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[Squid]

What are two examples of the significance of naming someone or something in these early chapters of Genesis 1-3?

[jimwalton]

Walton writes, "In the ancient world something existed when it had a function—a role to play. In Mesopotamia, one way to accomplish this was to name something, because a name designated a thing’s function or role. Thus, in the Babylonian Creation account, bringing the cosmos into existence begins 'when on high no name was given in heaven, nor below was the netherworld called by name… When no gods at all had been brought forth, none called by names, no destinies ordained, then were the gods formed.' In the earlier Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld, the first couple of lines read: 'After heaven had been moved away from earth, After earth had been separated from heaven, After the name of man had been fixed…'

"In Egyptian accounts existence was associated with something having been differentiated. The god Atum is conceptualized as the primordial monad—the singularity embodying all the potential of the cosmos, from whom all things were separated and thereby created. The Genesis account includes both of these concepts as God separates and names."

John Davis says, "In the ancient oriental view, the act of giving a name means, above all, the exercise of a sovereign right."

When Adam is ordained to name the animals, he is exercising his role as the image of God: exercising his sovereign right over the Earth and its creatures. He's not looking for a reproduction partner, but instead for a coworker in the task of maintaining sacred space (the Earth, and especially the Garden). The naming of the animals is part of that commission. In naming, a creative/order-bringing act, the roles of animals and their place in the ordered system are being identified. This is an ongoing task of humanity.

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