Saturday, February 10, 2007

Genesis 2:23-25

23 The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman,'
for she was taken out of man."

24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.


Okay, I haven't posted for a while, and here's why. I had to let this project settle while my attitude adjusted. I know it gets better later on, but so far this book just has not been all that interesting, frankly. These are nothing but inane fables for children. Yes, it's embedded deeply in the culture, but there's nothing profound or wise or meaningful about it so far. It isn't even eloquent. That a large percentage of Americans believe that this gibberish is in any way literally true, or the divinely inspired word, is really frightening, and creepy.

The second creation myth reflects the patriarchal, male-dominated nature of ancient Hebrew society, and our own, which has only recently begun to change. So all it really has to offer us is a window into a world view that we very much need to leave behind.

In any event, in the verses above they've toned down the sexism a bit and introduced the institution of marriage, rather sweetly at that. The medieval monks who made the chapter divisions broke it in an odd place, I would say, so the next idea is introduced here in the last verse, but not developed until Chapter 3. Therefore I'll leave it alone until the next post.