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Why are women created twice?

Is woman created twice? :)

Gen 1:27 says:
And God proceeded to create man in his image, in God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

In Gen 2:18 we see that Adam is on his own again. What happened to Adam's first wife? :)

Followed by, Gen 2:22, where God now makes woman out of a rib.
 

Breathe

Hostis humani generis
Good question, I have no idea, but a few possibilities as to why, but they are by no means likely or logical, just thought I'd throw them your way.

Adam and Lillith (Adam's first wife in Jewish Folklore (if I remember right), from Alphabet of Ben Sira)? :D

If one is going by a literal creation story (I don't, since I'm neither Christian nor Jewish), perhaps 1:27 is an explanation of the fact they are both created in God's image and not as they happened?


Or, as we know it today: it's just a story and didn't happen anyway, although in ancient days people may not have seen it like that.

I'll finish off with a quote, but I don't know where it is from, any help finding the author would be great:

"The first woman was created from the rib of a man. She was not made from his head to top him, nor from his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal to him."



Oh, and welcome to RF. :)
 

Madhuri

RF Goddess
Staff member
Premium Member
I actually thought the passages say that man is made in 'our' image. But I'm no Bible expert and don't feel like researching in this moment.
 
Is woman created twice?
Gen 1:27 says:
And God proceeded to create man in his image, in God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

In Gen 2:18 we see that Adam is on his own again. What happened to Adam's first wife?
Followed by, Gen 2:22, where God now makes woman out of a rib.
Actually, Genesis recounts the creation of both Adam and Eve twice, not just Eve. If we go back a few verses, we read the following in Genesis 2:7 -

“Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”

I have always understood the account of Genesis 1 to be a general overview of all creation. Then, in chapter 2, the writer goes back to describe in greater detail the manner in which man and woman were made. So, it's not that they were created twice, but that the first account is a general overview of the order in which God created everything, including man. The second account is a more detailed description of the way they were created, if that makes sense.
 

tumbleweed41

Resident Liberal Hippie
The Creation story can be broken down through literary style and certain word usage into two separate authors (or schools). The Priestly and the Jahwist. The two narratives were combined through bridge verses. The Jahwist narrative (Genesis 2) is thought to be older than the Priestly narrative (Genesis 1), both being written around the first millennium BCE. OT scholars believe they were combined into the narrative we know today around 450 BCE.
 

Levite

Higher and Higher
Is woman created twice? :)

Gen 1:27 says:
And God proceeded to create man in his image, in God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

In Gen 2:18 we see that Adam is on his own again. What happened to Adam's first wife? :)

Followed by, Gen 2:22, where God now makes woman out of a rib.

Tumbleweed is more or less correct about this. The first couple of chapters of Genesis are fusions of two ancient textual traditions. The elder is the E-text (that is, the text written by Elohists, the school of biblical authors who preferred to use the name Elohim in referring to God), and the later is J-text (for the Jehovist or Jahwist, the school of biblical authors who preferred to use the tetragrammaton, YHVH, to refer to God). Rather than replacing one creation narrative entirely with the other, they simply stapled them (figuratively) together, so that one follows the other.

But if you like a less academic answer, I might give you the ancient Kabbalistic (Jewish mystical) reading of the text, that the human being was originally created an androgyne: a creature both male and female, with two face, joined into one creature in the middle. The episode of forming the original human into two people, Adam and Eve, is what happens in the second chapter, when God realizes that an androgyne will not ultimately be a successful creature in making societies and reproducing itself, and so where the text says that God "took flesh from Adam's side," the true meaning is that God split the androgyne being into two in the middle, where their flesh was joined.
 

Venatoris

Active Member
God scrapped the first batch because they were just as stupid as men.
Unfortunately by increasing their intelligence on the second go round he made them all mildly schizophrenic.
 

Starsoul

Truth
I'll finish off with a quote, but I don't know where it is from, any help finding the author would be great:
"The first woman was created from the rib of a man. She was not made from his head to top him, nor from his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal to him."

That quote has derivations from the Islamic school of thought. There is a hadith regarding this.

The actual hadith (Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad SAWW pbuh)says:

"Accept my reminder, about treating women kindly, because women are made up out of a man's rib."

vol. VII Hadith No. 113.

The general meaning (by scholars) is that the rib is the protection of the heart. i.e. Woman represents the protection of man rather than the reverse, but for such protection to take place then man must protect woman in the first place. This is because if any harm reaches the rib (woman) then the heart is left unprotected.

The Prophet, upon him peace, said in that very same hadith: "Therefore, treat women kindly".
 

Zardoz

Wonderful Wizard
Premium Member
and in the same story light was created before the sun...

Light was created long before any sun ever existed, and it was the only thing that G-d created out of nothingness. (creatio ex nihilo) Care to guess what this event is called today?
 

Erebus

Well-Known Member
Is woman created twice? :)

Gen 1:27 says:
And God proceeded to create man in his image, in God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

In Gen 2:18 we see that Adam is on his own again. What happened to Adam's first wife? :)

Followed by, Gen 2:22, where God now makes woman out of a rib.

Not many Christians and Jews accept it, but among certain Satanists, Adam's first wife was called Lilith who was made from fire, while Adam was created from Earth. On the first day they were created they argued over who was above who until eventually Lilith left Eden and allied herself with the Demons of the wilderness.

I have no idea how much scriptural backing there is for this, but it makes a good story nonetheless ;)
 

tumbleweed41

Resident Liberal Hippie
Not many Christians and Jews accept it, but among certain Satanists, Adam's first wife was called Lilith who was made from fire, while Adam was created from Earth. On the first day they were created they argued over who was above who until eventually Lilith left Eden and allied herself with the Demons of the wilderness.

I have no idea how much scriptural backing there is for this, but it makes a good story nonetheless ;)
In Jewish folklore, from the 8th-10th Century Alphabet of Ben Sira onwards Lilith becomes Adam's first wife, who was created at the same time and from the same earth as Adam. This legend was greatly developed during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadic midrashim, the Zohar and Jewish mysticism.[3] In the 13th Century writings of Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob ha-Kohen, for example, Lilith left Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with archangel Samael.[4] The resulting Lilith legend is still commonly used as source material in modern culture, literature, occultism, fantasy and horror.
(Wiki)
[3] Tree of souls: the mythology of Judaism, By Howard Schwartz, page 218
[4] Samael & Lilith - Unexplained - IN SEARCH FOR TRUTH - RIN.RU
 

Thief

Rogue Theologian
From a thread I started...May of 09

Day One...Light
Day Two... Heaven
Day Three...everything that is green and bears seed.
Day Four...the seasons are set into order....the sun, moon, and stars
Day Five...everything that swims or flies.
Day Six...everything that walks...including Man

Obviously, there are some discussions to make about which items are out of order...some things need be in position before others.
But, we can do that portion later. For now, the list continues.

Day Seven...all is created...God rests...no more will be created.

Chapter Two.
God takes a man and places him into ideal living conditions.
His life is greatly extended, as the conditions allow it to be so.
Nothing will harm him. He is sheltered.

This isolated living is terminal.
Without a mate, the man is doomed to a solitary life.
A deep sleep is administered.
A rib is removed.
The rib is increased to full stature as a woman.

This is the basic structure of Scripture...Chapter One, and the intro of Chapter Two.

Chapter Two, is actually Day Eight.
The book doesn't say so.
But it should not have been needed to say so. It's obvious.
The Six Days of Creation are done. Day Seven...done.
What happens in Chapter Two is a separate event altogether.

Apparently...(and yes I can do this)...God is not yet...satisfied.
So He takes a man...which He made out of dust...and places Him into ideal living conditions.
The Man develops well...more so than his wandering counterparts...but his situation is confined solitude.
So he is given anesthesia, and his rib is taken. That's surgery.
The rib is increased to full stature. That's cloning.
That the clone will be female, is done in process. That's genetic engineering.
Adam was given his twin sister for a bride.
She looked like him....but not quite....no navel.

Obviously...the course of Man needed to be altered.
He was behaving too much like an animal.
 
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