Genesis

GENESIS. - Name of the book with which the series of the Old Testament opens. It is derived from the Greek γένεσις and passed through the Septuagint version into Christian usage. The Hebrews call it by the word with which the book begins in Hebrew: Bērā'ith =

ry of the human race from its origins down to Abraham (chaps. 1-12); the history of the origins of the chosen people in the events of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the latter's sons (especially Joseph) down to the descent into Egypt of Jacob and his sons (chaps. 12-50).

The narrative, in its outward form, develops in 10 tōlāhēt. This word means "generations": then the effect of the generation — "the men generated." Thus "generations of Adam" is equivalent to history of the descendants of Adam.

II. THE AUTHOR AND THE LITERARY QUESTION

The solution of this important problem must be treated thoroughly together with the other books attributed to Moses (v. PENTATEUCO).

Here the question may be summarized briefly:

1) Internal arguments, but above all the very ancient tradition, both of the Synagogue and of the Church, say that the author is Moses himself, the great lawgiver.

2) Once the very detailed literary criticism of the sacred text had begun, and certain postulates of Hegelian philosophy concerning the evolution of the religious sense had been presupposed, one arrives at the theory of the Protestant J. Wellhausen (v.). It maintains that the work attributed to Moses by tradition is in fact the result of several source-documents, which arose in epochs far distant from one another, reworked and united into a single body — our present text — by one or more redactors. Thus the substantial attribution of this book to Moses is denied.

3) Setting aside the erroneous philosophical presuppositions, it must be said that literary criticism has opened very serious problems, which the Catholic must not ignore. It is by now certain that the history of the text of Gen., together with the other books of the Pentateuch, is quite obscure and complex. Particular indications show that the possibility of a notable reworking of the original text must be carefully studied.

Some of these indications are the following: a) Different use of the name of God: passages in which only Jahweh appears, others only 'Elōhīm, others Jahweh-'Elōhīm.

b) Diversity of language and style: for example, the stylistic distinction of the first chapter from the following ones is clear: the appearance of long lists of names in the midst of fresh popular narratives.

c) The so-called duplicates (= facts, it is claimed, narrated two and even three times in a slightly different form). For example, two narratives of the creation: two perils to Sarah's honor (Gen. 12 and 20): two flights of Hagar (Gen. 16 and 21), etc.

4) Taking into account similar phenomena found in Ps. and in Proc., the traditional judgment could be reconciled with the difficulties raised by criticism in the following way. The text of Gen., written substantially by Moses, had in its history two lines of manuscript-or oral tradition: one in the south (Judah), the other in the north (Israel). These lines differentiated the text (divine names, special vocabulary, slight divergences in the individual narratives, etc.). At a certain period these two lines were reunited by a redactor, partially preserving in the single remaining text the characteristics of the two traditions.

III. PARTICULAR PROBLEMS

The first eleven chapters are those that present themselves as extremely difficult to interpret. They must be interpreted very cautiously. In this regard, the following observations should be kept in mind:

1) The sacred author's purpose is to lead us through genealogies from Adam, who received the first messianic promise, down to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who were to give origin to the chosen people. Therefore: a) The period from Adam to Abraham (and also after Abraham, cf. the story of Esau and Jacob) has a peculiar eliminatory character, that is, the author, proceeding in his narrative, gradually excludes from the account the members and peoples who had no influence on the history of the restoration.

b) The narrative therefore, leaving aside the events of the collateral branches, fixes its attention on Seth and on his descendants Noah, Shem, Arphaxad, Terah, Abraham.

c) From this point of view, the opinion that holds that the narrative of the flood can be restricted only to the lineage among which Noah lived would not be to be condemned.

2) Chronology always remains a problem. It is evident that here we have only certain links of the chain. Otherwise one would have to place the creation of man only a few millennia before Christ: which is absolutely false. The omission of intermediate members, and the attribution of the term son or the like to grandsons and great-grandsons, is in accordance with the Semitic conception (cf. Mt. 1, 8).

3) The figures indicating the extraordinary longevity of the ancient patriarchs are probably to be seen in the light of a literary genre that is restored to us by numerical documents. That is: in Mesopotamia a king could have a twofold chronology, one real (at such an age - for example, 30 years - he begot x., after so many years - for example, 50 - he died...), another official, in which are summed the years of reign or of life of the kings subdued by him. This enormous sum of years is attributed to the victorious king as if he summed up in himself the glories of the vanquished kings. Such a system of computing the years can in some way give a glimpse of the path to be trodden in the solution of this biblical problem.

IV. THEOLOGICAL TEACHING

Per l'insegnamento teologico contenuto nel 1° capo v. ESAMERONE. Per il resto bastino le osservazioni seguenti:

1) The fundamental doctrine of man's elevation to the supernatural order, of original sin and of the promise of redemption is contained both in the expression and in the inspiration of the narrative of Gen. 2-3. These chapters represent the pivot around which the subsequent Genesis narratives gravitate.

2) The characteristic of elimination recalls the Pauline phrase "non volentis, neque currentis, sed miserentis est Dei" (Rom. 9:16). Certain gifts of God — here, being the depositaries of the messianic promises — are completely gratuitous. The elimination is a proof of this. In itself, guilt on man's part does not matter. It is in this light that the text also cited by St. Paul must be viewed: "God has loved Jacob, but hated (= has not elected) Esau" (ibid. 9:13).

3) Genesis teaches how the relations between the Divinity and man were conceived in the Old Testament: that is, under the idea of a pact or covenant. The sacred pact is in general a liberal concession by which God binds man to himself by means of laws and promises.

Nel Gen. si hanno probabilmente tre, certo due di questi patti sacri: a) with Adam (in the text there are the elements, not the name of a covenant) = grant of the earthly Paradise = promise of restoration; b) with Noah: expressly twice: the promise of preservation from the flood (6:18); the promise never to send the flood again (9:9).

4) The most famous one, with Abraham. This covenant is the culmination and the ultimate ratio of the second part of Genesis. Abraham, especially in ch. 15, receives the promise of posterity in function of the messianic blessings made to him and to all peoples "in semine tuo" (cf. also ch. 12, 1-4).

This covenant is the one that has the greatest resonance in the New Testament, especially in St. Paul (cf. Gal. 3:6-18), inasmuch as, unlike the Sinaitic and Davidic covenants, it expressly contained the promise of the messianic blessings (= redemption) to all the descendants of Abraham. St. Paul then explains that "this descent must not be understood in a carnal way, but through faith" (cf. ibid. 3:6).

On the individual questions, v. ADAMO; ASSIRI; BABILONESI; DILUVIO; ESAMERONE; PATRIARCHI; PENTATEUCO; PROTOVANGELO.

Pietro Boccaccio

ART

As regards the most ancient and important texts, from the point of view of art, in which the events of Gen. are narrated, v. BIBBIA.

Here it will suffice to recall how among the most notable and ancient monuments of the kind must be placed the remains of the Cotton Gen., today preserved in the British Museum in London, the Vienna Gen., which is likewise a fragmentary manuscript, probably dating back to the 5th century, and the Pentateuch of Ashburnham and of St. Gallen of Tours, which belongs to the 7th century.

Emilio Lavanino

GENESI (PICCOLA), APOCRIFO: v. GIUBILEI, LIBRO dei.