Probably every culture in history has had its myths about the creation of man. There are actually two in the Book of Genesis, although it is popularly believed that the two different stories are in some way describing the same creation event.
- Genesis 1:26-27 says that God simply spoke the first man and woman into existence on day six, as the last act of creation.
- The second creation account (Genesis 2:4b-25) does not really give us a timeline, but tells us that the first man, Adam, was created out of moist earth. After God made man he realised that man would need company (Genesis 2:18-19): "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air . . ." It seems to have taken God quite some time to realise that what Adam really needed for company was a woman. Depending on just how many species God is assumed to have created (after all, there are thousands of species that could be potential help meets for Adam), this could have been an extraordinarily long time. God then created Eve out of Adam's rib. The story goes on to speak of a forbidden fruit, and God's curse for eating this fruit.
An earlier Mesopotamian creation myth describes a woman being created in order to heal the first man's rib, from which the story of the creation of Eve seems to be a reversal. The story includes a forbidden fruit, and a curse for eating this fruit.
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