In Hebrew poetry, antithetic parallelism frequently consists in saying the same thing positively and then again negatively. A good, yet simple example is found in John 1:3: In the first part, he says, "All things came into being through him". Very positive. Then, John says negatively what he had said positively in the first part of the verse: " And apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
You will find this sort of chiastic structure all throughout the Scriptures. Not only there, but also in much ancient secular writing.
In the Western world, we tend to thing of things linearly. A story has a beginning, a body, a climax, and an end. But, in ancient languages, without punctuation, etc., they would often use this sort of parallelistic poetry, and the stories are circular: A beginning, a body, a climax, the body in parallel contrast, back to the beginning. (This is a very simplistic explanation of chiasmus. If anyone's interested, I'll start a new thread on the subject.)
In fact, the creation account contains chiastic structures within chiastic structures. If the creation account is not poetry, nothing is!
The general construction of the creation account is set up like this:
A “He [God] created” (1:1b) [Reading the Hebrew, "he created" comes before "God", which makes little sense in English, so it's switched in English.]
B “God” (1:1b)
C “heavens and earth” (1:1b)
X FORMING AND FILLING OF THE EARTH (1:2-31)
C’ “heavens and earth” (2:1)
B’ “God” (2:2)
A’ “He [God] had made” (2:3)
Then, Genesis 2:4 makes a great conclusion:
A “heaven”
B “earth”
C “created”
C’ “made”
B’ “earth”
A’ “heaven”
Not only this, but there are seven 7's in this passage. "7" is the number of perfection or completion:
7 paragraphs: The arrangement of Genesis 1:1—2:3 consists of an introduction and seven paragraphs. The introduction identifies the Creator and creation (Gen. 1:1-2); six paragraphs corresponds to the six creation days (1:3-21). The seventh paragraph marks the climactic seventh day, the day of consecration (2:1-3).
Seven announcements of commandments. "God said" occurs 10 times, but it's grouped into 7 groups: (Gen. 1:3; 6; 1:9; 1:11; 1:14, 1:20;
1:24; 1:26, 28, 29). (10 is the number of testimony, law, and responsibility.) [I have a comment to make on the 10 here and the 8 below, if anyone's interested.]
The order formula: “Let there be . . .”, while occurring eight times, the formula
is grouped into seven (Gen. 1:3; 1:6, 9; 1:11; 1:14; 1:20; 1:24; 1:26).
The fulfillment formula: “And it was so” occurs seven times (Gen. 1:3; 1:7; 1:9;
1:11; 1:15; 1:24; 1:30).
The execution formula: “And God made” occurs seven times (Gen. 1:4; 1:7;
1:12; 1:16; 1:21; 1:25; 1:27).
The approval formula: “God saw that it was good” occurs seven times (Gen.
1:4; 1:10; 1:12; 1:18; 1:21; 1:25; 1:31).
The subsequent divine word: God’s naming or blessing occurs seven times
(Gen. 1:5; 1:8; 1:10; 1:22; 1:28).
Seven days affirmed: There are seven days mentioned (Gen. 1:5; 1:8; 1:13;
1:19; 1:23; 1:31; 2:2).
Even day four is poetic:
A “to divide the day from the night” (1:14a)
B “for signs, for fixed times, for days and years” (1:14b)
C “to give light on the earth (1:15)
D “to rule the day” (1:16a)
D’ “to rule the night (1:16b)
C’ “to give light on the earth” (1:17)
B’ “to rule the day and the night” (1:18a)
A’ “to divide the light from the darkness” (1:18b)
Klaus Potsch gives the following:
A Literary Structure of Genesis 1:1—2:25
by Klaus Potsch
a 1:1-3 bareness of matter
b 1:4-5 separation of light and darkness
c 1:6-8 separation of the waters above and the waters below
d 1:9-10 separation of dry land and the sea
e 1:11-13 fulfilling of the earth
f 1:14-19 filling of the sky with lights to govern and to measure time
g 1:20-23 filling of the waters below and the waters above with animals
h 1:24-25 filling the land with animals (living beings)
i 1:26 God's concept of mankind
j 1:27 creation of mankind, transfer of image
k 1:28 mankind's habitat - the earth
l 1:29-30 the basis of food for the living creatures
m 1:31 the heavens and earth made, day 6
n 2:1 God creation completed in content
o 2:2a God's creation completed in time
p 2:2b God rests on the 7th day
x 2:3a THE HOLY GOD BOTH BLESSES AND SANCTIFIES
p' 2:3b God rests on the 7th day
o' 2:3c God's works created and made
n' 2:4a the heavens and earth created (finished, completed)
m' 2:4b the heavens and earth made in a timespan
l' 2:5-6 basis for life in the garden plants, moisture
k' 2:7a man's origin = dust
j' 2:7b man's creation, transfer of life
i' 2:8 man's place = the garden
h' 2:9 filling the garden with plants (tree of life)
g' 2:10-14 filling the garden with water
f' 2:15-17 filling the garden with a caretaker + measure for good and evil
e' 2:18 fulfilling Adam's life
d' 2:19-20 separation (discerning, naming) of the animals
c' 2:21-23 separation of man and woman
b' 2:24 separation of parents and children
a' 2:25 bareness of man
