EVE IN CHAPTER ONE OF GENESIS

The first thing to be noticed is the seeming discrepancy between how Genesis 1 and Genesis 2-3 portray the creation of humanity. The heaven-focused first chapter of the Hebrew Bible (really, Gen 1-2:4a) is typically attributed to a Priestly author (or P), whereas the earth-focused creation myth in Gen 2:4b–3 is possibly an older account for literary and theological reasons. According to the P narrative, God created humans in his likeness (Gen 1:26). However, it is frequently used generically or collectively, as in Genesis 1, to denote a class of living beings, i.e., people. The word for humanity, adam, is grammatically masculine and can mean a male and even be the proper name Adam (rather than animals or God). Traditional translations translate it as "man," while more recent gender-sensitive translations now translate it as "humanity" or "humankind," which are inclusive words. Genesis 1's description of creation also includes the inclusiveness of Adam (humanity); The Bible uses the terms "male and female" (zakhar and neqevah, Gen. 1:27; also Gen. 5:2) to designate two biological (sexual) categories that include both humans and animals. It's common to view the simultaneous creation of male and female in God's likeness as proof of the equality of male and female in the original creation myth. The social relevance of these parallel biological categories is debatable, though. In any event, the Garden of Eden tale uses terminology for the two aspects of mankind that are substantially different from those found in Genesis 1.