Below is a table created by ChatGPT from the slide outline of Lecture 4 of Dr. Joel Baden’s course at BSA, given in Fall 2025. The slide is in his directory in DropBox.
Here’s a condensed comparison table drawn directly from Baden’s lecture outline that highlights the key differences in Genesis’ creation accounts and the Noah/flood stories. All wording is based on the uploaded outline.
These tables capture the core “doublets” critical scholars note: the two distinct creation narratives (Gen 1 vs. Gen 2) and the intertwined flood traditions (Priestly and Yahwist strands) as laid out in the lecture.
Genesis Creation Stories
Summary
Feature
Genesis 1
Genesis 2
Primordial state
Watery chaos
Dry, dusty earth
Order of creation
Animals before humans; man and woman created simultaneously
Man first, animals created after and for man; woman created second
Scope of humanity
Man rules whole earth
Man confined to the garden
Time span
Six days
One day
Scriptures
Feature
Genesis 1 (Priestly)
Genesis 2 (Yahwist)
Primordial state
“The earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters” (Gen 1:2)
“In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth… the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground” (Gen 2:4-7)
Order of creation
Light, firmament, land/vegetation, celestial bodies, fish/birds, animals, then “God created humankind in his image… male and female he created them” (Gen 1:1-31)
“The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground… then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone’… the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken from the man” (Gen 2:7,18-22)
Animals relative to humans
“God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind” before humans (Gen 1:24-27)
“Out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air” after the man (Gen 2:19)
Male & female
“Male and female he created them” simultaneously (Gen 1:27)
Woman created secondarily from the man’s rib (Gen 2:21-22)
Human domain
“Have dominion over the fish… birds… every living thing” (Gen 1:28)
Man placed “in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it” (Gen 2:15)
Time span
“There was evening and there was morning, the sixth day… thus the heavens and the earth were finished… and on the seventh day God rested” (Gen 1:31–2:3)
“In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens” (Gen 2:4) — one continuous day
Flood/Noah Stories
Element
Source 1 Details
Source 2 Details
Animals taken
Two of each, male and female (Gen 6:19–20)
Seven pairs of clean animals, two of unclean (Gen 7:2–3)
Reason for flood
Violence and corruption (Gen 6:11–13)
Same basic reason but told in overlapping style
Duration of rain
40 days and nights (Gen 7:12,17)
Waters prevail 150 days (Gen 7:24)
Birds sent
Raven then dove (Gen 8:7–8)
Dove sent three times (Gen 8:8–12)
Covenant
God promises never again to destroy all flesh by flood (Gen 8:21; 9:11,15)
Rainbow set as sign of covenant (Gen 9:13–17)
Scriptures
Element
Source 1 Details
Source 2 Details
Animals taken
“Of all that lives… two of every kind… male and female” (Gen 6:19-20; 7:15-16)
“Of every clean animal you shall take seven pairs… and of every animal that is not clean, two” (Gen 7:2-3)
Reason for flood
“The earth was corrupt in God’s sight… filled with violence” (Gen 6:11-13)
Parallel narrative repeats same charge (Gen 6:5-7)
Duration of rain
“The rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights” (Gen 7:12,17)
“The waters swelled on the earth one hundred and fifty days” (Gen 7:24)
Birds sent
“He sent out the raven… then he sent out the dove” (Gen 8:7-8)
“He waited another seven days… the dove came back… with a freshly plucked olive leaf… he waited another seven days and sent out the dove, and it did not return” (Gen 8:10-12)
Covenant
“Never again will I curse the ground because of humankind” (Gen 8:21)
“I will establish my covenant with you… never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood… I have set my bow in the clouds” (Gen 9:11-17)
