The Book of Genesis

About the Book

Genesis is the first book of the Bible, and in many ways, offers us the Bible in miniature. It is a book of beginnings, indeed it's original title in the ancient Hebrew was "Bere-Shith" - which translates "In the beginning,” which are the first words of the book. Parenthetically, that is the way many books in the Bible were originally named.

In both Jewish and Christian circles, Genesis is believed to have been written by Moses, who also is also believed to be the author of the next four books of the Bible. Those five books, known as The Pentateuch, (which means, "the five") are believed to have been written during the forty years when the Jews wandered in the wilderness, following the exodus from Egypt. It should be pointed out, however, that Genesis is made up of many stories of a traditional nature which may date back hundreds of years before Moses' time. It might be more accurate to say that Moses was the compiler of Genesis, drawing from oral histories and folk tales and weaving them together into a coherent narrative. The work was his, but the material was almost certainly traditional.

Many Biblical scholars, although certainly not all, believe that there are three specific sources represented in Genesis and the other books of the Pentateuch, which range in origin from the tenth to the fifth century BC. They are as follows:

The J strain: named for Jahweh, (Yahweh) which is the personal name for God in the Old Testament. The J strain is an amalgamation of divine revelation and scientific data.

The E strain: named for Elohim, which was one of the early names for God. This strain consists mainly of dreams and divine revelations.

The P strain: called, the "Priestly" strain, because it deals much more with the specifics of dates, details and descriptions, explaining, providing a bridge, as Priests do.

This can be confusing at times because there are instances when the three strains contradict one another, and in some sense, each has its own distinctive theology. It should also be said that while this theory is widely held, it cannot be conclusively proved. For all practical purposes, it is best to think of Moses as the author, understanding that he would have borrowed from a number of different sources in creating the book.

We should also understand that for a period of more than a thousand years, Genesis and the other books of the Pentateuch were subjected to editing and revision. Indeed, Genesis was not set in its final form, the form we read today, until about 250 BC, when the translation was made into the Greek. In your Bible study, you will come across the word "septuagint" (sept - TOO - uh - jint) which is the name given to that translation because it was done by 72 Jewish scholars who were brought to Egypt by Ptolemy II to translate the five books written by Moses.

The book of Genesis is important to us because it is the foundation for understanding the rest of the Bible. All of the great themes of the Bible are introduced in Genesis, and one of the pleasures in studying the book in detail is being able to pick them out when they appear. Christians, particularly, will find all of the theme's of Jesus' ministry in this remarkable book, which is not surprising, because he would have studied Genesis in essentially the same form that we will study it in these lessons...

About the Author

Richard Hughes is a former broadcast journalist, called “the dean of television editorialists in New York City,” and a Peabody Award winning television documentarian. Following a miraculous conversion, not unlike the Apostle Paul’s , he devoted himself to the study and teaching of the Bible. He currently teaches three Bible classes each week, one of which is broadcast on local media, and the religion pages on his web magazine, “The Blockhead Journal” take his teaching to upwards of 15,000 people each week. The address of The Blockhead Journal, which is now read in 110 countries, is http://www.blockhead.com. It also contains sections for current affairs, books, music, television, cooking, and travel. The Book of Genesis is the first of a series of Bible studies in this format. Scheduled for publication later in 2001 are The Book of Luke, Revelation and The Book of Acts. Hughes makes his home in North Carolina.