The J source is singled out by David Rosenberg in his The Book of J as being written by a member of Solomon's extended family living in the cosmopolitan court of Solomon's son and perhaps among the earliest writing, but more sophisticated than later additions
Rosenberg sees the J source as artistic, while other portions of the Pentateuch he considered more didactic. He thought the writer of J was relatively secular in perspective and literary style as compared especially to the P (Priestly) and the D (Deuteronomic) sources, which were written centuries later.
The Creation Story of Genesis 1:1-2:3 "was developed in Babylon during
the Jewish Captivity as a direct rebuttal to the Babylon myth"
of Marduk, who was thought to have slain his mother; from her body the
cosmos came into being. Later he murdered another god, from whose
blood came human beings, created to serve the gods
(Wink page 45).
In contrast the Hebrew myth portrays a good God who creates a
good cosmos;
violence entered later through
poor choices of human creatures. The cosmos suffered a
Fall, but it is to be
redeemed.
The Babylonian myth began in violence, led to violent
conquests, war, enslavement, and unfortunately has dominated human
society down to the present time (see
Wink).
What we perceive as the continuous warfare between good and evil
really represents the struggle between the domination system, with its
myth of redemptive violence and the gospel. We see war in heaven
between the Kingdom of God and the Prince of this World. Soldiers of
the second use violence and unimaginable cruelty; those of the first
use the
the whole armour of God.
1:1 There were many creation stories before and after this one was written. We have no earthly way of knowing just what it meant to the ancient Hebrews. It is poetry, and it has meant different things to different people ever since and even today.
The earliest writing was J and E, based largely upon the
use of Jehovah or Elohim as appelations for God. The first
few chapters of Genesis show two different "creation
stories", written successively by J and E.
(At a certain level of comprehension these matters become
significant, but beginners may not want to complicate their
introduction of the Bible in this way, and need not in order
to gain great benefit from the reading.)
1:6 The New International Version of the Bible
translates this verse like this:
"And God said, "Let there be an expanse between
the waters to separate water from water."
1:10 Notice that this refrain is repeated after each of the day's
work-- in 1:12, 1:18, 1:21, 1:25, and in the 6th day God added
'very good'.
In this way the writer of Genesis indicates that the creation was very
good, and there is no mention or suggestion of any original sin.
2:1-2 These are interesting verses, especially contemplating what
various people do with them: fundamentalists take this as evidence that
creation is done. Other more progressive scholars believe that the
work of creation still goes on. Here are two resources pointing in
that direction:
Fritz Kunkel's
masterful commentary on Matthew and a statement of
religious science on the subject.
2:3 This of course is the institution of the sabbath.
2:4 We will see this phrase 9 more times: 8 in Genesis and 1 in
Ruth, successively for
Noah and
the sons of Noah
Shem (father of
Semites)
Terah
Ishmael
Isaac
Esau
Jacob
Pharez
3:5-7 Note the occurrence of eyes in each of these three verses. The serpent tells them their eyes will be opened and sure enough they are when they eat the fruit. We may perceive this as a dawn of (moral) consciousness.
3:22 Here we learn about a second tree, the tree of life. These two trees follow us all the way through the Bible. The two trees closely resemble the two paths or ways that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7. Choosing the narrow way is tantamount to eating the tree of life, at least eventually.
3:24 The
Cherubims and the flaming sword are perhaps the most
extravagantly mythopoeic figures of this story. It's a way of saying,
you can't go back.
But Blake had a different idea in the
Marriage of Heaven and Hell,
Plate 14: "the cherub with his flaming sword is hereby
commanded to leave his guard at the tree of life, and
when he does, the whole creation will be consumed, and
appear infinite. and holy whereas it now appears finite
and corrupt." Jesus in Matthew 7 sorrowfully intimated
that "few they be" that reach that point.
4:2 We may surmise that between Cain and Abel there was a rivalry, and perhaps ill will. Is this an echo of the age old rivalry and ill will between farmers and herders? Between homesteaders and ranchers?
History shows that herders represented a more primitive social development and were largely succeeded by farmers where the land was arable.
Look at the
story of the
Prodigal and Elder Sons.
Could Jesus have used Abel and Cain as sources for his parable? in
each case the one who worked in the field was proud, and resentful.
And this is
Life?- Toil! and wherefore should I toil?- because
My father could not keep his place in Eden?
What had I done in this? - I was unborn:
I sought not to be born; nor love the state
To which that birth has brought me. Why did he
Yield to the Serpent and the woman? or
Yielding - why suffer? What was there in this?
The tree planted, and why not for him?
If not, why place him near it, where it grew
The fairest in the center? They have but
One answer to all questions, "'Twas his will,
And he is good." How know I that? Because
He is all-powerful, must all-good, too, follow?
I judge but by the fruits- and they are bitter-
Which I must feed on for a fault not mine.
(close this window when finished.)
5:24 This verse has a special meaning in Hebrew theology: it expresses the universal belief that one could not see God and live.
6:2 According to the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary the "sons of
God" here mean the descendants of Seth, and the "daughters of men"
mean the descendants of Cain. An interesting idea!
6:4 Gregory J. Riley, in Many Christs (page 39) points out
that in Greek mythology the heros were most often offspring
of a male God and a human mother (usually a virgin). One
can't help wondering if that didn't have something to do
with the composition of this verse (unless of course you
believe that Moses wrote it).
It also bears an interesting relationship to the virgin
birth of Jesus.
6:5 As you go through the Bible you encounter
repeated instances of this general theme: the people become worse and
worse, but there is a saving remnant. Often, as in this story, the
bad people are simply removed.
10:8 The Jerusalem Bible translates this as "the first potentate on
earth".
Tradition makes Nimrod the found of
Babel (which became Babylon) and the original of the God Marduk, and
hence of oldest source of the domination system of
Wink and
Borg.
For more on Nimrod look at
this file in Lambert Dolphin's Library.
The abrahamic stories beginning here are thought by many interpreters to be mythic (fictional), although archeological records of the period have been found naming Abraham. The basis of the theory includes the fact that many peoples have recorded parallel stories for their origins. David Rosenberg, in The Book of David, elaborates this theory citing Apollo's promise of land to the Greeks.
13:31 Haran was up the Euphrates, relatively close to its source, but still a long way from Canaan.
14:18 These verses are all we know about Melchizedek. Critically
important, they serve to point the direction and spiritual evolution
of Abraham to the understanding of one universal God, the devlopment
of monotheism. Salem, the seat of Melchizedek, became Jerusalem, the
seat of the Hebrew God. Melchizedek becomes a
topic
describing the nature of Jesus in the book of
Hebrews, comparing Melchidezek's bread and wine with The Lord's
Supper.
17:2 According to Gregory
J. Riley in his Many Christs (1997), page 24, this was the
first of three covenants between God and the Israelites;
22:17-18 Another statement of the twofold promise.
22:20ff Abraham learns of the family of his brother, Nahor, still in
the land of Haran. Nahor's granddaughter, Rebecca, was to
become Isaac's wife.
chapter 23: Sarah dies and is buried, a story I see little
significance in.
25:31ff In the combined story of the mess of pottage and the plot of
Rebecca and Jacob against Isaac we see another case of the elder son
getting the short end. In itself just another repulsive Old
Testament story, the mythopoeic dimension gives it significant
meaning: the older son represents the older culture, which gives way
to the newer one, i.e. hunting to agriculture, outlaw to civilized
man. It's true of the other cases as well, but in this instance the
writer also used it to explain the long term enmity between
the mountainous kingdom of Edom, south of the Dead Sea, and
Israel.
Chapter 26 I can't see much in this story other than a repeat of his
parents' experience in Egypt, told in chapter 12. Looking
mythopoetically one wonders what the writer means to say about the
encounter of the chosen people [person] with more backward peoples.
Both Abraham and Isaac seem to have had an unwarranted fear and
suspicion of the foreigners with whom they were sojourning: the
Egyptians in Abraham's case and the Philistines in Isaac's.
26:3-4 Once again we read the two fold promise: a mighty nation and a
blessing to all nations.
26:15ff We're told that even to the present day nomads come into a
neighborhood with more acquisitive values than the populace, become
wealthy and have their wells poisoned. (written some time ago, I
believe.)
29:27 The word week in this case meant seven years.
29:31 The word does not have the connotation we put on it: for us it's
a superlative, but for them it simply meant less regard.
39:14ff "Hell hath no fury......"
Chapter 40 This part of the story serves to demonstrate Joseph's
psychological acuity, revealed by his insight into the fate of the
butler and the baker. It also gives a good rationale for Joseph's leap
up to the function of court interpreter.
Chapter 41 Here Joseph interprets Pharoah's dream predicting seven
years of abundance and seven of famine: the author prepares for
the coming of Joseph's family (for famine relief) and for their
sojourn in Egypt. This led, like the case of Joseph, to a level of
"hybrid vigor" that made them capable in due course of taking over the
Promised Land .
45:5 Here is the climax of the Joseph story with its meaning: God's
business is always to turn our evil into a more ultimate good.
45:6 Earing is Old English for plow. Look also at
Isaiah 30:24
Goshen was in the flood plain of the Nile below (north of) Cairo.
Here Joseph settled his family, who in the course of time became a
very large tribe, who were enslaved by the Egyptian and put to work
making bricks (probably for pyramids and other massive structures).
45:18 This indicates that the Hebrews started out in Egypt
as a specially privileged people. In the next
400 years they were to fall a long way.
46:34 Perhaps this helps us understand why they declined so in the
future. It sounds like the age old controversy between farmers and
herders.
47:14ff All this makes Joseph sound like the first and greatest
monopolist in
history.
48:19 Another instance of the younger son surpassing.
Recall that Israel (Jacob) was the younger son, his father
(Isaac) was the younger son, Abel, and many others. It
seems to me to express a rather fundamental psychological
probability that the younger (raised by experienced parents)
has an advantage.
49:3ff Interesting that Reuben, the
first born, messes up again, just like Cain did, this time
by sleeping with one of his father's concubines
(Genesis 35:22) .
49:8 It was through Judah that Christ
came down.
50:20 Here is another beautiful expression of the relative
activity of man and God. Joseph's brothers, of course,
represent the shortcomings of us all, but over it is placed
the forgiveness and power of God.
12:8 Bethel is some 18 miles south of Shechem and 12 miles north of
Jerusalem.
12:10 Abraham's family had come from Ur, an ancient center of
civilization near the mouth of the Euphrates. Now with a famine
coming he took his family to Egypt, center of another acient
civilization. (There is some debate as to which of these
civilizations was the oldest.)
12:11ff The story of Abraham, Sarah, and Pharaoh is a rather
discreditable one by modern ethical standards, but one commentator
opined that it was undoubtedly a cause of much glee to the Hebrews,
how Abraham had hoodwinked Pharaoh. In general we have little reason
to expect modern ethical standards to apply in these ancient tales of
the Hebrews.
13:10 The road from Egypt to Palestine is desert, Zoar is the gateway
at the southwestern corner of the garden of the Jordan, close to
Sodom.
13:11 By plain the writer meant the valley.
13:18 Hebron is 20 miles south of Jerusalem and one of the oldest
towns known.
14:1ff These kings came from Mesopotamia, and they meant to conquer
Palestine, which through the centuries was a sort of no man's land or
boundary between the Mesopotamian empires and Egypt.
14:1b Although these names have some archealogical verification as
Mesopotamian kings, critical commentators consider this story quite
fanciful. They find this section foreign in comparison to the
rest of Genesis, and consider it a late interpolation. Hammurabi
of course was famous as the founder of the first Babylonian empire and
the originator of the Code of Hammurabi.
14:4 From this we gather that the Jordan area had been a vassal of
king Chedorlaomer, but rebelled. the Mesopotamians had come to put
down the rebellion.
14:5 Rephaims, etc. These were various tribes and localities
scattered around Palestine. You can see here a stage in the
transformation of the world from small scattered tribes to larger
political units. The Babylonian kings, like the Romans, spent most of
their time subduing tribes and attempting to weld them into
provinces. The process still goes on.
14:8 Perhaps the flood plain or the shallow south end of the Dead Sea.
15:1ff Chapter 15 reports an altogether unique mystical experience.
Not since Adam have we found someone talking with God. It will be
repeated later by Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah, among others. To
converse with God in this way is a pattern for our relationship with
God. Our God is a personal God who wants to be in relationship with
us, just as he was here with Abraham. He talks with any of his
children who will listen, and he also hears what they have to say.
And he must be a he or a she; it will not
suffice. My God is my Father.
15:6 Quoted by Paul in
Romans 4:3. We can be sure that the phrase,
believed in means much more than simple intellectual assent.
Abram's belief is expressed in his father's migration from Ur, his own
migration from Haran, and a host of other things he did believing it
was God's will.
15:13 In his vision Abraham learns about the Captivity and
Deliverance. This was not written by Abraham of course, but much
later than he lived.
16:1ff A convoluted tale concerning the birth of
Ishmael. Some of
the neighboring tribes were thought to be descendants of Ishmael.
Ishmael has an anomalous position in Hebrew history. The elder son of
Abraham, but not the child of promise: that was to come later, when
Abraham was 100 years old. (At the birth of Ismael he was only 86!)
(Ishmael fell into the common biblical pattern of elder sons
overshadowed by their younger brothers. Some other examples are Cain,
Esau, and the elder brother of the prodigal of Jesus' story.)
16:11 Note that Agar's word was from the angel of the Lord,
rather than The Lord Himself, as in Abraham's case. In the Bible this
is the most that ordinary people like Agar, the Egyptian woman, could
expect in the way of fellowship with God.
I have been calling our friend Abraham, although his name was Abram up
until this point. Here God renames him; Abram meant 'exalted father',
but Abraham means 'father of a multitude'.
18:2 In this visitation God appears in the form of three men, but
Abraham seems to understand that he's talking to God. Some of course
have related the three men to the three persons of the diety--namely,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. However the writer of this book had no
cognizance of the doctrine of the trinity. This is the only passage
in the Bible that I recall where God appeared as a person to someone,
although Isaiah "
saw the Lord high and lifted up" at his call.
18:10 and 14 This phrase, repeated in verse 14 was translated by
Moffatt as "I'll come back to see you next spring" ....and Sarah will
have a son. It makes sense.
18:18 Once again the two fold blessing: The Jews will become a great
and mighty nation, and they will be a blessing to everyone. We can
see the fulfilment of this--only in Christ.
18:23ff Here begins one of the most thrilling passages in the Old
Testament: Abraham has in his heart the love of God, but his vision of
God does not include that. So he proceeds to bargain for the
righteous people in Sodom--beginning with fifty and going down to
ten. And to each request the Lord gives his assent. (You can't help
wondering why Abraham didn't get down to one.)
18:33 It's interesting to note that this visit began with three men,
but it's the Lord who leaves.
19:1ff The story of Sodom and Gomorrah, like the Flood, can only be
seen as a parable of how God deals with evil. Fleeing from the city
Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. Lot also
looked back later, but it must have been a different kind of looking
back. We do know that Lot was not quite the kind of quality person
that Abraham was, as later events unfold.
19:30ff This discreditable story, according to interpreters, was
chosen to describe the origin of the Moabites and the Ammonites, two
tribes that Israel had little use for.
20:1ff This story has little to offer, being essentially a repetition
of the sojourn in Egypt reported in chapter 12.
21:9ff Bowing to his wife's ill temper Abraham expelled Hagar and
Ishmael. But God had good plans for them.
21:21 The wilderness of Paran was the desert area south of Palestine
and north of Sinai.
22:1ff To get the essential meaning of a story like this, one has to,
so to speak, read between the lines. Note that in the cultural and
spiritual mileu of Abraham's day a common religious rite was child
sacrifice. (Maybe it was an early form of population control.) At
any rate after God had miraculously given a son to Abraham and Sarah,
Abraham conceived the idea that God wanted him to sacrifice his dearly
beloved only [legitimate] son; and he took him up on the mountain for
that grisly purpose. But God stopped his knife and provided a ram
instead.
22:8 The lamb of course prefigures that "
lamb of God who takes away the
sins of the world". The whole story in the mind of the New Testament
writer is a prophecy of the crucifixion and resurrection, perhaps even
the origin of the idea in the mind of Jesus. (If so, in that
particular case God didn't provide the ram (another lamb)!)
22:14 The word is said to mean "God will provide". Josephus, in his
history of the Hebrew nation opined that this is the place where the
temple was built by Solomon (in the heart of Jerusalem), but that has
been debated by modern scholars.
chapter 24: Abraham sends his servant with ten camels to get a wife
for Isaac among his kinsmen. Rebecca miraculously appears at the well
in Haran, providing water for the servant and the camels. Her family
gives her to the servant to be Isaac's wife. So far as I can see a
fairly inconsequential story, in which the writer tries to emphasize
the purity of the Hebrew race.
25:21 Note that Isaac and Rebecca both talk to God in the way Abraham
did.
25:25 Note that Esau, the first twin came out first, and was thus
officially the first born, and his father's favorite. As you read on,
do you get the idea that the writer has something he wants to say
about older and younger siblings? Remember Cain and Abel, and also
Ishmael and Isaac. Are these stories historical?
25:26 I don't know if the writer meant this, but doesn't the heel
remind you of
something else that happened
earlier in Genesis?
25:30 Esau was given a mountainous country south of the Red Sea, which
was named Edom. There was bitter enmity between Edom and Israel
for many generations.
26:1 The Philistines were a people and culture with whom the Hebrews
periodically warred. Look for example at the stories of
Samson.
26:34 The Hittites were inveterate enemies of the Hebrews; they were
said to be descended from Heth, the son of Canaan. They are fairly
obscure in the Old Testament, but archaelogists in the 19th century
found evidence of a large kingdom in the north called Hittites, who
could stand their own against Egypt and other world powers.
28:6 We have finally come to the end
of the sad story (27:1-28:5) about the plot of Rebecca and Jacob: it
falls very short of modern moral standards, but as a mythopoeic story
it teaches us once again that the younger type and culture will take
precedence over the older one.
28:14 Here is the promise again, this time given to Jacob, whose name
is just about to be changed.
28:22 Is this the origin of the tithe? Or maybe just the first
mention of it.
29:9 The story of Jacob choosing Rachel has considerable resemblance
to the earlier
story of her aunt being chosen for his father's wife.
29:17 "soft blue eyes-- thought a blemish" according to
Robert Jamieson.
29:23 A dirty trick indeed. But when you remember that Jacob had
cheated his brother, Esau, out of his inheritance, it begins to look
like poetic justice. (Life has a habit of doing that sort of thing to
us.)
30:28ff Jacob has discharged his debt and now owns Rachel and Leah
and their children. Laban pretends generosity, but Jacob refuses it
and offers to take the spotted animals for his own. Jacob was
managing the flocks for Laban, and there had been a large increase.
31:1ff By this time hostility had grown up, and Jacob knew it was time
to get out of there, because as the sacred word says, God told him.
31:19ff Rachel took the family god [idol]; this practice was not
frowned on until much later in the Hebrew's spiritual
development (we can see from these stories that it was quite primitive
at this point).
31:20 "Jacob stole away": he needed to do this because he was aware
that Laban might keep him by force or artifice.
31:23 Mt. Gilead is a beautiful mountainous region east of the Jordan.
Jacob was almost home by the time Laban caught up with him.
31:54 The word is used often in Genesis, usually indicating kinfolk,
but sometimes more generally. The writer apparently means the men who
came with Laban. Oftentimes hospitality forestalls hostility.
32:1 This seems primarily to denote once again that Jacob is the man
of the promise and that God was with him in a special way upon his
return to the Promised Land.
32:2 Mahanaim became a town on the east side of the Jordan and had
some prominence during Old Testament days.
32:7 Jacob's guilty conscience re stealing Esau's inheritance of
course made him terrified at the idea of meeting Esau with his 400
men. In N.T. parlance 400 is a good round number signifying a lot of
men.
This whole story presents one of the most interesting psychological
pictures in the Bible. Jacob was about to meet Esau and God. A
speckled bird if there ever was one, Jacob had God's blessing, riches,
large family, and he knew he was a sinner.
32:28 Israel means wrestler with God or warrior for God. The name has
an interesting further history: it came to be used for the nation,
then for all the nation except Judah [Judea], the tribes which became the
Northern Kingdom, and then once again for the nation reothering, after
the Northern Kingdom had been carried away into slavery.
32:31 Peniel was the face of God and Penuel was the mountain
beside it--and a town of that name.
34:1ff Here begins another ugly story, that simply gets uglier and
uglier verse by verse. I must confess that I see no point or
spiritual dimension to the 34th chapter.
35:11 In this final blessing of God to Jacob he uses the words that he
had for Adam and then for Noah: "be fruitful and multiply". This
signifies a new beginning, the initiation of the new population, the
Chosen People, with whom God means to bless the world.
35:13 Karen Armstrong: "Jacob experienced no more theophanies. Indeed
God would make no further appearance in Genesis" (In the Beginning,
page 93). Not entirely true as we shall see.
35:15 The same verse appears earlier, from which we may conclude that
more than one source was used in compiling Genesis. Interpreters do
in fact speak of the P source and the J source.
35:16 Ephrath was the ancient name of Bethlehem.
The disorder of Jacob's family life reaches its inevitable climax with
the hatred of Joseph's brothers and their attempt to destroy him.
37:3b What might the coat of many colors symbolize? For me it points
to the obvious fact that Joseph's brothers were tribalists, but he was
an individual.
37:5 The story of Joseph's dream indicates that the spoiling of Joseph
by his father led to his inevitable inflation.
37:18 At this point the story reaches its sorriest point.
Chapter 38 I find the story here basically meaningless and so pass
over it without further comment.
39:2 A house slave rather than a field hand. All southerners know
what that means.
39:4 Slave to overseer! a big step up: this suggests that Joseph must
have been a good bit brighter than the people thereabouts. In addition
he had the kind of "hybrid vigor" characteristic of a person who has
creatively experienced two different cultures.
39:7 As easy as it was for Joseph to get ahead, it was just as easy to
get in jail through no fault of his own other than being too
atttractive.
If you have stayed with me this far, you most likely agree
with me that these are barbaric stories, much like the other
various mythologies that have fed the spirit of the western
world. (William Blake, in
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,
had something to say about this.)