Reading the Old Testament

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Reading the Old Testament By Lawrence
Boadt Chapter 6
Genesis 1-11 The Preface to Israels Story
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Background
- Genesis covers a vast amount of time, beginning
of the world to 1500 BC - Sketches highlights of
human origins that had particular religious
significance to Israels way of life - Precursor
to Exodus, Special background, show Gods saving
actions for Israel in light of his care for the
whole world
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Yahwist Source (J)
- Older of two sources - Discussed why God had
chosen Israel, and why pagan beliefs were not
faithful to God - Displayed a four part primeval
history 1. Sin 2. Punishment 3. Mercy 4.
Further Sin - Js purpose To show how God
remains faithful to the human race despite
frequently rejecting him
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Priestly Source (P)
- Took J as a preface and worked around it - Used
lists (Ten Patriarchs/ Gods Creation Gen 1) -
Emphasis on the goodness of Gods Creation -
Concentrate on Gods blessings, rather than human
sin - Show influence of temple schooling (prose
like a liturgical prayer, blessings as part of a
religious ceremonies, interest in precise
genealogies)
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Priestly Creation
- 1st three days God creates Physical World - 2nd
three days God populates the world with living
creatures and assigns their roles - Similarities
to Babylonian account Enuma Elish in order of
creation - P by using calm and deliberate
repetition shows Gods power and freedom, along
with his control over the world - P editors used
this story to set up Gen 2, showing that Gods
magnificent creation sets stage for an intimate
relationship with man and woman
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Yahwist Creation
- J begins with human creation (for P it is the
climax) - 2 stories 1. How God created one
human, and saw that he needed companions such as
the garden, animals, and woman 2. God gave humans
care over the garden and made everything perfect
for them, setting stage for the first sin - Shows
Gods closeness to earth - Elements drawn from
ancient Near East myths (tree of life, Tigres and
Euphrates, paradise garden) and from The Legend
of Adapa (Mesopotamia) the idea of eating of
Gods wisdom fruit
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The Sin in the Garden (Gen 3)
- Yahwist story - eat of the fruit of wisdom and
learn only shame and guilt (Adam and Eve hide
bodies and hide from God) - God sets up that all
pain and evil in life be punishment for our own
sin - Cause of human sin rooted in human pride
and disobedience - Etiological elements similar
to Babylonian story of Gilgamesh. Snake being
able to shed skin (wearing cloths, pain in
childbirth, why we die, snakes crawl ect)
- Story stressed struggle existing between choice
of obeying God or ones own common human tendency
toward sinful desires, rather than original sin
(newer concept)
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Cain and Abel (Gen 4)
- Yahwist Source - alienation and sin in garden
spreads to new levels of evil murder of ones
own brother - Ending dialogue between Cain and
Yahweh shows punishment and compassionate mercy
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Genealogies (Gen 4-5)
- descendents of Cain and Abel, who give the
world gifts of music and ironworking - evils of
violence and revenge are increasing - P inserts
own genealogy after Adams son seth first calls
God Yahweh - both a J and P list, both are
similar, but P credits patriarchies for extremely
long life spans (common in ancient times)
showing 1. How vast a distance separates our
own world experience from that of the story
itself 2. The superiority of the beginning time
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The Giants Born of Sin (Gen 6 1-4)
- Yahwist (J) source giving a reason for the
coming flood story - Human killing was bad but
evil got worse when Gods divine beings (lesser
gods, angels) violated limits set forth by
creation - Monster - a gross abnormality caused
by sin - Showed need for destruction and
purification that would be brought by the flood
water
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Noah and the Flood (Gen 6-9)
- J and P stories closely joined into one
narrative, indicated by repetition (40 to 7 days,
2 pairs vs. 7 pairs, announcement of flood twice,
promise twice) - Common Message When God
decided to punish the world he saves one faithful
man -P builds on J story so that in Gen 9 God can
renew his blessing with mankind
- J Climax Gods Forgiveness lifts curse from
the earth, people may still choose sin but Gods
goodness still reigns - P Climax Blessing in
Gen 1 renewed (Humans given gift of eating meat,
greater obligation to human life
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Noah and the Flood (Gen 6-9)
- Historically Israelites did believe that a
flood had once destroyed the earth, likewise
almost every nation in the ancient world however
Noah was a religious lesson for the Israelites -
Very Similar Flood accounts in Babylonian Epic of
Gilgamesh (differences only in detail) Suggests
biblical authors knew a regional version of the
Epic
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The List of the Worlds Nations (Gen 10)
- the nations of the world are divided among the
three sons of Noah (Shem, Ham, Japheth) -
reflect the three groupings of people in the
Hebrew world geography at the time - J wants to
show God restored blessing after the flood which
is more fertile and more successful
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Tower of Babel (Gen 111-9)
- J reminds us that sin continues after the
flood, humans still persist to rebel against
God - Idolatrous tower is built towards the
heavens - Gods punishment is the scrambling of
languages so people will never be able to
cooperate or challenge God
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Genealogy of Abraham (Gen 11 10 -32)
- Priestly bridge from mythical time to
historical time, generations from Noah to
Abraham - Shows God giving up on a humans as a
race and signaling out one man, Abraham, and one
nation that will learn to follow and worship him
and to bring this knowledge to all nations
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Conclusion Gen 1-11
- P editors keep J index of sin to punishment to
mercy and install the grand scheme of Gods
blessing to creation - Is Genesis Myth or
History? - More like model stories how things
should have been done at the beginning, resemble
other ancient peoples -To ancient people it was
primeval time before history begins -Not history
in strict sense but historical in outlook,
understanding the past to form expectations for
the future - Myth traditional not scientific or
historical, but Genesis conveys how Israelites
saw the world at that time, their science -
Myth usually explained relationships to the gods
but Israelites demythologized myths, destroyed
the heart of pagan belief and reinterpreted the
real meaning of the world in light of one God