who wrote genesis

Who wrote Genesis?

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Genesis is the first book of the Bible and I was taught that Moses wrote it (as part of the Pentateuch—the first five books of the Christian Bible). However, being taught something, even believing something, does not necessarily make it true. So what is the evidence?

There is some evidence within the Bible itself. In the Old Testament, the law is often referred to as ‘the law of Moses.’ (Eg: Dan 9:13, Mic. 6:4) plus we read that Moses wrote down all that God told him. This does not necessarily mean he wrote the book of Genesis—he perhaps only wrote down the laws, and then passed them to the people. In the New Testament people also refer to the law of Moses, which falls into the same category. Jesus refers to ‘the book of Moses’ (Mk 12:26) and there are several places when Moses is described as having written the law. Therefore it is clear that the early church believed that the law came from Moses—but not explicitly that he wrote Genesis.

If I use a modern analogy, I can say that I tell my children Hans Christian Anderson’s story  of The Ugly Duckling. Now, I have never actually read his original story (I do not read Danish) nor have I ever read a translation. But I know the story from my own childhood, and I trust that it originated with him, therefore I consider it truthful to say it is his story. I might even write it down, centuries after he died, and it would still be ‘his’ story, even if I wrote it in modern English. Of course, someone looking at my book in the year 3000 might notice it is not written in Danish, or even in English of the 1800s, and they might question whether it was really a story by Hans Christian Anderson. But I think this is an accurate description of the book. (Today, we would write a colophon, saying that the story was retold by me, and the dates, but in the ancient world, this was not a thing.)

What then do we find if we look at the writing of Genesis? We do not have any original texts, so we need to use the manuscripts that we do have. The oldest manuscripts show it was written mostly in Hebrew (just two words in Aramaic, in Gen.31:47). Like all languages, Hebrew has evolved over time, and the language is not consistent throughout. There are texts written in Archaic Biblical Hebrew, Classical Biblical Hebrew, and Late Biblical Hebrew. However, most of the texts were written in Classical Biblical Hebrew. This was used from about 9th century BCE to the 6th century BCE. Within this time frame, Classical Hebrew continued to evolve and some words began to be written in different ways. It is likely therefore that Genesis 1 (the 7 days of creation) was written later than the Eden creation story, even though it is placed first in the book.

As well as the style of language, some of the terms used also help to date the texts. For example, ‘Ur of the Chaldeans (Gen.11:28) must have been written (or added) after 700 BCE, yet the city Calah in Gen.10:12 must have been written about 880 BCE, because after 704 BCE it was part of Ninevah, not a separate place.

So what do we make of all this? And does it matter? 

My view is that the best way to read Genesis is as openly as you are able, making sense of what the texts say, and asking God to reveal something to you while you read. That, I think, is how biblical texts should be read. Genesis is a place where you might encounter God.

However, from an academic point of view (which generally reveals very little of God, but is extremely interesting if you like that sort of thing!) Genesis seems to be a composite text, added to over centuries by various authors or schools of thought. Whether it began with a single author is impossible to prove. Personally, I do not like to examine the various sections in isolation, taking strands from various time periods and looking at them separately. I think they were combined for a reason, and to study them properly you need to view them within the context of the whole. But others disagree. What do you think?

Thanks for reading. I hope your day is a good one.

Take care.

Love, Anne x

My main source for facts was Ronald Hendel, ‘Historical Context’ in The Book of Genesis (Leiden: Brill, 2012) 51-82.

The Consuming Fire

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I have coffee and cake, and am settled down to read The Consuming Fire by Liane M. Feldman. My PhD supervisor recommended it, and I’m really enjoying it—so am recommending it to you. I will share what I have read so far, and then you can borrow/buy a copy and read the rest yourself. I suggest you read it with your ‘thinking-hat’ on (it’s hard to escape my past life as a primary school teacher). There may be bits you disagree with. But that should be true of everything you read—never accept what someone says without thinking about it for yourself.

Even the physical form of the book is enjoyable. It has a classy cover in black and white (unlike most theology books, which are either overly jazzy or artistically unpleasant). It’s a good size—not too heavy with decent sized print (again, not a given with theological books. Sometimes I think people publish books that are purposefully unpleasant to read, almost as if they are challenging anyone to actually enjoy them!)

The content of the book is about the Hebrew Canon/Old Testament (obviously, as that’s my area of study) and it’s looking at what is called the ‘priestly writing’. To understand this, you need to know a little about who wrote the first five books of the Old Testament/Hebrew Canon—the part called ‘the Pentateuch’ (‘pent’ because there’s five books, not sure where the ‘teuch’ bit comes from, so do tell if you know). There are probably five books because at one time they were written on scrolls, and the length of a scroll was limited (if they were too long they ripped) so the very long narrative of the Pentateuch was split into sections, and written on five scrolls.

Anyway, for centuries, people studying them thought they were written by Moses (even though the narrative of the death of Moses and beyond is contained in them). Then in the middle ages, scholars decided that actually, the styles of writing, and the fact that there were different accounts of the same event, and facts that contradicted each other, probably meant that there had been several texts, written by different authors, that had all been put together at a later date. They gave the different types of writing labels: P (because it seemed like priests had written them—lots of religious details); J (because God was called ‘YHWH’ and they were German, so wrote YHWH with a ‘J’); D (because Deuteronomy had a style all of its own, and was mainly about the failure of the Israelites and how they were punished); E (because God was called ‘Elohim’). This idea, of four authors, lasted for another few centuries.

More recently, after lots of debate by scholars (who like to challenge each other’s assumptions) they have decided that actually, it is unlikely that there were definitely four authors. May have been more, may have been less. However, they are all agreed (which is rare) that there was certainly a ‘priestly’ writer (or writers). Some texts have a distinct style (in the Hebrew) and can be lumped together as coming from one text (even if it evolved over time).

Back to The Consuming Fire—this book takes just the texts thought to be ‘priestly’ texts, and has put them all together. Mrs Feldman says that at one time they existed as a single text, so we should read them now as a single text. She also changes the language a little (I especially like this bit!) as she wants her translation to reflect how we think today. (She speaks American I think, but we will forgive her that.) So she has avoided ‘biblical’ language (the language that only appears in the Bible today). Things like ‘hardened his heart’—who actually says that today? Or ‘bloodguilt’? (We say ‘he has blood on his hands’ which means the same thing, and its easier for us to understand the concept.) Mrs Feldman has tried to write a translation that we understand—though not one that we can relate to. The concepts within the text are ancient ones, we do not consider women to be ‘contaminated’ after childbirth, for example. It is an ancient text, and we should read it as an ancient text, but this translation allows us insight into how those ancient people thought. Mrs Feldman has also (another thing I like) been honest about the words that we don’t understand, and has stated this in her translation. Sometimes, we don’t know what the Hebrew meant, and rather than writing a possible translation (which readers then accept as ‘truth’ because ‘it’s in the Bible, isn’t it!’) she has been clear that actually, we don’t have a clue.

What is the point of this, you may be wondering? Well, I think if we try to understand what those ancient authors were trying to communicate, if we read texts in the correct context, we will understand it better. If we think about why some of the details are there, we may begin to understand how they are relevant for us. I doubt any of you, when you read about the dimensions of the temple, think ‘It’s great I know these numbers and measurements, because now I can build my own temple on the playing field next to the scout’s hut!’ So why are they there? What were the priestly writers trying to say? What was their point?

Now, my final note before you make a drink and add the book to your Christmas list—does all this talk about multiple authors mean the Bible can’t be trusted? Does examining a text in detail, taking it apart, thinking about what the author intended—well, does all that take away its authority? Does it reduce the Bible to just another ancient text? I think not. I believe the Bible, especially the Old Testament/Hebrew Canon, has great authority. I believe that we meet God there, and meeting with God changes us. For me, the text was inspired by God, and he uses it today to teach us truth. I don’t think that having several authors means God wasn’t able to inspire what was written, or what was edited, or what was preserved and translated. We don’t have to pretend it isn’t an ancient text. We don’t have to pretend we understand all of it. We don’t have to pretend that every single dot and dash and comma has existed throughout history until it landed in your shiny English version. God can, and has, worked through different people in different eras. If we let him, God can still change us through our reading of the text—no matter how many people were involved in its writing, editing, translation, copying.

Time to stop writing now, and read to learn more. Hope you have a great day.

Take care.
Love, Anne x