Genesis 1 & 2

Finally we arrive at the Torah, also known as the Pentateuch, also known as the Five Books of Moses, also known as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy.  I had a very difficult time figuring out when to cover the Torah during this endeavor because the Torah is very difficult to date.  Some of the traditions and writings within it might very well date back as far as the 2nd millenium BCE, while some material is likely post-exilic.  To make matters worse, the material which makes up the Torah has been interwoven and redacted numerous times by numerous editors, and is in some ways very difficult to try to differentiate.  So I've decided to revamp my original reading schedule to actually cover the Torah twice (sort of).  I'll be covering the Torah as well as the Deuteronomistic History (Joshua through Kings) in their canonical order, but then revisiting the Torah sources after reading the exilic prophets.

Now, if you were to skip this introduction and jump right into the content of the post below, you might become increasingly confused as I begin to refer to something called "the Priestly Source", and "Yahwist" and the "Redactor" and throw around letters without context.  However, because you're smart, you are reading this introduction.  And since you're so smart you'll also be willing to do a little background reading on the Documentary Hypothesis.

For decades now among critical scholars, the Documentary Hypothesis has been the dominant model for the origins of the Torah as we have it today .  While alternative hypotheses have tweaked or refined components of the DH, its core tenants have gone mostly unchallenged.  Essentially the model proposes that four source documents, written by different authors or authorial communities with differing perspectives, were woven together through a redactional process to produce the final form of the Torah.  These core sources are known as the Yahwist (J), the Elohist (E), the Priestly Source (P), and the Deuteronomist (D).

If this sounds interesting to you, I would encourage you to watch this lecture from Yale Open Courses by Dr. Christine Hayes.  If after watching this lecture, this still sounds interesting to you, I would also encourage you to pick up Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard Elliott Friedman.  If after reading that, this all still sounds interesting to you, then you might even want to grab Friedman's The Bible with Sources Revealed which I am actually using to read the Torah during this whole blogventure we're going on together.

Phew!  All that for an introduction to the Torah.  Let's get into Genesis now, shall we?

Creation According to P

Genesis 1:1 - 2:3 tell the first version of the Hebrew creation story.  In this version God, or elohim (we don't know his name yet!) creates systematically.  As in other creation myths of the ancient near east, the creator does not create ex-nihilo, but instead brings order to chaos.  Here the waters are pre-existent - a dark formless void over the face of the deep.

In the beginning of God's creating the skies and the earth - when the earth had been shapeless and formless, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and God's spirit was hovering on the face of the water - God said, "Let there be light." and there was light.  And God saw the light, that it was good, and God separated between the light and the darkness.  And God called the light "day" and called the darkness "night."  And there was evening, and there was morning: one day.
- Genesis 1:1-5 (Friedman translation)

Whereas in related mythologies a battle would need to be waged to create out of the waters of chaos, here the creator god simply speaks his divine commands to create.  (If you're disappointed that the god of the Hebrews doesn't get to do cosmic battle with a sea monster, don't worry. Yahweh slays his own chaos dragon too, just not according to P.)  Through divine proclamation, God creates thusly over the course of one week:

• Day 1 - Light is separated from darkness (1:3-5).
• Day 2 - The waters above are separated from the waters below through the creation of the dome of the firmament (1:6-8).
• Day 3 - The land is separated from the seas and plants are created (1:9-13).
• Day 4 - Lights are placed in the dome of the sky - the sun, the moon, and the stars (1:14-19).
• Day 5 - Sea monsters and birds are created to fill the seas and sky, and the creator blesses them to be fruitful and to multiply (1:20-23).
• Day 6 - Land animals and humans are created.  The humans are created in the image of the gods, male and female, blessed to be fruitful and multiply and to hold dominion over all of the earth and its creatures (1:24-31).
• Day 7 - Happy with all he has created, the creator rests and blesses the seventh day as a holy day (2:1-3).

P's account of creation is very matter-of-fact.  It is dry and formulaic:

1. God made a thing.
2. Because reasons.
3. And it was good.

Importantly, the creator does not form, or breathe, or plant.  He simply speaks creation into existence.  For P, God does not get his hands dirty.  We'll see that the Yahwist has a very different take on the origins of all things.

Creation According to J

The Yahwist's creation account picks up in 2:4 and runs through the rest of chapter 2.  J presents a more intimate and personal act of creation on the part of Yahweh.  J's Yahweh is very present and active in the lives of his creations, not a distant, otherworldly being as in P.

Garden of Eden by Jacob de Backer - 16th C. CE

J's Yahweh is anthropomorphic and present.  Yahweh breathes his own breath of life into the nostrils of the first human which he personally forms from the dust of the earth.  Unlike P's creator, he is not hiding far away in an unseen divine realm, but lives amongst his creations.  He also creates in a very different order from P's elohim, with no regard for what day it is:

1. Yahweh creates the earth, the heavens, and the waters below (2:4-6).
2. Yahweh creates the first human (adam) from the ground (adamah) (2:7).
3. Yahweh plants his garden in Eden, including the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the headwaters of the four great rivers (2:8-14).
4. Yahweh appoints the first human as his gardener, and forbids him from eating of the tree of knowledge, warning him that if he does eat of it he will die (2:15-17).
5. Yahweh creates birds and land animals as potential partners for the human, who names them, but none of them suffice as a partner (2:18-20).
6. Yahweh puts the man to sleep, performs magical surgery to remove the man's rib, and then turns the rib into the first woman (2:21-22).

In the Priestly source, Yahweh creates humans last, as the culmination of all of creation.  But here in J, Yahweh creates the man first, before any of the other creatures, and creation culminates instead with the creation of the woman.  As we will see in the next section, J's writing is very etiological and frequently utilizes word plays (such as adam from adamah), as seen when the man rejoices and names his partner:

Then the man said, 

"This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman (ishshah),
for out of Man (ish) this one was taken." 

Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
- Genesis 2:23-24

Not only does J explain how ishshah derived from ish, but also why a man and a woman are joined to form a family unit.  Many more etiologies are to come in J.

Differing Conceptions of the Divine

Reading the two accounts one right after another, it really is almost jarring how differently they read.  The writing styles of P and J contrast sharply, as do their conceptions of the creator.  P's elohim is distant and cosmic.  He creates by proclamation, and sees that what he has made is good.  Everything goes according to a neat, tidy plan as he divides chaos into order.  J's Yahweh is local and personal, almost human.  He forms his creations from the dust, breathes the breath of life into them, speaks to them, walks among them, and creates almost through trial and error.  When presented with the problem of finding a suitable partner for the man, Yahweh is legitimately stumped for a long time before finally creating woman from the man's rib.  He doesn't seem to have much of a plan at all, compared to the calm orderly creation of P.  And in chapter 3, which we will cover next time, his plans really go to hell.

But as Friedman points out in his footnotes of The Bible with Sources Revealed, this juxtaposition of such differing views of god wind up contributing to a more complete whole:

"The more transcendent conception of God in P merges with the more personal conception in J, and the result is: the Five Books of Moses in its final form now conveys a picture of God who is both the cosmic God and the 'God of your father.' And that combined conception of the deity who is both transcendent and personal has been a central element of Judaism and Christianity every since." - R. E. Friedman

Well put, Richard.  Well put.

Psalm 12

Psalm 12 is another Psalm beseeching Yahweh for deliverance from the wicked.  The psalmist complains that the whole of humanity has lost its way.  Liars and enemies mount on every side.  But Yahweh answers the cries of the righteous, promising to intercede on behalf of the poor and needy.  And his promises are pure, like silver refined seven times - the number seven is kind of a big deal to Hebrews.

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Welp, that does it for Genesis 1 & 2.  I originally meant to cover 3 through 5 as well, but there was a lot to discuss today, especially with needing to introduce the documentary hypothesis.  So we'll have to cover Genesis 3 through 5 next time.  Thoughts, questions, or comments?  Leave them below!