The third and sixth day have a second creative act. Note the chiastic arrangement of the material in these special acts and the parallelism between them, see the figure below. The author arranges the description of each day as a chiasm. Each line in the chiasm is mated with a complementary line and the two lines are symmetrically arranged at the same distance from the center. The content of the third and sixth day chiasms share themes at similar lines, we turn our attention to where the themes differ.
The B♂︎ and B♀︎ lines record the complementary sexual nature of both plants and humanity. I refer to the B♂︎and B♀︎ lines collectively by dropping the subscript, eg B.
Some plants communicates their seed by scattering, while others contain their seed like fruited plants. The sexual property of the plant is presented and reiterated at both lines B and (lower) B in the day three chiasm.
The properties of the plant clearly correspond to those of humanity at B in the day six chiasm. Humanity is created as sexual complements. The male yields or sows his seed. The male’s seed scatters from him like a dandelion. The female envelops her seed. She contains it like a melon. Humanity’s seed resembles that found in plants. But sexuality is also a property of minnows, pigeons, and rodents, who are not described as being `like God.’
In the sixth day material, we expect that the opening B lines, would correspond in theme with those found at B. That is how chiasms function. However, instead, the material in B♂︎discusses humanity’s image bearing and likeness to God. While B♀︎ is concerned with dominion. Were it not for these category errors, we’d be treated to two elegant parallel chiasms.
Genesis showcases how words can be used to achieve multiple layers of meaning simultaneously. Words have nuance, they can be distorted, meaning can be subverted by amplifying some aspects of meaning while suppressing others. Words can be played with, they can be rhymed in both sound and meaning. When the serpent tempts humanity to be `like God’, the lure on his line appears to be something that humanity already has. The same words can be received to mean very different things depending on who pitches them. The author knows the serpent’s game because he plays it first. In these two chiasms from the Creation narrative we find an example of sophisticated word play.
Each of the terms translated `male’ and `female’ on day six is a homonym. One meaning of both words corresponds to a sex, male or female, while the other meanings match the corresponding chiastic element found in B♂︎ and B♀︎ .
Zakar (זכר) is the word translated as `male.’ This same term is also translated as `remember,’ like in Genesis 8:1 when God `remembers’ Noah. What is the relationship between these two uses? The memory or image of a man is held in the countenances and character of his children. The seed that grows into the child is delivered from the penis just as grain seed is scattered by the wind. It is the means by which the image of a man is preserved. As a child is the image of his father, humanity images God.
Nqebah (נקבה) is the word translated as female. It also means `to name.’ In scripture, naming is the privilege of the dominating member of a relationship. It is why Nebuchadnezzar renames Daniel and his companions when Judah goes into captivity. God parades the animals in front of the man and he names them in chapter 2. This is man obeying his charge to subdue and have dominion. This word is used six times in the Balaam episode.1 There, it is used in parallel with curse (ארר), which when used alone this term implies sterility. Balak, however seeks dominion over Israel, not just bounds on their multiplication.
By arranging the material with multiple levels of parallelism, the text communicates that humanity is like plants in terms of propagating seed. There are two types; one scatters its seed and one contains theirs. This is the surface meaning of the text. But the literary shape of the text demands that we abandon this surface meaning as the primary meaning. This meaning draws a correspondence with the day three chiasm. But it does not balance the day six chiasm.
If we burrow down one layer, we find that these same two terms describe humanity’s image bearing and ruling. We should even say that this is the primary meaning of these terms in the sixth day chiasm, because that meaning is reinforced by the ideas in B♂︎and B♀︎.
A. Let us make man
B♂︎ In our image and likeness
B♀︎ And let them have dominion
C. So God created man
D. In his image
D. In the image of God
C . He created him
B♂︎ a memory
B♀︎ and a subduer
A . He created them
We note that the single unmatched line between the third and sixth day chiasm is at line . This summarizing clause collapses the attribution of both qualities to both sexes. Zakar (זכר) doesn’t refer to how seed is disseminated, but to the image and likeness of humanity. On day six, the term Nqebah (נקבה) doesn’t refer to biology, but the function of rule and subduing. God creates both male and female, collective humanity, with these qualities.
Scott Fairbanks is a student of scripture. He lives in Corvallis, OR with his wife and three children. He has begun maintaining a website to contain his observations on scripture at: www.LoTechWonders.com.
- Numbers 22:11, 17 23:8, 13, 25, 27. ↩︎