HEBREW BIBLE 1 David Moseley, Ph.D.
“In the Beginning…” (Genesis 1-11)
All references are to the Book of Genesis unless otherwise stated
Introduction to the Torah
v “Torah” (Hebrew) = Law / Instruction / Teaching / Path / Way
Ø Through Narratives & Legal Codes
v “Pentateuch” (Greek) = “Five Scrolls” (of Moses)
v “Torat Moshe” (Judaism) = “Instruction of Moses”
Introduction to Genesis
v “Genesis” (Greek) = “Beginning”
v “Bereshit” (Hebrew) = “In the Beginning…”
v Narratives of Primeval History and Ancestral History
1. Creation (1:1-2:25)
Ø First Creation Account (1:1-2:4a)
• Two Cycles of Three Days:
§ Days 1 & 4: Light § Days 2 & 5: Water § Days 3 & 6: Land
1. • Create Environment (Days 1-3) and then Fill it with Life / Content (Days 4-6)
Ø Second Creation Account (2:4b-25)
• Compare to Sequence of Creation in Genesis 1
Ø Themes of Creation Stories:
• Chaos and Order
• Hierarchy and Dominion
• Relationships:
§ God & Humanity § Humanity & Earth / Animals § Humanity & Humanity
2. The Fall (3:1-24)
Ø Genre of Genesis Pre-History:
• “Myths” and “Archetypes” – “Legend”
Ø Themes of The Fall:
• Paradise • Freedom • Relationships - Companionship • Power • Law / Limitation • Temptation • Knowledge • Good and Evil • Sin / Rebellion • Guilt
2. • Blame • Punishment • Gender and Hierarchy • Pain / Suffering /Work and Mortality
3. Cain & Abel (4:1-26)
Ø Breakdown of Relationship between God and Humanity in The Fall continues in
Breakdown of Humanity’s (Brotherly / Family) Relationships
Ø Note the Continuing “Anthropomorphisms” as applied to God
4. Genealogy from Adam to Noah (5:1-32)
Ø Note the extraordinary long lives of the Pre-Flood (“Antediluvian”) “Heroic” figures of
Jewish Legend, similar to Babylonian Genealogies
5. Noah and The Flood (6:5-9:28)
Ø Derivation from / Similarity with other Babylonia and Ancient Flood Sources:
th 1. Atrahasis - 18 Century B.C.E. Akkadian Epic 2. Berossus – Greek author who used lost Babylonian records and texts to compile the Babyloniaca in three books sometime around 290–278 B.C.E. 3. Gilgamesh - An Epic poem from 19th Century B.C.E. Mesopotamia, considered to be the world’s first truly great work of literature 4. Moses of Khoren - Prominent Armenian historian from Late Antiquity (5th Century C.E.) and the author of the History of the Armenians 5. Ziusudra – Section of the Eridu Genesis, containing Creation and Flood myths written in the Sumerian language and dated to around 1600 B.C.E.
Ø Intermingling of two similar but distinct accounts of the Flood story, (esp. in Genesis 7)
3. Ø Flood as Destruction and (Re-)“Creation 2.0”
Ø Seven Noachide Laws (9:1-7) & (New) Covenant with Noah (9:8-17)
Ø Cursing of Ham - Implications for Race Relations (Ham’s Descendants in Africa)
6. The Table of Nations (10:1-32)
Ø Repopulating of Earth from Descendants of Noah’s Three Sons, Centered in Canaan
where their “Kingdoms” Overlap
7. The Tower of Babel (11:1-9)
Ø The “Fall” (Again) – Wanting to Equal or Transcend God
Ø Tower of Babel = Ziggurats of Ancient Babylon
Ø Punishment (“Curse”) = Scattering Peoples & Confusion of Languages (“Babble”)
8. Genealogy from Shem to Terah (11:10-32)
Ø Abraham and Jews are Descendant of Noah’s Son, Shem – Hence, “S(h)emites”
4.