Genesis: An Overview
A basic look at the first book of the Bible.
When approaching a study of the Hebrew scriptures, or the Old Testament as it is sometimes called, it is important to keep in mind that these writings were not new inventions, nor did they spring up out of empty sociological space.
Just as when considering any writings, we need to examine the cultural context and influences surrounding its authors.
The Bible is not a science book. It is also not a history book; nor is it a source of a coherent theology. It is a library of works that span a wide swath of time and were written hundreds of years apart by people of varied social and economic experiences.
What then is the best way to view the mindset of its writers, readers, and editors?
Approaching Genesis & Approaching the Bible
Walter Brueggemann describes it as ‘imaginative remembering’, by which he means a kind of traditional process of retelling that “…intends to recreate a rooted, lively world of meaning…in which the listening generation can situate its own life…” (Intro to the OT, Brueggemann, 2003, p.9–10). In other words, the Hebrew Bible is best read as stories told in order to create cultural identity and memory, especially in the ancient Hebrew peoples’ relationship to their God.
“The best way to read the Bible ‘literally’ is to read it in the context of what the original writers intended.”
–John Walton, Wheaton University
It is in this spirit that we approach an overview of the book of Genesis.
Let’s look at cultural context, authorship, themes, and authorial intent.
1 — Cultural Context
The Hebrew Scriptures — or Old Testament, as some Christians refer to it — is not put in chronological order according to the date of authorship.
Genesis was placed first in the Torah because it sets the stage for the larger narrative of Israel’s history and covenant with God; the Exodus; prophets, and exile; and answers the questions:
- How does the world function? Chaos vs order.
- Who are we as a people? Where do we come from?
- Why do we experience God as we do?
The book of Genesis was written over centuries, and was compiled from many different oral traditions and ‘myths.’
This is not our modern definition of the word ‘myth’ but indicates poems or narratives about gods and goddesses and their actions and how they came to be that may have been liturgies or stories of a society’s foundational identity. Myth, in this sense, is a literary genre that the authors of Genesis utilized. These will often include a ‘theogony’ (i.e., an origin story about the transcendence), or etiological stories.
In compiling these narratives for Genesis, the authors also used and tweaked a number of predominant cultural narratives to make a case for what made the Israelities different from their neighbors. Some surrounding cultural myths that may have been sourced were:
- Enuma Elish (literally translated: “when on high”) — a creation myth c. 1900 BCE.
- Atrahasis Epic; c. 1900–1700 BCE.
- Epic of Gilgamesh — a hero cycle with elements of Eden and the flood, c. 2500–2400 BCE.
- Uta-Napishtim — a flood story, included in the Gilgamesh epic.
- Epic of Anubis and Bata; a twin brothers motif from Egypt.
It was common and acceptable to include other cultures’ epics or historical accounts in a body of writing, sometimes modified to fit the narrative arc. Israel’s tradition is an obvious example of this repurposing of material. Sometimes, the literary move is simply because of the larger sociological familiarity with a concept. Often, however, there is a subversive alteration of the common narrative that purports a specific ideological or theological emphasis.
Being able to recognize these allusions is very helpful in decoding the meaning of Genesis.
2 — Name & Authorship
The name of the book of Genesis in Hebrew is Bereshit (bear-e-sheet), which means “When first”. Appropriately, these are the opening words of Genesis. Naming a writing after the first words is often the custom for ancient Mesopotamian literature.
It got its Greek name, “Genesis” when the Hebrew Bible was translated to the common or koine Greek around the 3rd to 1st century BCE when knowledge of the Hebrew language began to wane amongst the Jewish communities living in Greek-dominated cities. The name Genesis means “origin” in Greek.
The authorship of a book as old as Genesis is hard to nail down with certainty. Scholars have attempted to identify three different potential sources for Genesis.
This comes from the oft-referenced Documentary Hypothesis, which claims the Pentateuch was a composite of four sources — authors or schools of editors — loosely based on the way they used the name of God, and on differences in style, form, and theology.
The Documentary Hypothesis is widely debated. Certainly, the exactitude of the theory is not accurate. However, it does capture a fluidity of composition and even some discontinuity that is evident in the Hebrew Bible, especially Genesis. Unfortunately, there is no clear evidence for exactly how the Hebrew Bible was composed, but the sources referenced in the Documentary Hypothesis provide a helpful framework for analyzing the different hands and sources involved in the narrative we now know.
According to this theory, there is:
J Source:
(J is for “Jahwist”, from the German transliteration of YHWH, or the Tetragrammaton).
The J source presents a more anthropomorphic god, called by name YHWH or Yahweh, and uses a pattern of promise and fulfillment. The writing is sophisticated and narrative in style. J dates to the monarchal period and is thought to originate in Judah. This source is responsible for most of the Torah, including Genesis.
P or “Priestly” Source:
P probably wrote the first account of creation found in Genesis chapter 1. P is concerned with ritual, worship, lists, and genealogies. It uses the name Elohim for God. P probably originated in the Southern kingdom of Judah, c. 950 BCE.
A reason one often finds two similar stories about the same event — the creation story, for example — is because this “Priestly class” began writing parallel versions to emphasize the promises of the covenant, and tie in the Exodus cycle to encourage people in exile.
E, or “Elohist” Source:
E uses the name of God “Elohim,” it is rather prophetic, and God is more removed. The God of E interacts with humans through dreams and oracles. E is probably from the Northern kingdom of Israel c. 850 BCE. The account of the sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22) is an example of the E source.
The fourth source — the Deuteronomist — did not contribute to the book of Genesis.
Again, this theory and these sources are not definitive, but the emphasis on multiplicity is widely agreed upon within source criticism.
Tradition holds that Moses wrote Genesis, along with the rest of the Pentateuch, but this is unlikely considering the span of time Genesis was written in. He couldn’t, for example, have written the account of his own death, and some events in the Pentateuch occurred after his death. The tradition of Moses’ authorship began c. the second century BCE, to give legitimacy to the text in light of the Greco-Roman influence on Judaism. It was common in the Ancient Near East to ascribe authorship of an important document to someone with the gravitas of history or cultural veneration to give the writing weight.
Today, while accepting the complications of source criticism, there are particular traditions even within Judaism that still claim Moses as the author while changing the emphasis. Genesis (and the rest of Torah) are written in the tradition of Moses; or even in the spirit of Moses. According to this perspective, the many hands that eventually compose the book are all founded on and derived from the patriarchial prophet.
3 — Themes
Genesis is broadly divided into two parts, what is called the Primeval History, and the Patriarchal Narratives.
The Primeval History runs from Chapters 1–11. This covers the Creation Narratives, the story of Cain and Abel, The Flood story, and the Tower of Babel. These are etiological stories told to provide a theological explanation of Yahweh’s character and actions, in contrast with the gods and goddesses of the surrounding peoples.
Chapters 12–50 are the Patriarchal Narratives, and these are the stories many of us know about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as Joseph in Egypt. They set the stage for the history of the nation of Israel, claims on land settlement, and the origins of the different tribes as well as some of their neighbors and rivals.
In this way, the second section of Genesis is also etiological (and explains why the name “Genesis” — or, origins — is still appropriate). This book is meant to provide origin stories (etiology) for who Israel is, how they got to where they are, and what they are meant to do and be in the world.
Genesis, therefore, acts as a prequel to the overarching narrative (think Silmarillion or Star Wars episodes I-III). The emphasis of its composition appears to be more concerned with those reading the story than the story itself.
4 — Who Was Genesis Written For, and Why?
It would be hard to pinpoint the intended readership of Genesis. So many pieces were written over a long span of time, with different authors, that the readership spans not only centuries but various situations from an apparent monarchical golden age to exile. The final form of Genesis was probably written down for the Judean people in exile/post-exile and may offer the best perspective as to why the story is shaped in the way it is.
For some audiences, this issue of authorship and dating can be problematic. However, it is important to note that the exile happened in conjunction with a particular technological advance. Benjamin Mazar (Journal of Near Eastern Studies, April, 1969) discovered that a certain kind of fixed, Phoenician/Hebrew alphabetic script became widely accepted, and opened up the possibility of all kinds of new genres of wisdom literature, poetry, and other works.
For most people, these writings would maybe be spoken ceremonial liturgies, practiced during seasonal rituals or in the Temple. However, with the culmination of Israel’s exilic experience alongside the increase of literate people and access to writing materials, the narratives finally existed as a singular story in print. Hence, the cultural influence of the larger sociological and geological world was imparted and the narrative itself appears to be poignantly concerned with a people on the brink of extinction.
According to Walter Brueggemann,
“The key issue in reading these texts…is to see that the canonizing process of editing and traditioning has taken old materials and transposed them into something of theological coherence…not intrinsic to the antecedent materials themselves”
It took these myths from the surrounding cultures, reordered them, altered them, and combined the presumptions of a primitive people often in association with a vast oral tradition to provide a theological statement of Divine order, immanence, and rescue in collaboration with an etiological and cosmological perspective to form the grand narrative of Israel’s existence.
Though Genesis has been the source of theology and history for the three Abrahamic religions — Judaism, Islam, and Christianity — to read Genesis is to read a cumulative development of a people where order over chaos sets the stage for the arc of the remaining Biblical narrative: The restoration of creation.
Sources:
1. Intro to Old Testament; Brueggemann and Linafelt
2. Old Testament: Canon, history and Literature; Nelson
3. Anchor Bible series: A new Translation; E.A. Speiser
4. Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament: edited by Greer, Hilbur and Walton
5. Introduction to the Bible; Christine Hayes
6. Intro to Genesis, Oxford Annotated NRSV, David Carr
