Berashit (Part 4) Genesis 1:1-6:8

To Be Like God?

As I have already noted in a previous blog, Genesis1 and Genesis2 oral narratives were created by different author(s), at different periods, and were stitched together by later editors who didn’t care about consistency or compatibility. I presented 10 different examples of such differences between Genesis 1:1-2:3 and Genesis 2:4-2:25 to clarify that position.

But there is another example of this that I didn’t note, and it is important enough to demand a posting of its own. It is rarely considered, by believers and non-believers because of the translations often used, and therefore misunderstood.

First, here is the verse from Genesis 1:26 –

“And Elohim said, ‘We will make man (‘adam’) in/by our image (tzelem), as to being like us (domeh): and they will have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the flying-things of the heavens, and over domesticated-beasts, and in the entire land, and over every creeping-thing that creeps upon the land.”

It should be noted that “image” or “tzelem” does not mean “a form that looks like us”, but rather, “a form that we see/imagine”. In Modern Hebrew, “tzelem” is used to represent a “photograph” – it is an image of something, and since I took the picture, it is my image.

It is the second part of this that is interesting. What does it mean to be like them? (Explaining “them” will require a blog post of its own! And no, there were no angels, nor was there Jesus!). The root used is “domeh”, which means “in the same way as us”, or as it is used here “like we are”. It can also mean “to resemble us”, and the inference seems to be based on powers, not on a physical appearance, since none is never indicated in the text.

So what did the Elohist author(s) consider it meant to be like Elohim?

The Elohist saw Elohim as not only all powerful, but dominating, with the ability to guide as well as destroy as He would see fit. Compare the two verses of Psalms: 14 and 53. It is the same Psalm, but in one, written by the Elohist, one should fear God. The other, written by the Yahwist, indicates that God will save. These are the two views that appear throughout the Tanach.

So too does Genesis 1:26 tell us that they would make man like them, to dominate all other creatures, and all things above, within, or upon the land, seas, or sky. To the Elohist, to be like God was to be all of these things.

But most importantly, Elohim wanted man to be like Him, just as He wanted man to be free to eat from any fruit-bearing tree that existed (Genesis 1:29).

Now let’s skip to Genesis2, where YHVH-Elohim not only forbids man to eat from a specific tree (Genesis 2:17), but later, explains to His team why man eating from that tree was undesirable by Them (Genesis 3:22) –

And YHVH-Elohim said, “Behold! The man has become like one of us, to know [the difference between] good and evil. And now [let Us exile him] lest he extend his hand and also take from the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever.”

To the intermediary Yahwist, being like God meant that one was able to make distinctions, to have an inherent knowledge of what was good and evil (which provides many other moral arguments). While Elohim wanted man to be like Him, a dominating force, YHVH-Elohim forbade man from becoming like Him, knowing the difference between what is good and what is evil.

These are not simply different views, but opposing ones.

And to hold that Genesis2 is simply and extension of Genesis1 is to deny the distinctions.