Transcript Genesis - Cogeco

Genesis:
The Creation Story of the Hebrew Bible
Dr. Loredana Kun
September 27, 2005
The Book of Genesis: Overview of Lecture
1. Relationship to other parts of the Bible
2. Outline of Genesis
3. The primeval narrative: two stories of creation
4. The primeval narrative: other stories
5. The “generations”
6. Abraham, the first of the ancestors
7. The Story of Lilith
Some Facts About Genesis
 First book of the Torah (“Laws”)
 Gives background to exodus from Egypt by the
Israelites and why God gave them a collection
of laws.
 The Pentateuch features the pre-history of
Israel
 Comprises first five books of the Bible:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy
 The stories in Genesis come from a variety of
sources and time periods.
The Second Temple in Jerusalem c. 1 B.C.E.
Two Creation Stories in Genesis 1-3
 Cosmogony: “an account of the creation of an
ordered world”
Primeval History (1)
 Creation of the World (1) : 1:1- 11:26
 Creation of the World (2) : 2:4 – 5:32
Including:
 Man and Woman: 2:7-25
 Expulsion from God’s garden 3:1 -24
 Cain and Abel : 4:1 -16
 Generations from Adam to Noah 4:17-5:32
Primeval History (2)
 The Flood: 6:1- 9-29
 Table of Nations: 10:1 – 10:32
 Tower of Babel: 11:1-9
 Generations from Noah to Abraham: 11:10-26
First Creation Story (1:1-2:4a)
 Exists in context of Judean exile in Babylon
(587 -539 B. C. E.)
 Name for God: Elohim (God)
 View of Deity more majestic; calls things into
existence (“and God said”)
 Structure: creates for six days & then takes a
day of rest
 Creation begins with a watery chaos
 Order: light, heaven, earth, vegetation, sun,
moon, stars, animals and humanity
The Neo-Babylonian Empire
(6th century B. C. E.)
The City of Babylon: The Ishtar Gate
The City of Babylon:
The Ziggurat of the Temple of Marduk
Second Creation Story (2:4b - 3:22)
 Name for God: LORD God (Yahweh Elohim)
 View of Deity: Less abstract; God is more
human-like and has a name (later suppressed)
 Structure: loose, a narrative; no ordering, no
balance, no careful symmetry
 Creation begins with dry desert
 Order: earth , water, humans, vegetation,
animals; man & woman created separately
Similarities of Second Creation Story to
Mesopotamian Myth
 God makes man (Adam) out of dust (adamah) as in one
Babylonian Creation story
 God not the serpent, tricks man out of immortality, like
the myth of Adapa, the first man, in Mesopotamia
 Knowledge about good and evil (i.e. everything) and
eternal life are two fundamental characteristics of gods
 Gods also wear clothes; both Apada and Adam and Eve
are presented with clothes as a compensation for
missing out on divine status
LILITH
Importance of the Generations
(toledot)
 Guarantee the identity of the Israelites and
how they are to be distinguished from other
people.
 Provide a way of understanding social
relationships and the world around them.
Period of the Ancestors
 They are the ancestors of the Israelites
 Abraham is the first ancestor (11:27 -32)
 His story begins with the generations of his
family (1127-32)
The Story of Abraham

Abraham called by God 12:1-12:9

Adventures of Abraham and Sarah; God promised
Canaan to Abraham’s descendants 12:9 -14:24

God makes contracts with Abraham who seals them
with circumcision of all the males of his household
15:18:16

Adventures of Abraham’s nephew Lot etc. 18:16 – 20-1:8

At a great age, Sarah gives birth to an heir 21:1 -24

God tests Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son;
spares son and promises greatness to his descendants
22:1- 4

Death and burial of Sarah 23:1-20
THE DOCUMENTARY HYPOTHESIS
• Scholars faced with these literary phenomena came up with an explanation for how the
Pentateuch was formed; it is mixture of four traditions
• J (Yahwist): version one of the “Old Epic” stretching from Creation to the Exodus; uses
the name of Yahweh for God; composed in southern Israel in time of King Solomon or
shortly thereafter (ca. 950 BCE)
• E (Elohist): version two of the “Old Epic”; uses the name Elohim for God; written ca. 750
BCE after the ten northern tribes split from the two southern tribes; many of the stories of
Abraham come from this source
• D (Deuteronomist): ca. 650 BCE a book of the law was found in the Jerusalem Temple;
scholars think this was Deuteronomy; mostly laws in sermonic form; joined to the other
texts ca. 550 BCE
• P (Priestly): end of 6th c. BCE Israelites return from Exile in Babylon; there was then an
attempt by the priestly class to reinvigorate and restore worship; part of effort was to create
a unified history of Israel; these priests gave the Pentateuch its final form ; (ca. 500-400
BCE) and added legal materials related to worship and genealogical listsmaterial in the
Genesis creation stories believed to be a blend of Yahwist (Gen. 2-3) and Priestly material
(Gen. 1); there is no E or D material in Gen. 1-3
•
he stories of the Pentateuch are united by a single theme: a cycle of rebellion/
disobedience, punishment, mercy
Gen 1:1 - 2:4a
Gen 2:4b-3:24
Name
Elohim (God)
LORD God
(Yahweh Elohim)
View
Majestic, creation by word
anthropormorphic
Structure
6 days working, one day rest
Loose, a narrative, tensions,
no balance, no careful
symmetry
Creation
From watery chaos (formless
void with darkness)
Dry desert (2:5) watered by a
stream
Order
Light, heaven, earth,
vegetation, sun, moon, stars,
sea creatures, birds, land
animals, humanity (male and
female together)
Earth, water, humans,
vegetation, animal life,
(man and woman separately,
first male then female)