Saturday, January 29, 2022

Genesis: A Story of Stories - Genesis 1-12

 GENESIS: A STORY OF STORIES

 הָאָֽרֶץ׃ וְאֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם  אֵ֥ת  אֱלֹהִ֑ים  בָּרָ֣א  רֵאשִׁ֖ית

            I remember sitting in the first day of Hebrew class in seminary, not knowing what to expect. Our professor walked in, opened his copy of the Hebrew Bible, and read the words above: bereshit bara elohim ha’shamayim va ha’erets.[1] I was hooked. The sounds, the cadence, a language so ancient (thousands of years old as compared to our own 500 year old Modern English) – I was captivated by the sound…and was later captivated anew by the stories found in those Hebrew Scriptures.

            As I come back to these words today, years after seminary and after years in Christian ministry, I can imagine Jesus as a child sitting with the family at the close of day. The chores are done, the evening meal behind, and a single oil lamp burns gently as the day comes to an end. Joseph contemplates the work for tomorrow—"...Finish the door for the widow Miriam, fix the hinge on the window for Mary,"…and Mary announces that it is bedtime. A chorus of voices goes up, “Papa, Papa—tell us a story!” Joseph, happy to oblige, thinks for a moment and picks a story that all Jewish children needed to know. He begins, “In the beginning….”

            Whether Jewish children in the 1st Century first heard this story at home or at Hebrew school, we may never know. That they heard this story and the rest of the stories found in Genesis, of that we are certain. Abraham heard them, and told them to Isaac. Isaac passed the stories on to Jacob. Jacob told his children and grandchildren. Throughout the sojourn in Egypt, the stories were repeated again and again. Moses had heard the stories…and shared them with his people as they crossed the wilderness to the ‘Promised Land.’ Either during that journey (if Moses wrote them down) or in the land of promise (if others wrote them down), the stories were written and told and passed on to each successive generation of Jewish boys and girls. Saul and David heard the stories. Isaiah and Jeremiah, Hosea and Amos…all of them heard the stories. John the Baptizer heard the stories…as did Peter, James, and John. Jesus heard the stories…and Paul and the other Jewish Christians. The stories were then shared with the new Gentile converts—completely new stories to their ears. And they told the stories to their friends and family. And the today, those ancient Jewish stories are very much a part of our Christian story. In fact, they are foundational to our story.

            We have often characterized the book of Genesis as a book about beginnings, origins. However, we will find that this is more than simply a book of origins.

            Many have set out to determine exactly where the book of Genesis comes from. As many if not most histories and commentaries will point out, "Jewish and early Christian traditions (as well as the rest of the Torah) ascribed the composition of Genesis to Moses."[2] For over 2000 years, most adherents to the Jewish and Christian faiths were content to trust that Genesis, as well as the rest of the Pentateuch, was penned by Moses.

Scholars are unsure as to when Moses lived. More traditional dating, using Scripture itself which dates the Exodus at 480 years before Solomon's fourth year (see I Kings 6:1), would put Moses on the scene in the early 1400's BC.[3] However, archeology has turned up other evidence to indicate that the Exodus (the most significant event in the life of Jews that might possibly be distilled from the cauldron of history) should be dated around 1430BC (Bimson) or even 1300 BC (Albright, Wright and others).[4] These studies, then, confirm that Moses lived somewhere between the 14th and 12th Centuries BC.

            If Moses lived between the 14th and 12th Centuries BC, we should be able to say that Genesis and the rest of the Pentateuch was written between the 14th and 12th Centuries BC. However, by the beginning the 16th Century AD, scholars began applying their newly developed scientific methods and literary critical approaches to Scripture and came up with other ideas. They decided that the different styles of writing, varied vocabulary and other factors (at least in Genesis) pointed not to one author but to at least three different sources that were identified as "Yahwistic" (J)..."Elohistic (E)"...and "postexilic Priestly (P)" sources.[5] Not only were there at least these three identified sources by the mid-to-late 1800's, but these various sources had been 'dated': J to 9th Century BC; E to 8th Century BC; and P was 5th Century BC—all of these long after Moses lived and died.[6] [Source criticism brings in yet another source for the book of Deuteronomy, but that book is outside our parameters of investigation—see Brueggemann's treatment of Deuteronomy (2001) for more on this topic.] In fact, for the last two centuries, the historical-critical camp has suggested (and it has been widely accepted in many circles) that the Pentateuch—comprised of these various sources (J,E,P & D)—was compiled into the form we now know in the post-exilic period (after 540 BC), giving the works the "narrative structure" that we know today.[7] So, literary criticism indicates multiple authors over a span of four hundred years or more, all long after the life of Moses.

            According to what is presented above, if we ascribe to the historical-critical approach, we do not know for sure when Moses lived, or if he even wrote the Pentateuch. It may be that these first books of the Old Testament were penned across several centuries. Yet, sources and dating are, in the end, not terribly important to the study of Genesis—nor really to the faith—because Genesis and the other four books are now part of our canon, part of Scripture. As we move forward, we join Brueggemann in his assessment that in coming to Genesis, "questions of historical location have not required settlement. That is not because historical issues are unimportant, nor are the materials treated as history-less; but with some few exceptions, it has seemed sufficient to deal with the claims of the text itself and the presuppositions of the story-teller."[8] While knowing the author(s) could be helpful, while knowing the precise time of composition might be useful, the fact remains that Genesis is incredibly important for us in the understanding of all of Scripture, in the formation of worldview and even in the formation of our theology. As Louth reminds us, "the early chapters of Genesis had arguably a greater influence on the development of Christian theology than did any other part of the Old Testament."[9]

            One of the most intriguing if not most interesting approaches to these questions of source and dating is found in the seminal work of John H. Sailhamer’s The Pentateuch as Narrative (1992). Tradition includes Genesis in that body of work often referred to as ‘the Book of Moses’ or ‘the Books of Moses’, but Sailhamer argues rather convincingly that what we call 'the Five Books of Moses are in fact one single narrative:

Though we often think of the Pentateuch as a collection of five books, viz., Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, it was originally intended to be read as a single book. References to the Pentateuch within the [Old Testament] itself show that from the earliest times it was considered a single book...(2Ch 25:4; 35:12; Ezr 6:18; Ne 31:1)...the name "Pentateuch," which simply means "five-part-book," came into use in the second century A.D., apparently as a translation of the Hebrew expression, "the five-fifths of the Law."[10]

            Such an approach is very different from our traditional/contemporary tendency to form 'silos' of each book of the Bible, to take each one independently and individually. However, in taking Sailhamer's approach, we might find a different and more helpful way of reading this part of our Bibles. Sailhamer, therefore, has an idea about authorship that differs markedly from that of our historical-critical and literary-critical friends. He points out that if this is a single narrative, that implies "the fact that the Pentateuch...has an author. Somebody wrote it. Furthermore, its author had a purpose in mind and intended to accomplish that purpose by writing the Pentateuch."[11] Did Moses write it? Did someone else write it? Did a community of faith write it together? Discussing authorship, Sailhamer points out that "God is the author of Scripture...the whole Bible, including the OT, had only one author—God. But though God was the Author of Scripture as a whole, including the OT, we are still faced with the reality that each book of the Bible also had a human author."[12] In his introduction, Sailhamer reveals his own take on the authorship of Genesis/the Pentateuch—he holds to the traditional Mosaic authorship (see p.4-6 of his introduction.) Again, for the purposes of this study, certainty of authorship is not as important. At the same time, this author is not uncomfortable with the idea of Mosaic authorship, preferring to hold to the tradition unless and until tradition is shown irrefutably to be incorrect.

            Regarding that part of the Pentateuch, that part of Genesis, in which we are most interested—Genesis 1-12—Sailhamer has this to say: "[These chapters] form an introduction to both the book of Genesis and the Pentateuch as a whole. One should read these chapters with this dual purpose in mind. They set the stage for the narratives of the patriarchs...."[13] In others words, if the Pentateuch is one book as Sailhamer argues—and even if Genesis stands on its own—Genesis 1-12 serves as the introduction, the first 'chapter,' if you will, of this book (Genesis)...and of the Book, the Bible.

In the opening chapters of Genesis, we have what we find in any good, well-crafted narrative—the setting, the main characters and the conflict are all introduced. The setting is our world. The characters are God and humanity. The conflicts—the great conflicts of all time as expressed in all great literature—are all found here: Man [sic] vs. God, Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Society, and Man vs. Himself [sic].

            Genesis is part of a greater body called the Pentateuch, a book or books written with a specific purpose in mind. The first chapters of Genesis, especially those chapters often referred to as ‘pre-history’ (Chapters 1-11), would serve as the preface, an introduction to the greater work, laying the foundation for understanding ‘the rest of the story.’ Whether Genesis is part of a greater work or stands on its own, if we accept tradition, Genesis was penned or dictated by Moses sometime in the 14th Century BC. Until we find a dated, signed, original manuscript, this traditional dating serves as well for as any other. And, since we affirm as Christians that all Scripture is ‘God-breathed,’ (II Timothy 3:16) inspired, dating is not as important an issue. Regardless of who wrote it and when it was written, Genesis has played, plays and will play a very important part in our understanding of the Bible an in the formation of a Biblical worldview.

 


Jon A Herrin (Th.D.) is a theologian, educator and author living and serving in S. Texas on the US/Mexico border. He is author many articles and two books: Making Sense of It All: Reflection on the Ancient Narratives of Genesis and A Journey through Suffering: A New Reading of Job in the 21st Century. See here: www.jonherrinwriter.com



[1] Author’s transliteration.

[2] R.K. Harrison. "Genesis." International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. II. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982. p.432.

[3] J.K. Hoffmeir. "Moses." International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. III. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982. p.416.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Harrison.

[6] Harrison.

[7] Andrew Louth, ed. Genesis 1-11. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Gen. Ed. Thomas C. Oden. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2001. p.xlvi.

[8] Walter Brueggermann. Genesis: Interpretation: A Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Westminster John Knox, 2010. p.5-6.

[9] Andrew Louth, ed. Genesis 1-11. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Gen. Ed. Thomas C. Oden. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2001. p.xxxix.

[10] John H. Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992. p.1-2.

[11] John H. Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992. p.3

[12] John H. Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992. p.3

[13] John H. Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992. p.81

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