I just started reading "The Book of Genesis Chapters 1-17" by Hamilton from the New International Commentary on the Old Testament series. Very interesting read so far. The author is discussing the ten occurances in Genesis of the Hebrew 'elleh toledot in Genesis, which translates as "this is the account of X" or "these are the descendants of X" depending on the context. The first occurance of 'elleh toldeot, Genesis 2:4, is the only one which does not reference a person - "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth". Apparently there is debate whether the statement refers to the verses AFTER the statement, or refers to Gen 1:1 - 2:3. The author argues in favor of the reference to verses after 2:4. The interesting part is he sees 1:1 - 2:3 and 2:4+ as two complementary stories of creation - the first focusing on man's divine origins, and the second focusing on man's mundane origins. Further he notes that the first story shows man as HAVING authority - as per Gen 1:29 "you shall" vs. the second story showing man UNDER authority - as per Gen 2:17. This further emphasizes the divine vs. mundane focus of each section.

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