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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 Genesis 2:7 and Ecclesiastes 12:7

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Ecclesiastes describes the end of human life using language that mirrors the creation of humanity in Genesis. Where Genesis depicts the first human being formed from the soil, Ecclesiastes speaks of the body returning to the dust it came from.

Passages

Genesis 2:7

Hebrew Bible
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.)
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Ecclesiastes 12:7

Hebrew Bible
5 and they are afraid of heights and the dangers in the street; the almond blossoms grow white, and the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caper berry shrivels up—because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the streets— 6 before the silver cord is removed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the well, or the water wheel is broken at the cistern— 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the life’s breath returns to God who gave it. 8 “Absolutely futile!” laments the Teacher, “All these things are futile!” 9 Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also taught knowledge to the people; he carefully evaluated and arranged many proverbs.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ecclesiastes

References

"... If we take Genesis 3:19 and Ecclesiastes 3:20, the first stage would be to identify whether “dust to dust” is a citation; the second whether its potential source is Genesis and whether Genesis was known to Qohelet’s audience; third, to identify thematic connections such as mortality and human origins which are important issues in both texts. The last stage would be to analyse other thematic elements in Genesis that might help us to establish a cognitive environment that enables us to arrive at a richer understanding of Ecclesiastes. As noted above, the diverse books of the Bible cite other biblical books in a variety of ways. It was also noted that establishing the existence of the citation, allusion or echo must be done with care. It will be argued below that Ecclesiastes reuses the language of Genesis 3 and 4 for its own ends. Lexicographic citations, the use of common words, are among the most difficult to substantiate and the reuse of relatively common words is insufficient to demonstrate dependency, though clusters of common language, such as we find in Ecclesiastes and Genesis, may be sufficient to demonstrate a link ..."
Ray Moxham, “Qohelet's Fall: The Use of Genesis 2–4 in the Book of Ecclesiastes” (MTh diss., University of Otago, 2015), 35–36.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 2:7 and Ecclesiastes 12:7

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