Early Jewish readings of Genesis 2: Onqelos, Josephus, Philo and Jubilees

Says “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being” (Gen 2:7, BSB). The man names the animals, no suitable helper is found, and the woman is made from his rib (2:19–22).

Targum Onqelos renders “a living being” as לְרוּחַ מְמַלְלָא (“a speaking spirit”). Josephus says God put into man “a spirit and a soul,” that Adam means “red” because he was formed of red earth, and that the woman is called Issa (Ant. 1.1.2). Philo takes the man formed of earth as a mind not yet joined to the body, which would be earthly and corruptible had God not breathed into it real life (Leg. 1.32). Jubilees has the animals brought to Adam in the second week. Adam enters the garden after forty days and his wife on the eightieth, and the mother’s purification after childbirth is grounded in these numbers; the garden is “holier than all the earth besides” (Jub 3:1–13). For Jewish readings of Adam’s sin see note.historical.Rom.5.1-Rom.5.21.adam-second-temple; for Genesis 1, note.historical.Gen.1.1-Gen.1.31.early-jewish-readings. These are their views.

Uncertain These readings do not settle what “a living being” says of man’s make-up, the timing of 2:8–22, or whether the garden is presented as a sanctuary. No lean is taken, and this background does not fix the meaning of 2:7–22.