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    Genesis 1-11 - Commentary by Robert Davidson (Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature, University of Glasgow)

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    Genesis 1-11 - Commentary by Robert Davidson (Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature, University of Glasgow)

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as pdf
    631 views64 pages

    Genesis 1-11 - Commentary by R. Davidson

    Uploaded by

    Luciana
    Genesis 1-11 - Commentary by Robert Davidson (Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature, University of Glasgow)

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    GENESIS 1-11 COMMENTARY BY ROBERT DAVIDSON Profesor of Olt Testament Language and Literate, Universty of lagen i yt Tee rate| i a ey CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1973 Publabad by the Syn of te Carbvidge Univesity Pres “Bemley Howe, 200 Heston Road, Landen Wr 258 ‘American Branche 28 Tas 7s Stet, New York, #10522 (© Cambridge Univenicy res 1973 Library of Congres Caalgue Cad Number: 72-93675 321 obsi8 shard covers 2 334 op7ta 6 prperback Printed in Crest Brin at the Unicectty Printing Howe, Combe (Grocks Cevtchley, Univety Prats) GENERAL EDITORS’ PREFACE The aim of this series is to provide the text of the New English Bible closely linked to a commentary in which the results of modern scholarship are made available to the general reader. Teachers and young people have been especially kept in mind, The commentators have been asked to assume no specialized theological knowledge, and no knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. Bare references to other literamare and naultiple refeseness to other parts of the Bible have been avoided. Actual quotations have been given as often as posible. The completion of the New Testament part of the series in 1967 provides a basis upon which the production of the much larger Old Testament aud Apocrypha series can be undertaken. ‘The welcome accorded to the seties ‘has been an encouragement to the editors to follow the same gencral patter, and an attempt has been made to take account of criticisms which have been offered, One necessary change is the inclusion of the translators’ footnotes since in the Old Testament these are more ‘extensive, and essential for the understanding of the text. ‘Within the severe limits imposed by the size and scope of the series, ach commentator will attempt to sez out the main findings of recent biblical scholarship and to describe the historical background to the text. The mnain theologi cal issues will also be critically discussed Much attention bas been given to the form of the volumes. The to produce books each of which will be read consecutively fom first to last page, The GENERAL EDITORS” PREFACE introductory material leads naturally into the text, which itsefleads into the alternating sections of the commentary. ‘The series is accompanied by three volumes of a more general character. Understonding the OU Testament sets out to provide the lager historical and archaeological back~ ground, to say something about the lifeand thought of the people of the Old Testament, and to answer the question ‘Why should we study the Old Testament?’, The Making ofthe Old Testament is concerned with the forma- tion of the books of the Old Testament and Apocrypha in the context of the ancient near eastern world, and with the ways in which these books have come down to us in the life of the Jewish and Christian communities. Old ‘Testament Hlustrations contains maps, diagrams and photo graphs with an explanatory text. These three volumes are designed to provide material helpful to the understanding of the individual books and their commentaries, but they are also prepared s0 as to be of use quite independently. PRA. ARGL JW. CONTENTS ‘The foomotes to the NEB. text page ix Bee ee Behind the book r The sources of the book 2 ‘The purpose of Genesis 11 8 ‘The meaning of myth, 9 bee Re ee ee The creation of the world n The beginnings of hisory 2 ‘The flood and the tower of Babel 6 eee eRe ee ‘A NOTH ON FURTHER READING 15 inpEx us EDITOR'S PREFACE wish gratefully to acknowledge the help I have received in the preparation of this commentary from the general editors, Profesor P.R. Ackroyd, Professor A.R.C. Leaney and the Rev. J. W. Packer. Their incisive com~ ments have helped at many points co clarify my own thinking; their eagle eyes have rid the manuscript of many exrors. Those which remain are my responsibility. 1 am alo indebted to Mrs Carol Weimar for typing. asistance and to Miss Moyra McCallum for proof reading and the preparation of the index. A commentator ‘on Genesis is fortunate in the material on which he can draw. My indebtedness to previous commentators will bbe evident to all who bave any acquaintance with the subject. Some of the books which have been most helpful to me will be found listed at the end of this volume. RD. ‘THE FOOTNOTES TO THE NEB. TEXT ‘The footnotes to the NEED. test ae designed to help the reader cither to understand paricule pots of devi ~the meaning of tame, the presence ofa play upon words ~ ot t give infomation shout the acmal rex. Wherethe Hebrew txt appess tobe erroneous, ‘or here is dou above im precise meaning, f may be necosary to fur to manoscrpts which offer a diferent wording, or t9 ancint tealations of the text which may augget herr reading, or to ‘offs a new exphnation bused upon conjecture In sich e355, the Focenots supaly very briely an indication of the evidence, and ‘whethce the soltion propcaed i one tha is rzarded ae posse or 25 probsbl. Various abbreviations ate wad in dhe footnotes (f) Some abbrevistons ace simply of terms wed in explsning 4 point: eH), chapter): compares lit, leellys mm. meng: AMS{S), mavwsin(), 2. Hebrew mancscript(), len otherwise saws om, om on nding an aleernmive mepetation; pore, posses pro, probable: de, readings Ya) Vesion(). (0) Otherabrevatonsindieatesrcesofingarmation Eom which ‘ter interpretation or readings may be obeained 4g. Aquila, & Greck teanstor of the OW Testament (pechape Shout Am. 139) charscterizd by great licens ‘Avan. Aransie~ may rele to the tex in thi Iaguage (ose in ‘ars of Eea and Darel or 0 the meaning of on Arantnc word. Aramaic belongs to the same linge fry as Hebrew, and is lznown from about 1000 Rc. over aide ara of te Middle Fst, including Pate “Het. Hebrew may refer o the Hebrew text at may indicate the Titers meaning of the Hebrew word. psephus Havas Josephus (4.0. 37/-abou io), sathoe ofthe Jowtsh beet recto oe eee ieeonc aera partly at lease 0 anion-Jewishaacionce, and ofariousosher corks, totaly one on the Javish War (that of an. 6-73) and a defence of fads (pin pin. Tete Sep, Laces racsnion ofthe Sepingint, a innporant edition thade in Antioch in Syria aboot che end ofthe tied century 4.9. Push, Pesta oF Pshito, the Syriac version ofthe Old Testament, FOOTNOTES TO THE NEB, TEXT Sys isthe name given ciel to fem of Ease Aramaic ‘ely che Chitin community The aan vat in qealy, tiie at many poi infcnced by the Sepmagint oe the Tasers Son, SatsarianPetench~ the form of theft ive books ofthe ‘OW Teste x wed bythe Sarton commnniy. es writen £5 Hebrew in a specal form ofthe O1! Hebrew sp, and pee teres on impor frm ofthe te, somewhat inflenced by Setar tee Soa) Sxl), commonly ced the Dead Sea Sra, Found a loc ear Quon fom 1547 onward. The mportant mansrigts shea ght on the sate ofthe Hebrew texto ws developing in the bt cet nan the fet cig a, Spr. Sepiagot (mesing “seventy; ofien sbbrevinted as the ‘Roman numeral (xs), he mane gven fo the mais Greck venion ofthe OU Testament, According to tren, the Pentsouch was tealtedin Bgypein he tid etry chy 70(0r 7) arts, {fem ach fe, bot te prec ature oft origin and develop rie & not filly owns Ic was intended eo provide Ged ‘peaking Jews wih «convenient: trancbton, Subseqealy ‘ane tobe rch evred by the Cian comunity. Sym, Sytmnachy bother Geek anor of the OM Testament Cerinning ofthe dd entry 0), who eels combine led ‘cr with good srl, Both Lican and Jerome viewed hs version ih vont Tag. Tang «nar given to vations Aramaic venios of the ‘Old Testiment, produced over slong pecod at evenly sanded, fr the me of Arinaicspeaking Jos. heed, Theodoton, the author of 9 tevsion of the Septagint (probably second cat A), very depend on the Hakew Vu. Volge, he mot impor Latin vein of the OW Test net, pode by Jerome shoot A400 and she text mt sed tieoughont he Mile Ags in wien Chany. =] the teil uate bakes te wed ro nda pooh late additions to the Hebrew text, aan Gol dcion of mb of thee pins may be fund in The Mating ofthe Oil Tene hi xi) GENESIS SF ee ee ee ee BEHIND THE BOOK We are aceastomed to think ofa book as a document written bby one person. The author's mame appears on the cover: the cite and place of publication are given. Often ina ‘Foreword? the author briefly explains for the benefit of his readers the purpose ofthe book. To understand Genesis, andl many thee books in the Old Testament, we have to think oxr way into a vory different world. ‘Writing was known and used from an exely age in Toracl and in the wider world of the Ancient Near Bast. Religious texts, letcers, political treaties survive ia written fori from a period before Israel as a nation ever existed. Writing, howe ever, Was a specialized skill, the possesion of the few. Tt was neither the only, nor the most important way of preserving and handing on information, Many of the traditions of a people, their carly tribal or national history, the stories and Jegends about theie ancestors, were handed down orlly, by word of mouth, from father to som, on the lips of teal bards and poets. Much of the material now in the book of Genesis must have begun life in this way. Such traditions ‘would have a generally accepted outline and content long before they were ever transferred into writing. Think of how imchangeable certain well-known storios become in the sind of young child before ever the child ean tead or write. ven aftce such traditions did exist in writing, for most people they would continue, living within che community, in oral form. But when and why were such traditions fist committed t9 ‘writing? There is good reason to believe that, as far as Total 1 The sourees ofthe book vwas concemned, the answer lies in the foundation and estas- lishment of the united Hebrew kingdom under David and Solomon in the tenth eentury 3.¢. Jerusalem then became the political and religious capital ofa people who were riding on the crest of military success and economic growth. Just as England in che reign of Queen Hlizabeth I produced great writers who reflect the confidence and vigour of the age, 40 in Isral of the tenth ecntury 1.c. the new national self consciousness found an outlet in writers who recorded the events of the day in narratives such as those now found in 2 Samuel 9~1 Kings 2, and gave literary form to the tradi tions of the past. Contemporary confidence and hopefulness for the future drew strength from the recording of a past in ‘which the purposive hand of God was seen at work, from the beginning, It has aso been argued that the written record did ‘not evally come into iss own until some four centuries later when Jerusalom was overrun by thc Babylonians. The last remnant of the once powerful Hebrew kingdom had finally collapsed. With the brcakdown of community life the con- tinuing stream of oral tradition was in danger of disappearing. ‘The need for written preservation of the nation’s past thus became acute. Whenever it happened-and both periods may have made theie conteibation to the book of Genesis ro one was concerned to preserve the names of the earliest Hebcew histosical writers ennsis 11 THE SOURCES OF THE BOOK ‘Traditionally in Jewish circles Genesis is called Bereshith, ‘tn the beginning’. This follows the common practice of designating a book by its opening word or phrase. The title *Geness’ comes from the Sepesagint (Lxx), the Greek teans lation of the Old Testament. Further information about che Sepcuagine will be found in “The footnotes to the N.E.B. text’ se p. xi, In Greek genesis means ‘origin’, ‘beginning’, ft ‘creation’, Bercshith is the fist of five books called in a The sources ofthe book ancient tradition ‘the (five) books of Moses’. These five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy = often referred to in modem discussion as the Pentatoch (the five books) constitute for the Jew TORAH, the most important part of the Old Testament. ‘Law’ is the conven= tional translation of TORAH but pecluaps ‘revelation? ‘would be nearer the mark. TORAH means the instruction cr teaching concerning God's purposes and demands which hhad been given to Israel, according to tradition, through Moses. It was eaely recognized that to attribute the whole of Genesis-Deateronomy to Moses was impossible. The obituary notice of Moses in Deuteronomy 34 is an obvious case in point, But ifnot Moses, then who? Isit indeed possible to think ofany oneauthor as responsible for Genesis-Deutero- noiny, or even for Genesis alone? ‘Three examples from Genesis will illustrate the problem. {) Anyone who reads from the beginning of Genesis aust become aware that the charactet of the writing changes between verses 4 and 5 of chapter 2. The N.E.B. indicates this by putting a major division of the text at his point. ‘The opening chapter is hyran-like, formal in steucture, very ‘arefally schematized. Certain key words and phrases occur aguin and again, eg. ‘God sad ... and soit was... Evening came and morning, came’. The deliberate use of repetition is well illustrated in 1: 37: "So God created man in bis own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.’ Throughout the chapter the lan guage used to describe God is very restrained and dignificd. From the words “When the Lor God made earth and hes ven", however, there is a rparked difference. Hereisnatcative, simple yet remarkably vivid. Cortain of the key words and phrases of chapter 1 have disappeared. Instead of *cceated” swe find ‘formed’ (2: 7). The language used to describe God is much more honiely. He is like a potter forming man; he breathes into man’s nosteils the breath of life (2: 7). He plants a garden (2: 8). He is heard ‘walking in the garden ot 3 cennsts 1-11 Gunnsts 111 The sources of the book the time of the evening breeze’ (5: 8). At precisly the point suhere such changes begin, a new name for God appears; hhc is now the Lob God. (i) Torn to the flood story in Genesis 6-8. Here again the story a it now lies before us is a curious patchwork of passages which use different divine names. In 6: 5-857: 1-5 and 8: 20-2 it s the Lonps but elsewhere itis God, with the exception of 7: x6 where within one-verse both God and the Loup appear. Furthermore, what the Lorp says to Noah in 7: 165 is curiously like a repetition of what God says to Noah in 6: 9-32, Repetition is common enough in ancient narrative texts, bur there also seem to be contradictions. In 6: 19 Noah is told by God to take with him into the atk living eceatares of every kind, ‘two of each kind, a male and a female’. In 7: 3, however, the Loro orders Noah to take with him into the ark ‘seven pairs, male and female, of all beasts that ate ritvally clean’, acceptable for use in sacrifice, ‘and one pait, snale and female, ofall beasts that are not clean; also seven pain, male and female, of every bied’. Again in 7: 4 the ‘Lop warns Noah that he will sad ‘rain over the earth for forty days and forty nights’, and this is described as happening in 7: 12, In 7: 24, however, God thinks of Noah ‘when the swaters had increased over the earth for « hundred and fifty cays’ i) Three times in Genesis a_very similar story is told of hhow one of the patriarchs passes off his wife as his sister. ‘Twice the narratives fearure Abraham and his wife Sarah, ‘once when they were in Egypt (12: 10-20), once when they ‘were resident in Gerar under the jurisdiction of King Abi- melech (20), Te third narrative concerns Issac and his wife Rebecca; again the third party involved is Abimelech, the Philistine king of Gerar (26: 1-12). Differences in style and vocabulary, duplicate narratives, ‘contradictions, different divine names such things occur at point after point throughout the first five books of the Old Testament. How do we account for them? 4 The sures ofthe book ‘As traditional stories, lavis and customs, were handed down orally within the Hebrew commenity, they would naturally tend to reflect the interes of the groups in whieh, they circulated, Thus basically the same story told in a ‘community in che northern part of the eosntey and in a ‘community in the southern part of the country would, in its

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