notes also look to see what theological presentation is being made by the book. Think this through with me: Israel continues to turn away from YHWH and serve other gods which they see as being more powerful, they do not really understand who God is. What better way is there to get them to understand their need to serve YHWH than retell the story of him creating everything (in most religions, no one god creates everything, multiple do, or it just has always existed). This instantly puts YHWH as at the very least the most powerful and King of all gods. He is thus GOD, and everyone else is only god. In addition, there is a great deal of concern with providing a history for the ancestors of the Israelites. From the very first man, it demonstrates God’s relationship with them, all the way through to the modern day Israelites (even showing connections down through geneologies). This is likely to help the Israelites understand, not only is YHWH GOD, but he was our Father’s God and has been the God of our people from the very beginning. He has always been faithful and good toward us. He is worthy of our service. Another major theological theme that pops up is the beginning of the story of redemption. Through the telling of the story of humanity, and the fall, and demonstration of our constant failing, Genesis helps set us up to understand that we need a help that comes from outside of us, we need God’s help. Viewing it as a vehicle of conveying theological themes seems to help make sense of the purpose in writing it in the first place. I rather prefer this concept to its purpose over the other, more commonly discussed option. Here are some of the reasons I want to show that this is meant to be something other than a scientific or historical proof for 7 day creationism or a recording of history only for the sake of preservation. For the first thing, they did not have the same concerns for scientific accuracy that we do today, and so why in the world would they be so concerned with trying to prove 7 day creation or disprove evolution. This book was written for them, and we are just looking in on it. In addition to this, some people have begun to see the first chapter of the book of Genesis as being poetic in nature when it is viewed in the original language. I am not committing to anything, but some suggest this may require those who say, “7 days only or you don’t believe the bible” to loosen their stance a little.
Additional Reading:
Fee, Gordon D. How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth. Grand Rapids, Michigan : Zondervan, 2003.
Studying the Bible...
[genesis] Introduction to the book of Genesis: The book of Genesis is one of great interest to the “modern” Christian. Through it many have sought to prove a literal 6 day creation, and challenge all those who disagree by saying that believing different challenges the word of God as being less than true, and thus undermines the whole bible. Through it others have denied the necessity of a 6 day creation with perfect respect for the bible and desire to remain true to its original intent. This book is one which is fraught with controversy and differing opinions all held by people who love God, believe the bible, and want to discover its original meaning given to it by the author. The differences of opinion about the book of Genesis focus around some of the key interpretive components we need to “cross the bridge.” Included in this group is authorship, date, occasion, method of writing, genre, and purpose. With so many areas of potential confusion, it is no wonder why people would come to different conclusions about what the author(s) are trying to say, and what it means for us today, more than 3,000 years removed from the events. Audience: If there is one bit of evidence about the book of Genesis that is not in question, it would have to be its intended audience. We know that the primary recipients of this book, as well as the rest of the Pentateuch (first five books of the Old Testament) are the Jewish people themselves. This seems quite obvious because of the central role this book plays within the Jewish faith, as it stands as one of the 5 books which essentially establish Judaism. So, as we are looking at the book itself, one of the main questions we’ll want to be asking ourselves is: “What role does this book play to the Jews, and what big idea can we pull out of that and carry over to the present?” As a way of further defining the audience it is necessary to blur the lines of cultural ideas, and occasion. I believe that these books were primarily concerned with dealing with problems in the early Jewish nation. This could point to something like the Israelites wandering in the
reading the bible like never before
desert, or the early development of the nation, but one way or another, these books have been around for a while and thus deal with early Jewish audiences. Author: Technically, the book does not bother to cite an author. This can mean a couple of things: 1. The book is not concerned with proving its validity by associating it with a famous character, 2. The book originally indicated who its author was, but it eventually was lost, 3. The book had multiple authors and editors, 4. The authorship of the book was so well known that they did not have any need of citing the original author. Traditionally this book has been attributed to Moses, as have the other books of the Pentateuch. This makes a good deal of sense once one thinks about Moses’ life. Moses was a hebrew, chosen by God to lead the descendants of Abraham out of captivity in Egypt (obvious connections with the Jews). When he was born was placed within the household of Pharaoh. This probably means that he was a fairly well educated person and likely capable of both reading and writing. This makes him a good candidate for having been the author of these books. Additionally, since people wonder where the information which predates Moses could have come from, but most people attribute such knowledge to his time spent with God on mount Sinai. Thus, he has learned everything he needs to know about the past from God who sees and knows all. Because of his connection with a timeless God, and his education, most attribute these works to Moses. Some claim that Moses is not the author of the books of the Pentateuch. These would claim that over time, these oral traditions became solidified and written down, and eventually a redactor (basically an editor with a purpose) recorded them in the form we now have today. These stories have slight differences in their thematic concerns, but fit together well to give a history and law to Israel. Since there is no author mentioned, I am not too worried about who wrote it (because it would not make the book lose credibility for lying about its author). I see no problem with Moses having been the original author either of new material, editing together oral tradition, or some combination of the two. (Moses editing social memory would be a good way to explain why there seem to be 2 creation accounts). Oral Tradition vs. Eyewitness Testimony Some suggest that a great deal of his content for the book of Genesis came from pre-existing oral traditions about the creation of the world, and stories involving the ancestors of the Israelites. These social memories would have preserved the stories we have through the passing of time and eventually would have been passed down to Moses’ generation. Moses may have taken these social memories, and orally
Studying the Bible told stories about the hebrews’ past in order to solidify them, preserve them, and form a reputable document which supported his position. It is also very plausible that some of the traditional views are totally true and that Moses just heard these words from the mouth of God and recorded them in written form. Time: If Moses is the author of this work, then we can reasonably assume that it comes sometime after the Exodus, and before Moses’ death (at least most of it... someone other than Moses records his death). If we give it nice, neat round numbers, it has to fall somewhere between 1450 and 1405 BC. Those who suggest it was a later compiler see the Pentateuch being written in various stages. Some of it was written then (maybe), some later during the kings, some after the exile, etc... This places it either contemporary with the Exodus story and stuff, or later in Israel’s history. We do know it must fall before 400BC because of the record we have of them in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Culture: Here could be a little peak into the culture. The Jews had been in Egypt for hundreds of years. They had likely taken to some of the Egyptian gods, and we see them struggling throughout Exodus to actually follow God. They were likely enticed by the Egyptian gods, or at very least saw them and the gods of the areas they passed through as competition to YHWH. We see that the Israelites continue to turn away from God and follow after these idols as Moses tries to lead them to the promised land. This is likely the situation in which much of these books were written. Genesis was likely written to this kind of a culture. Purpose: This is another section where things get dicey. People disagree a lot on the purpose of the book of Genesis. They especially worry about this when addressing the first few chapters. People who are really into 7 day creationism stress that Genesis is a history, and that its presentation is to give a accurate, scientific, historically reliable account of the beginning of the world. That is one of the reasons why they would say that denying 7 day creationism undermines the whole bible (since they often view it as all being literal and historical/scientific) because it would “make the bible a liar, and thus unreliable in every way.” So, some will say its purpose is to be a scientific historical account. In reaction to this position, others note that the purpose of the book is not to be scientific, or terribly concerned about historical accuracy, but to present theological ideas. This view does not stress a need for Genesis to all be taken totally literally (what if parts were meant to be poetic and because of language barriers we miss the poetry). They