The book of Genesis “begins at the beginning,” as they say, yet it actually begins with two beginnings. Genesis 1:1–2:3 and Genesis 2:4–25 clearly stand as two structurally independent units separated by the “generations” (תולדות, toledoth) formula in Genesis 2:4. (Unlike many interpreters, I take the formula to function here as it does everywhere else in Genesis: as the beginning, not the end, of a unit.)
In some circles (expanding the farther back you go), Genesis 1:1–2:3 bears the name Hexaemeron, referring to the six days of creative activity narrated therein. The Hexaemeron views creation on a cosmic (we might say “planetary,” though this distinction would hold far less significance in an ancient Near Eastern context) scale. Genesis 2:4–25, on the other hand, focuses the camera close-up on individual human beings, who reside—at first—in a garden in Eden. Thanks to the ancient Greek translation(s) of Genesis, names given to this second (in canonical sequence) creation story usually contain the word “paradise” (with somewhat misleading connotations in English, since Greek παράδεισος, paradeisos, cognate with Hebrew פרדס, pardes, and surely deriving from an Old Persian ancestor, need not carry the connotations of bliss and perfection normally associated with the English word “paradise”).
In the Tanakh itself, the paradise narrative does not enjoy star billing. At most, one other text from the Tanakh—one of Ezekiel’s oracles against Tyre—clearly refers or alludes to the paradise narrative (and whether Ezekiel refers to the biblical paradise narrative or to another closely-related tradition remains up for debate). The Hexaemeron, however—while not going by that name within the Tanakh, of course—echoes repeatedly in the Tanakh, with passages from Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah (to cite but four books, without prejudice toward other examples) using similar language to describe God’s creative activity. Apparently, the writers of other biblical books found more resonance in the Hexaemeron account (in whatever form it existed for them) than in the paradise account.
What about for you? Which of these two stories—the Hexaemeron and the paradise narrative—do you find more personally meaningful?