Phyllis Trible's Interpretation Of The 2nd Story Of Genesis

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Phyllis Trible’s Interpretation of Genesis 2:18-25
Biblical scholar, Phyllis Trible gives an interpretation of Genesis 2:18-25 in her seminal work, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality. The interpretation that Trible gives in this work is one that runs counter to prevailing interpretations. Trible’s insights on the creation of women are different from the usual way the passage is read. Phyllis Trible’s unusual interpretation of the second story of creation is that when the first human being was created, it was not yet differentiated into man or woman.

Trible’s interpretation of the second chapter of Genesis is so unusual because it runs counter to prevailing interpretations. Most biblical scholars accept the way in which the Hebrew text has been translated. They accept that man was created first, and then woman was created from the rib of man. Prevailing interpretations say that woman was created in order to be a fit companion for man’s total being.

In Trible’s interpretation of the creation of human beings, she gives reasons to support that the first human created was neither male nor female. The first human was devoid of sex because sexuality wasn’t present until the second human was created. Apart from the reference to nostrils, no physical features are specified for the first human being. This creature is not identified sexually. Sexuality cannot be assumed after the creation of the first human being since it is not specifically differentiated until later in the chapter. Since sexuality doesn’t exist yet, the first human creation of God is not male; it is not the first man. A fit companion of the human was not found among the animals, so female and male distinction was created so that human beings could become “one flesh” together rather than being lonely and isolated.

Trible’s argument that the first human being was neither male nor female stems from the way in which the passage was...