Free The Lost World of Adam and Eve by John H. Walton Page A

may be other people (in the image of God) in Genesis 2–4, not just Adam and Eve and their family. That has certain advantages when reading Genesis 4. In Genesis 4, Cain has a wife (Gen 4:17). The option that he has married his sister has never been an attractive one, though many have embraced it as seemingly the only possibility. We also find that Cain fears that “whoever finds me will kill me” (Gen 4:14) when he is driven from the L ORD ’s presence. Who he is he afraid of? If he is driven away from the L ORD ’s presence, then he is also being driven away from his family. This suggests that there are people other than his family in the land. Finally, we note that Cain builds a city (Gen 4:17). The term city would not be appropriate unless it was a settlement of some size for many people. We would conclude then that the text actually implies that there are other people. 2 We then have to explore how such a reading of Genesis 2 would make sense. 3
    Genesis 2:4 serves as an introduction to the second account: “This is the account [ tōlĕdōt ] of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the L ORD God made the earth and the heavens.” The literary formula “this is the account of x ” occurs here and ten other times in the book of Genesis. It stands as one of the formal characteristics of the book. In all the other occurrences in the book, the x is the name of a person. The formula introduces either a narrative of that person’s sons or a genealogy of that person’s descendants. In other words, it tells about what came after that person (though it sometimes overlaps with the life of the person) and what developed from that person. In Genesis 2:4, it is not a person’s name. Using the same logic, we would conclude that the section being introduced is going to talk about what came after the creation of the heavens and the earth reported in the seven-day account and what developed from that. In other words, the nature of the introduction leads us to think of Genesis 2 as a sequel.
    That leads us to question what the usual relationship is between the texts on either side of the introductory formula. As can be seen from figure 2, most of the uses of the introduction transition to a sequel account; a few, however, do not.

Reference
Relation
Connection
Genesis 5:1
parallel/sequel
Cain → Seth
Genesis 6:9
sequel
Pre-flood condition → Noah
Genesis 10:1
sequel
Noah and sons → Table of nations
Genesis 11:10
recursive
Table of nations → Shem’s descendants
Genesis 11:27
sequel
Shem’s descendants → Terah/Abraham
Genesis 25:12
sequel
Abraham → Ishmael
Genesis 25:19
recursive
Ishmael → Isaac/Jacob
Genesis 36:1
sequel
Isaac/Jacob → Esau’s family
Genesis 36:9
sequel
Esau’s family → Esau’s line
Genesis 37:2
recursive
Esau’s line → Jacob’s family

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    Figure 2. Uses of the introductory formula in Genesis
    One example (Gen 5:1) has parallel genealogies that are joined by the introductory formula. Yet, Genesis 4:25-26 has already returned to Adam, so the introduction technically transitions between Adam and his descendants—a sequel relationship. Three of the examples (Gen 11:10; 25:19; 37:2) can be identified as recursive. In each of these, the section before the transition follows a family line deep into later history. The introductory formula then returns the reader to the other son in the family (the more important one) to tell his story. In these cases, the text does not feature parallel genealogies like the lines of Cain and Seth, and the text does not bring the reader into the middle of the previous story to give a more detailed account. There is no detailed elaboration even though there may be overlapping. The remaining six examples introduce sequel accounts.
    When we return to the relationship between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, we find that there is therefore no precedent by which to conclude that the introductory formula in Genesis 2:4 is bringing the reader back into the