ABSTRACT
Genesis 2 is examined as a narrative that is particularly focused on human discovery-the man knowing who is his fit mate. Lexical, conceptual, and narratival analyses reveal six aspects to the man’s discovery of woman as his fit mate. In this primeval story, knowing is depicted as: social, prophetic, differentiated, embodied, participatory/revelatory, and ritualized. In the end, the man comes to know by participating in a process guided by YHWH Elohim aimed at discovery. In Genesis 3, knowing is also accomplished, but under the guidance of the serpent’s unauthenticated voice in the garden. Genesis then uses this story as a template for error with Abram and Sarai, Jacob and Rebekah, and beyond.
