Day 13 Devotion – How many Creations were there?

And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. Genesis 2:18-20


Would it surprise you to know that theologians argue over how many creations there were? Do you only know of one? I mentioned in an earlier devotion the “Gap Theory” that believes the original creation was destroyed in a battle between God and Lucifer and the six days of creation are actually a re-creation. Some scholars say the description in Genesis 2 is so different from Genesis 1 that they must be different accounts. In Genesis 1 man and woman are mentioned together in creation but Genesis 2 paints a picture that some time passed between the creation of man and woman. This has led to a strange hypothesis that Adam had two wives. The story goes like this. Adam’s first wife from Genesis 1 was named Lilith and her and Adam had a big falling out so she left him and dwelt in caves. These caves were full of snakes that became her new family and she even interbred with them and became half-snake herself. Eve was then created to replace Lilith and this made Lilith jealous and she returned to Eden as the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve to cause their downfall and destruction. I promise I’m not pulling your leg here, this is a real hypthesis. Personally, one creation is satisfying enough for me.
I think it is noteworthy here that many scholars laugh at the Bible for claiming animals and humans were created from the ground. Evolution has caused this idea to sound preposterous. I find it amusing then that an environmental science textbook I have actually says that our bodies are remarkably similar to the composition of the soil and that as organisms die they are recycled into new ones through he soil. Sounds like Bible had the correct picture all along.