ISRAEL’S STORY

THE PREFACE
GENESIS 1-11
•Gen 1-11 is considered prehistory
•A collection of remembrances and theological
reflections.
•It is a preface to the Exodus.
•This preface belongs to two basic sources:
1.Yahwist
2.Priestly.
 YAHWIST (J) SOURCE
•This came earlier.
•IT joined several old stories and myths and rewrote
them to fit its religious message about Yahweh.
•Humankind was created by God.
•Other creatures were created for human use.
•All this because of God’s goodness
•Sin entered the word because of human
disobedience
•God sent the flood to punish humanity and spare
Noah.
YAHWIST PASSAGES
•The Garden of Eden Gen 2-3
•The sin of Cain G.4
•The Giants G.6
•A flood G. 6-9
•Table of nations G.10
•Tower of Babel G.11
•Story of Abraham
PRIESTLY (P) SOURCES
•Is in universalistic in approach
•Creation of the world Gen 1
•First list of Patriarchs Adam – Noah Gen.5
•A flood story Gen 6-9
•2 list of Patriarchs, Shem to Abraham G.11
nd

•The story of Abraham

•The P writers were the final editors of
Genesis.
 PRIESTS AND TEMPLE SCHOOLS
EVIDENCE
• Creation story in G 1 has the refrains and solemn tones
of liturgical prayer.
• It emphasizes blessings and sacrifices, a part of religious
ceremonies.
• It maintains an interest in precise genealogy lists, a task
of ancient temple scribes who kept the birth marriage
and death records.
• It stresses the covenant that God makes with all humans.
Priestly Creation Story and the Enuma Elish ANET
Priestly Enuma Elish ANET 66
1. Divine Spirit 1. Divine spirits
2. Darkness covers earth 2. Chaos, war of gods
3. Light 3. Against the sea
4. Sky dome 4. Light from the gods
5. Dry land 5. Firmament (dome)
6. Heavy lights 6. Dry land
7. Creation of man 7. Heavenly lights
8. Rest 8. Creation of man
 DIFFERENCES (P’S THEOLOGY)

•One God.
•Created the orderly world from his goodness.
•Matter is good.
•He created by word.
•Human beings created in his own image.
•Had to procreate, rest, and know God personally.
•The Epic of Gilgamesh and the flood
page 103
•Noah vs. Gilgamesh
Genesis 1-11 Myth or History?.
Challenges to History
• No particular facts that can be located in a given
moment.
• No eye witness reports.
• No connections to other events that are known.
• The dates cannot be reconciled with scientific findings,
about the age of the earth.
• The given ages do not conform to the ages given by
anthropologists.
• Gods spoke to people.
 MYTHS: TYPES
•Stories about creation.
•Stories of gods, of the legendary heroes of old,
or of the origins of customs and ethnic groups.
•Etiological myths explain the causes of
something, such as names of holy places,
origins of certain customs, etc.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF MYTH
• It allows us to speak of events that happened at the
beginning of time.
• Not worried about scientific exactitude.
• Concerned about the inner meaning of what happened,
and its purpose.
• Concerns itself about divine beings and their relationship
with humanity.
• Are not historical in the modern strict sense.
• Myth uses common symbols, e.g. water.
 TWO LEVELS OF MYTH
1. A story using traditional motifs and themes.
2. Myth is theological – explains the relationship
between God and humanity.
•NB: The Israelites demythologized the myths,
the destroyed the heart of the myth. They
reinterpreted the myth in light of the one true
God who the worshiped.