So, then, the six “creation days” are not necessarily the first actual days of the universe; they are not even necessarily the first days of the earth itself. They are the days during which God set up the earth as the ideal place for human beings to live—to love God, to serve one another, to rule the world with wisdom and good will. As for the structure of Gen 2, I have already noted the functions of vv. 4–7. I further observe that vv. 10–14 provide a kind of aside with no storyline events, describing