historical · Gen 2:4–25 · ✓ Approved

Reading Genesis 2:4–25 alongside Genesis 1: from Josephus and Philo to Keil, Driver and Skinner

Says Gen 2:4 begins אֵלֶּה תוֹלְדוֹת (’elleh toledot; BSB “This is the account”) “of the heavens and the earth”. From 2:4b God is named יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (YHWH ’Elohim, “the Lord God”), not “God” alone as in 1:1–2:3. It narrates man’s formation (2:7) before the animals (2:19) and the woman (2:21–22).

Josephus places man’s formation on the sixth day (Ant. 1.1.1); after the seventh day Moses “begins to talk philosophically” and retells it (Ant. 1.1.2). Philo distinguishes the man after the image (1:27), incorporeal, from the man moulded of clay in 2:7 (Opif. 134). Driver and Skinner hold the two-source view: 2:4b–3:24 is a distinct Jahwistic account, ordering creation differently. Driver marks 2:4a Priestly, closing chapter 1; Skinner, a later hand’s imitation of the Priestly formula. For the double name Driver reports the usual view that the compiler added “God”; Skinner ascribes it to editing, not the source. Keil holds that 2:4 heads what follows and that 2:5–25 is “not a second, complete and independent history of the creation”. He judges that the documentary hypothesis “does not suffice to explain” the double name, which he finds significant. See also xref.Gen.1.1.Gen.2.4.heb. These are their views.

Uncertain Whether 2:4a closes the first account or heads the second, and how 2:4b–25 relates to Genesis 1 (a fuller sixth-day account, for Josephus and Keil; a distinct subject, for Philo; or a second source, for Driver and Skinner), are open. No lean is taken, and this history of reading does not fix the meaning of 2:4–25.

Claims

SaysGen 2:4 begins אֵלֶּה תוֹלְדוֹת (BSB “This is the account”) of the heavens and the earth; from 2:4b God is named יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים, not Elohim alone as in 1:1–2:3; the narrative tells of man’s formation (2:7) before the animals are brought to him (2:19) and the woman is made (2:21–22).
UncertainWhether Gen 2:4a closes Gen 1 or heads Gen 2, and how 2:4b–25 relates to Genesis 1 (a fuller account of the sixth day, as in Josephus and Keil; a distinct subject, as in Philo’s reading; or a second, Jahwistic source, as Driver and Skinner hold), are open; no lean, and Josephus, Philo, Keil, Driver and Skinner do not fix 2:4–25.

Citations

BSB public domain Gen 2:4, 7, 19, 21–22
OSHB CC BY 4.0 Gen 2:4 (WLC/OSHB), cantillation removed
Josephus (Whiston) public domain Ant. 1.1.1 = 1.27–33, pp. 7–8 (n16–n17), and 1.1.2 = 1.34–36, p. 8 (n17) (Whiston, 1817, vol. 1); read on the page images; “begins to talk philosophically” quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Philo (Yonge) public domain Opif. 134 (Yonge, standard section numbers), read 2026-11-10; paraphrased
Keil–Delitzsch, Pentateuch 1 public domain Keil, Pentateuch vol. 1 (Clark, Martin trans., 1868): section heading “History of the Heavens and the Earth”, Chap. ii. 4–iv. 26, and on Gen 2:4, p. 70 (n73); on the divine names in 2:4–3:24, p. 72 (n75); on 2:5–25, p. 76 (n79); read on the page images; quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Driver, Genesis (Westminster) public domain Driver, Genesis (Westminster, 4th ed. 1905): on Gen 2:4a, p. 19 (n120); on 2:4b–5, p. 36 (n137); on 2:5–7, p. 37 (n138); read on the page images; paraphrased, not quoted
Skinner, Genesis (ICC) public domain Skinner, Genesis (ICC, 1910): on Gen 2:4a, pp. 39–41 (n140–n142); heading to 2:4b–3:24, p. 51 (n152); on 2:4b–7, p. 54 (n155); read on the page images; paraphrased, not quoted

Sources BSB public domain OSHB CC BY 4.0 Josephus (Whiston) public domain Philo (Yonge) public domain Keil–Delitzsch, Pentateuch 1 public domain Driver, Genesis (Westminster) public domain Skinner, Genesis (ICC) public domain Bible Scholarship & Tool CC BY 4.0

2026-11-10

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