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About this book

Genesis

About this book

The Seventh Day

Chapter 2

1 The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them.⁠ 2 By the seventh day God finished the work⁠ that he had been doing,⁠ and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing.⁠ 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.⁠

The Garden and the First Humans

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created—when the Lord God made the earth and heavens.⁠ 5 Now no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 Springs would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.⁠ 7 The Lord God formed the man⁠ from the soil of the ground⁠ and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,⁠ and the man became a living being.⁠ 8 The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden;⁠ and there he placed the man he had formed.⁠ 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food.⁠ (Now the tree of life⁠ and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil⁠ were in the middle of the orchard.)⁠ 10 Now a river flows from Eden⁠ to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams. 11 The name of the first is Pishon;⁠ it runs through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is pure; pearls and lapis lazuli are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is Gihon;⁠ it runs through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it.⁠ 16 Then the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”⁠ 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.⁠ I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.”⁠ 19 The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air.⁠ He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field,⁠ but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him was found.⁠ 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep, he took part of the man’s side and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man,⁠ and he brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;⁠ this one will be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”⁠ 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife,⁠ and they become one family.⁠ 25 The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Book of Opening the Mouth 10:7 and Genesis 2:15

Ancient Near East, Egyptian · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

The Egyptian Opening of the Mouth ritual ends with a priest placing the finished statue in its shrine. Genesis 2 has God place the newly made man in the garden of Eden, using a Hebrew verb used elsewhere for setting up images of gods in their shrines.

Passages

Book of Opening the Mouth 10:7

Ancient Near East, Egyptian · Opening of the Mouth Ritual
Then the Kher heb said: “O priest, place the statue in the Hetchet Shrine.” And when the Kher heb had opened the doors of the Hetchet, he said: “The doors of heaven are opened. The doors of the House of the God are thrown back wide. And the House is opened for its Lord. “Let me come forth [as] he shall come forth. Let me enter in [as] he shall enter in. O may the God enter into it!
1290–1279 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Book of Opening the Mouth

Genesis 2:15

Hebrew Bible
14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it. 16 Then the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

References

“... Similarly, in the wpt-r once the statue of the deceased (or its mummy) had been created, animated, clothed, and fed, it, too, was installed in the appropriate cultic context, the tomb shrine, where it would rest and reside forever in its “house of eternity.” The garden scenes in the tombs of Minnakhte and Rekhmire, mentioned above, beautifully depict this concluding episode of the Opening of the Mouth ritual. After Adam had been brought to life and granted full animation of all his senses in Genesis 2, “Yahweh Elohim installed the man (way-yanniḥēhû) in the garden to cultivate it and guard it.” In Genesis 2, there are two different verbs used to describe the man’s placement in the garden. In Gen 2:8, the generic śym, “to put, place,” appears. However, in Gen 2:15, the author uses the second Hiphil of nwḥ. [...] However, given the context, it is worth noting that the second Hiphil of nwḥ is used in several biblical texts to describe the installation of cultic implements and divine images. In 2 Chr 4:8, Solomon, “made ten tables and installed (way-yannaḥ) them in the temple.” More significantly, in 2 Kgs 17:29, the residents of Bethel are described as making (ʿōśîm) their own gods (ʾĕlōhāyw) and installing (way-yannîḥu) them in shrines on the Samarian high places. [...] Although inconclusive, given the cultic context of Genesis 2 we should at least consider the possibility that the author chose the second Hiphil of nwḥ in Gen 2:15 to indicate that Adam was not simply placed in the garden of Eden but that Yahweh installed him there in the office of royal caretaker and watchman, similar to the way a divine statue would have been installed in its own temple, as in the mīs pî pīt pî, or a statue or mummy would have been installed in its tomb, as in the wpt-r. ...”
Catherine L. McDowell, The Image of God in the Garden of Eden: The Creation of Humankind in Genesis 2:5–3:24 in Light of the mīs pî pīt pî and wpt-r Rituals of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, Siphrut: Literature and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures 15 (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015), 157–158.

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Book of Opening the Mouth 10:7 and Genesis 2:15

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