the Els worshipped in Canaan (though not the Baals). 2.1.2.1 Melchizedek, the priest-king of Salem (identified with Jerusalem) receives tithes from Abraham for El-Elyon (the God Most High) [14.20]. 2.1.2.2 In chapter 17, God reveals himself to Abraham as El Shaddai (either "God Almighty" or, likelier, "God of the Mountain"). 2.1.3 The Lot traditions (especially chapter 19, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah) may have been originally unconnected with Abraham.

2.1.4 The story of Ishmael (chapter 21) establishes a relationship between Israel and the desert Arabs. 2.1.5 The story of the sacrifice of Isaac (chapter 22) expresses Israel's rejection of child-sacrifice as practiced by some of their neighbors. 2.2 The God of Isaac. Isaac is a much less developed figure, shown mainly as Abraham's son and Jacob's father, a connecting link, possibly artificial. Though he takes his wife from northern Mesopotamia, his traditions may come from southern tribes. 2.3 The God of Jacob. Jacob is the patriarch most directly connected with the later tribes. He is described as their father and his "blessing" on them in chapter 49 is a collection of oracles about their eventual role in Palestine. 2.3.1 But like his grandfather, Jacob points in at least two directions. He takes his bride in Haran, but he is the rival brother of Esau of the Edomites, a southern group. Like Abraham, he has a name change (to "Israel" in chapter 35). 2.3.2 Like Abraham, Jacob is connected with a variety of shrines and lives at piece with El figures. Traditions about Bethel and Schechem seem especially important.