This overview is to provoke thought and provide information that scholars are studying.  This intellectual information should be used to understand the Bible, Christianity, and Hebrew literature/culture better.  This is not an overview that determines right or wrong, but provides perspective and different points of view.  Feel free to post your own comments and questions.

TITLE

The title Genesis comes to us from the Latin Vulgate (written by Jerome).  The Vulgate took its word from the Greek Septuagint (LXX), which best translated into English means “origin”.  Hebrew usage of the title is bere’sit, which is simply the initial phrase of the book “in the beginning”.  Other Hebrew manuscripts from the Middle Ages use titles like “First Book”, “Book of the Creation of the World”, “Book of the Righteous”, and “The Book of Creation”.

STRUCTURE

Hamilton writes, “Few books of Scripture reveal the lines of demarcation between their individual units as clearly as does Genesis” (pg. 2).  The units are broken into ten stories by the Hebraic formula ‘elleh toledot. This phrase is translated as “this is the story (or history) of…” or “these are the descendants (or generations) of…”.  Each one of the ten units starts with the phrase elleh toledot.

• _· 2:4a: “these are the generations of the heavens and the earth” (n)
• _· 5:1a: “these are the generations of Adam” (g)
• _· 6:9a: “these are the generations of Noah” (n)
• _· 10:1a: “these are the generations of the sons of Noah” (g)
• _· 11:10a: “these are the generations of Shem” (g)
• _· 11:27a: “these are the generations of Terah” (n)
• _· 25:12a: “these are the generations of Ishmael” (g)
• _· 25:19a: “these are the generations of Isaac” (n)
• _· 36:1a, 9a: “these are the generations of Esau” (g)
• _· 37:2a: “these are the generations of Jacob” (n)

Five of the ten are followed by narrative(n), and the other five are followed by genealogy(g).  The only unit that does not have a person’s name associated with it is the first one, which has “the heavens and the earth”.  It seems that the best reason for this is that Adam and Eve (man and woman) are viewed as offspring of the heavens and earth just as Seth would be the offspring of Adam (Hamilton pg. 5)

One will notice that Genesis 1:1-2:3 are not part of the ten units.  In fact, it seems that Gen. 1:1-2:3 is a type of creation account as well as Gen. 2:4-2:25.  We will explore reasons for this more in depth in the section on authorship.  But very quickly, the theory is that, both creation accounts were written by two different people.  Chapter 1 is referred to as the Priestly account and chapter 2 is referred to as the Yahwistic (Jahwistic) account.  One account is not more truthful than the other.  One without the other is incomplete – they compliment each other.  Each focuses on different aspects.

Another argument for this 10 unit breakdown (11 if you consider the opening of Genesis as it’s own unit, just not under the ‘elleh toledot structure) is the presence of colophons. A colophon is an inscription usually placed at the end of a book or manuscript and it usually contains facts relative to its production (Hamilton pg. 5).  Colophons exist in quite a few types of ancient literature – Near Eastern, cuneiform lit of Mesopotamia, Babylonian, Assyrian, Canaanite lit, etc… The Hebrew Bible has colophons as well.  In fact, each of our ten units in Genesis end with a vague type of colophon.  Not necessarily providing info on who authored each unit, but a type of summary statement to round of the writing and create a conclusion.  NOTE:  Colophons in Hebrew lit vary from other forms of literature in that sometimes they are used at the end of a story to introduce the next story i.e. Genesis 6:8-9 “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.  These are the records of the generations of Noah.”

Two other structural notes to make:

1. There are 3 distinct geographical settings in Genesis
   • Chapters 1-11 are set in Babylonia
   • Chapters 12-36 are set in Palestine
   • Chapters 37-50 are set in Egypt

1. There are 2 distinct main bodies of work in Genesis
   • Chs. 1-11 can be designated as Primeval History
   • Chs. 12-50 can be designated as Patriarchal History

Think of the broad main bodies in this way:  The first section (1-11) contains a narrative of increasing alienation from God.  The second narrative (12-50) starts the solution to the problem.  God forms a covenant with Abraham to bring reconciliation, redemption, and regeneration.

AUTHORSHIP

For the last 2000 years, there has been unity across the board as to the authorship of Genesis and the rest of the Pentateuch.  Simply put, Moses = author.

Recently, this accepted authorship has been challenged by an argument called JEDP THEORY. JEDP accepts that Moses authored parts of the Pentateuch and probably had a hand in collating.  Yes, the Pentateuch are the books of Moses (even Jesus and Paul talks about them as such), but that doesn’t necessarily point to complete written authorship by Moses.  His intricate work in being the oral author and part collator is enough to garner the title, “The Books of Moses”.  It is also argued that Moses did not compile the completed five books, but that it was finished after his death.  Many scholars believe Ezra was an instrumental figure in finishing up the grouping of texts.  The JEDP theory doesn’t take away from the idea that a lot of the Pentateuch is the words of Moses, just that they were put into written form later by other authors.

So what is JEDP?  These initials stand for what is believed are the four different authors of the Pentateuch.  This theory came about due to more information and ancient texts discovered over the years and analyzed.  One of the first people to speak forth this viewpoint was French physician Jean Astuc in 18^th century France.  Since his initial study and findings, over the last 200 years, many scholars have come to accept variations of this viewpoint with a consensus that looks like this: (Hamilton, pg. 14)

THE YAHWIST (J) – a Yahwistic or Jahwistic source written anonymously in Judah during the reign of Solomon (850-950 B.C.).  This source traces Israel’s history from it’s patriarchal beginnings to its preparations for entry into Canaan.  J is the symbol used because of the writer’s almost exclusive use of the term “Yahweh” in his writing.

THE ELOHIST (E) – also written anonymously in northern Israel around 850 B.C.  It covers substantially the same period of Israel’s history as J, but it starts with the Patriarchs and not with creation.  This author prefers to use the name “Elohim” for God is his writing.

DEUTERONOMY (D) – written down around 620 B.C. in northern Israel.  This writer wrote only Deuteronomy and nothing else in the Pentateuch.  This theory is based on the unique writing style only to the book of Deuteronomy.  The writer opens up the book with the words, “These are the words of Moses spoken to all of Israel…”

PRIESTLY WRITER (P) – thought to have been written around 550-450 B.C., and heavily concerned with chronological, liturgical, and genealogical matters.  At first, this writer was thought to have been the oldest of the 4, but a German scholar by the name of Wellhausen, who is one of the most highly regarded Genesis scholar, shifted the writing date from one of the oldest to one of the newest.  His thought was that this writer wrote after the Babylonian exile.  Unlike J and E, P is not concerned with presenting history as such, but with establishing the basis of Israel’s sacral institutions through their connection with history.

Some of the basis for this theory are as follows:

• The use of the different names for God by different authors
• The presence of duplications – some stories told twice (two creation accounts, two flood accounts, two accounts of God’s covenant with Abraham, two accounts of Jacob’s name change to Israel, three accounts of Joseph’s wife’s abduction, etc…
• The presence of anachronisms.  For instance, the fact that Abraham’s Ur is referred to as “Ur of the Chaldeans” The term Chaldean does not appear in Mesopotamia until long after the patriarchal period.  The list of Edomite kings in Genesis 36 is interesting because the Edomites did not settle in Transjordan before 13^th century B.C.
• The detection of distinctive literary styles or religious ideology within a section or unit….basically writing style.  P’s style is seen as more formal and repetitious, while J’s style is seen as more simple and loose.

Of course, there are many different theories that have arisen out of this confliction with Moses as the pure author.  In fact, the different arguments would be too numerous to list.  Some people believe in the presence of just J and E, some just for J and P, and others still for the idea that an a beaver with too large of an overbite chiseled it in stone with his gigantic teeth…

As for myself, I am continuing to look at all the evidence and trying to sort out what I believe.  Personally, I have to land on the side that discounts Moses as the 100% author.  It is too difficult for me to just accept that as such a simplistic answer.  The argument for the multiple authorship theory has many valid points (especially the presence of anachronisms). I don’t know exactly who wrote what part of each different book, but I do trust in the continuity of what is found.  The continuity of especially the first 11 chapters of Genesis speaks to a more singular author than such a wide conglomeration.  It flows too well with narrative and the stories seem to create one woven tapestry of continuity.  So I guess the answer for me is:  I JUST DON’T KNOW WHO WROTE THE PENTATEUCH. As said earlier, Jesus and Paul refer to the Pentateuch as the Books of Moses.  Even though some people argue this to be a major evidence of his authorship, I would have to disagree again.  Hebrew tradition was to call a story or book by the name of the central character or event.  Moses is really the central player in the deliverance of Israel out of slavery.  Moses is an ultimate example of God Himself and a deliverer of us, His people, from the bondages of sin.

As Hamilton writes concerning the authorship of Genesis, “We do not believe that an evangelical view of Scripture is necessarily wedded to the Mosaic authorship of Genesis, as if one cannot have the first without the second.” (pg. 38)  Who wrote Genesis and how it was put together really has little bearing on the message of covenant, redemption, design, and deliverance.  These themes are supported congruently throughout all of the Pentateuch.

THEOLOGY

While conclusions on the authorship of Genesis and the Pentateuch might not mean much in the broad scope of our spiritual pursuits, the way we interpret these books and the theology we adopt is crucial.

When we talk about theology, we should be discussing the themes and messages that the narratives, genealogies, and commands point to.  These themes should shed greater light on who God is, his design, and how Christ is revealed in greater clarity to us.  As we study the book of Genesis together, our aim should be to understand what the author is revealing to us about God.  To use the text to just try and figure out who the author is or historical timeline…we completely miss the power in the text and what it is trying to convey.

In my opinion, the greatest theological theme in Genesis is COVENANT/DIVINE PROMISE. Genesis reveals to us why God established a covenant with us and opens the door to the beginning steps of redemption for mankind.

Other theological themes we will encounter along the way are sin, freewill, deliverance, land, rebellion, and future hope.  It is important that we use the other sections of the Bible to help guide us in our interpretation of what we find in Genesis.  Major themes and ideas that we find in this book will be able to be traced through the rest of the Old Testament and New Testament.  The cohesiveness and reiteration of the message and nature of God is what we are looking for.  How does the narrative in the first 11 chapters connect to the Patriarchal period in chapters 12-50?  How does the Patriarchal period connect to the exodus, the time of kings, and the time of exile?  How does all of this flow together with the coming of Christ, the establishment of the Church, our present day, and future hope?  Let us not shy away from the big picture, but embrace it as we discuss the different topics from week to week.

OTHER NOTES FROM LAST WEEKS DISCUSSION ON “BEGINNINGS”

Mike Peraino asked if I could look into the Greek phraseology for “In the beginning” as it is found in the beginning of John’s gospel.  Leon Morris writes in his book “The Gospel According to John”:

“John’s first words, ‘In the beginning’ are probably a conscious reminiscence of the first words of the Bible.  The first book of the Hebrew Bible was named ‘In the beginning’ (from it’s opening words); therefore, the expression would be widely known.  John is writing about a new beginning, a new creation, and he uses words that recall the first creation.  He soon goes on to use other words that are important to Genesis 1, such as “life” (vs. 4), “light” (vs. 4), and “darkness” (vs. 5).  Genesis 1 described God’s first creation; John’s theme is God’s new creation.  Like the first, the second is not carried out by some subordinate being.  It is brought about through the agency of the Logos, the very Word of God.  There is continuity with the old creation.  The Word was ‘in the beginning’, which means that he was before all else.  But it probably means more.  The term rendered, ‘beginning’ can also denote ‘origin’ in the sense of basic cause.  Temple is probably right in thinking that the phrase here combines 2 meanings, ‘in the beginning of history’ and ‘at the root of the universe’.  John is fond of using expressions with more than one meaning.” (pg. 64-65)

The Hebrew rendering of this phrase (phonetically) once again is: be-re-SHIYT ba-RA eh-lo-HIYM

The Greek rendering of this phrase (phonetically) is: en ar-KAY ayn ha LOH-gohs.

So when we look to the Greek translation of Genesis – The Septuagint – Genesis 1:1 starts out with the Greek phrase, “en-ar-kay”.

A final thought on this takes us to 1 John, where John once again starts out his letter with the phrase, “What was from the beginning…”

CONCLUSION

The Bible is at its most basic core is a narrative of redemption.  Genesis is the “beginning” of that narrative.  It provides this mythological portrayal of initial stages for this redemption as the world and universe were brought forth into being.  It leads us through the fall of mankind and our rebellion against Him, to the covenant God establishes with Abraham, and to the slavery God’s people find themselves in crying out for a deliverer from bondage.

Let us diligently search this book for God and His plan.  Let us remember who Christ is and see how this book points us to Him.  And most of all, let us study with a thankful heart, overflowing with joy because of how grace, community, and love are part of this redemption story.