Genesis

Composition

The Jewish prophet and leader Moses has historically been considered the author of the Book of Genesis. Traditionalists also believe that Genesis was composed sometime around 1450–1410 BCE. Moses’ authorship of Genesis has largely been accepted as a matter of dogmatic tradition, though experts have passionately debated the question for centuries.

As a matter of Judeo-Christian orthodoxy, conservative scholars generally hold that Moses composed the entirety of Genesis alongside the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These five books, which comprise the first five books of the Christian Bible’s Old Testament, are collectively known as the Pentateuch. At the opposite end of the polarizing debate are experts who believe that Moses did not write any of the Pentateuch, and the Pentateuch itself was composed at a date much later than Moses’ own lifetime.

A central aspect of the debate centers on certain specific passages in Genesis and the Pentateuch in general, which are known as amosaica and postmosaica passages, respectively. Amosaica passages contain references that appear to contradict known and established facts about Moses’ life, or the social and religious traditions and conventions that existed when Moses lived. Postmosaica passages discuss events that took place after Moses’ death.

Traditionalists believe that Moses wrote the entire Pentateuch himself, with the exception of its postmosaica references and with the possible exception of its amosaica references. Other scholars accept the possibility that Moses may have written part of Genesis and the other books of the Pentateuch, with other, unidentified authors contributing additional passages that have since entered the pantheon of canonical scripture.

References to the Book of Genesis from the New Testament, which chronicles the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, appear to accept the established notion that Moses was the Pentateuch’s original author. Contemporary assessments generally seek to reconcile the traditional belief in Moses’ authorship of Genesis with the amosaica and postmosaica found throughout the Pentateuch. According to this viewpoint, the contents of the Book of Genesis likely originated with Moses, regardless of whether he is technically responsible for the work’s actual composition. Many modern scholars accept the possibility that Moses may have composed or compiled the accounts contained in the Book of Genesis using external sources, working his own interpretations of relevant outside material into its text.

Summary

Biblical scholars often divide the fifty chapters of Genesis into two distinct parts. The first deals with God’s creation of humankind, and the second establishes God’s special relationship with the Jewish people and their homeland in historical Israel. The “God and humankind” section comprises the book's first 11 chapters, while the “God and Israel” section covers chapters 12–50.

Genesis begins with God, who is also referred to by the traditional Hebrew name Yahweh throughout the book, creating the cosmos, Earth, and all life on Earth including the first people, Adam and Eve. God places Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, a mythical place often interpreted as a metaphor for paradise. Adam and Eve ultimately rebel against God, which results in humankind being cast out of the Garden of Eden where it must bear the eternal burdens of sin and death.

Adam and Eve have many children, who themselves have many children to populate the world. Eventually, human civilization becomes so corrupt that God decides it must be destroyed. Sparing only the virtuous Noah, who becomes steward of Earth’s animal population, God sends a flood that wipes out all life on Earth except for Noah, his family, and the animals aboard his ship, the ark.

Civilization rebuilds over a succession of generations, eventually leading all the peoples of Earth to unite and build a great city in their flourishing new land. Plans for the city include a magnificent structure known as the Tower of Babel, which its designers envisioned peaking in the heavens. Considering the project to be a form of blasphemy, God confused the tower’s builders by introducing a multiplicity of languages, rendering the workers unable to understand one another. Neither the tower nor the city are ever completed in what is widely regarded as an origin myth to explain the world’s cultural and linguistic diversity.

Centuries after the time setting of the Tower of Babel story, God summons Abraham (Abram), a descendant of Noah, on a journey to the land of Canaan. Abraham, aging and with no children, undertakes the journey and reaches Canaan, where he has a son, Isaac, who in turn fathers twin sons, Jacob and Esau. After a conflict with his brother Esau, Jacob leaves Canaan to live with his uncle. Over the next twenty years, Jacob marries and has thirteen children including twelve sons and a daughter, but he is beckoned to return to Canaan by God. Upon returning there, God changes Jacob’s name to Israel.

Israel’s favorite child, Joseph, is envied by his siblings, who sell him at a slave market and cause him to become imprisoned in Egypt. However, God gave Joseph a divine ability to interpret dreams, which leads the Egyptian pharaoh to make Joseph his powerful advisor and the second-in-command in all of Egypt. In this capacity, Joseph warns the pharaoh that a devastating famine will soon strike the region. The pharaoh builds up food supplies to weather the expected famine, which strikes and devastates neighboring areas including Joseph’s homeland of Canaan.

Joseph is reunited with his brothers when they travel from Canaan to Egypt to buy food. Settling his differences with his brothers, Joseph offers to finance the relocation of his twelve siblings to Egypt so they can escape the famine. Genesis concludes with Joseph’s death, along with his final prediction that God will one day reunite Israel’s children back in their traditional homeland.

Themes

Scholars note that the Book of Genesis establishes multiple central themes that recur throughout both the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible. One major such theme is the nature and presentation of God’s total authority and dominion over humankind, which is characterized as supreme rulership over humanity but within the context of humanity’s retention of free will—its ability to act independently of God’s preferences and desires. This creates a tension between God and humankind, in which humanity constantly strays from God and rebels against God’s will. The imperfect, insubordinate nature of humanity represents a second major theme of Genesis.

God also passes judgment on humanity on multiple occasions in the Book of Genesis, most notably in casting Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden and destroying the corrupt world with a devastating flood and sparing only Noah. However, God intervenes to protect life and ensure its continuation following these cycles of judgment. Genesis also introduces the concept of the blood sacrifice to the Judeo-Christian pantheon, which recurs with greater force and prominence in later books of the Old Testament.

In addition to these general themes, the Book of Genesis establishes and expands upon multiple constructs that play crucial roles in Judeo-Christian spiritual and religious traditions. These include the notions of covenant, blessing, and the status of Israel as the “promised land” of the Jewish people. In Christianity, the term “covenant” is used to describe a sacred promise between God and God’s mortal followers. Most covenants share several defining features: they carry terms and conditions and bring great blessings to the humans who keep them and great suffering to the humans who break them. In Genesis, God establishes covenants with Noah and Noah’s sons following the great flood and with Abraham after Abraham is called on his journey to Canaan.

Genesis identifies Canaan as the “promised land” of the descendants of Abraham, which becomes fulfilled when Abraham’s descendants return there and occupy the historical land of Israel beginning in the Book of Joshua. Notably, this biblical episode continues to exert a major influence over contemporary geopolitics as the concept of modern Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people is itself rooted in cultural and religious traditions that originate with the Old Testament and the Book of Genesis.

A final central theme of the Book of Genesis revolves around genealogical records. Long passages of the book deal mainly or exclusively with the family histories of its central human characters. These include detailed accounts of the descendants of Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Jacob/Israel, among others. These passages serve a practical purpose as written archives but are also used to establish the narrative focus of various chapters and explain the origins of certain tensions and rivalries that will become important in later Old Testament books.

Bibliography

Day, John. From Creation to Abraham: Further Studies in Genesis 1–11. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021.

Enns, Pete. “When Was Genesis Written and Why Does It Matter?” BioLogos, 25 Mar. 2012, biologos.org/articles/when-was-genesis-written-and-why-does-it-matter/. Accessed 11 Apr. 2022.

Fairchild, Mary. “Introduction to the Book of Genesis.” Learn Religions, 20 Dec. 2019, www.learnreligions.com/book-of-genesis-701143. Accessed 11 Apr. 2022.

Simmons, Brian. The Book of Genesis—Part 1: 12-Lesson Study Guide. Savage, MN: BroadStreet Publishing Group, 2021.

Van Wolde, Ellen. Words become Worlds: Semantic Studies of Genesis 1–11. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2021.

“Who Wrote the Book of Genesis?” Zondervan Academic, 31 Aug. 2018, zondervanacademic.com/blog/who-wrote-genesis. Accessed 11 Apr. 2022.