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Genesis Documentation

The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. It can be divided into two parts: the Primeval history which describes God's creation of the world and relationship with humankind, and the Ancestral History which tells of the ancestors of Israel and God's promises to them. Tradition credits Moses as the author of Genesis and other books, but modern scholars see it as being composed between the 6th and 5th centuries BC. The theological importance of Genesis centers on the covenants linking God to the Israelites and their promised land.

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32 views2 pages

Genesis Documentation

The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. It can be divided into two parts: the Primeval history which describes God's creation of the world and relationship with humankind, and the Ancestral History which tells of the ancestors of Israel and God's promises to them. Tradition credits Moses as the author of Genesis and other books, but modern scholars see it as being composed between the 6th and 5th centuries BC. The theological importance of Genesis centers on the covenants linking God to the Israelites and their promised land.

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jyfkgh
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Document 1

The Book of Genesis (from the Latin Vulgate, in turn borrowed or transliterated from Greek
"γένεσις", meaning "Origin"; Hebrew: ‫אשית‬ ִׁ ‫בְּ ֵר‬, "Bərēšīṯ", "In [the] beginning") is the first book
of the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh) and the Old Testament.[1] It is divisible into two parts, the
Primeval history (chapters 1–11) and the Ancestral history (chapters 12–50).[2] The primeval
history sets out the author's (or authors') concepts of the nature of the deity and of humankind's
relationship with its maker: God creates a world which is good and fit for mankind, but when
man corrupts it with sin God decides to destroy his creation, saving only the righteous Noah to
reestablish the relationship between man and God.[3] The Ancestral History (chapters 12–50)
tells of the prehistory of Israel, God's chosen people.[4] At God's command Noah's descendant
Abraham journeys from his home into the God-given land of Canaan, where he dwells as a
sojourner, as does his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob. Jacob's name is changed to Israel, and
through the agency of his son Joseph, the children of Israel descend into Egypt, 70 people in all
with their households, and God promises them a future of greatness. Genesis ends with Israel in
Egypt, ready for the coming of Moses and the Exodus. The narrative is punctuated by a series of
covenants with God, successively narrowing in scope from all mankind (the covenant with
Noah) to a special relationship with one people alone (Abraham and his descendants through
Isaac and Jacob).[5]

In Judaism, the theological importance of Genesis centers on the covenants linking God to his
chosen people and the people to the Promised Land. Christianity has interpreted Genesis as the
prefiguration of certain cardinal Christian beliefs, primarily the need for salvation (the hope or
assurance of all Christians) and the redemptive act of Christ on the Cross as the fulfillment of
covenant promises as the Son of God.

Tradition credits Moses as the author of Genesis, as well as the books of Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers and most of Deuteronomy, but modern scholars increasingly see them as a product of
the 6th and 5th centuries BC.[6][7]

Contents
 1 Structure
 2 Summary
 3 Composition
o 3.1 Title and textual witnesses
o 3.2 Origins
o 3.3 Genre
 4 Themes
o 4.1 Promises to the ancestors
o 4.2 God's chosen people
 5 Judaism's weekly Torah portions
 6 See also
 7 Notes

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