GENESIS. - The name of the book with which the series of the Old Testament begins. It is derived from the Greek and passed through the Septuagint into Christian usage. The Hebrews call it by the word with which the book begins in Hebrew: *Bērēšīth* = "in the beginning." The Germans often refer to it as the Book of Moses, in relation to the other books of the Pentateuch.
The questions presented by the Book of Genesis are exceedingly difficult and grave.
OUTLINE:
I. Content
II. The Author and the Literary Question
III. Particular Problems
IV. Theological Teaching.I. THE CONTENT
The general idea of the book is well expressed by its very name, Genesis. It deals with the origin of the universe and, in particular, of the human race, both in its natural state and in its supernatural economy. The natural origin of man is described in chapters 1-2, while the supernatural plan has an overall development. There is the elevation to the supernatural order, as understood in the light of the New Testament, immediately in the description of the first events, followed by the fall of all things through sin. At this precise point, the divine plan of restoration is manifested. In chapter 3:15, the primitive promise is given; then, from that moment, the execution of this plan unfolds as God, by choosing Abraham, making messianic promises to him, and repeating them to his descendants Isaac and Jacob, gives rise to the chosen people from whom the Messiah will be born. From this perspective, the book can be divided into two major parts: the history of the human race from its origins to Abraham (chapters 1-12), and the history of the origins of the chosen people in the events of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his sons (especially Joseph) up to the descent into Egypt of Jacob and his sons (chapters 12-50).The narrative, according to its external form, develops in *tôlĕdôth*. This word means "generations"; then, as an effect of generation, "the men generated," so that "the generations of Adam" is equivalent to the history of Adam's descendants.
II. THE AUTHOR AND THE LITERARY QUESTION
The solution to this important problem must be addressed in conjunction with the other books attributed to Moses (v. PENTATEUCH).
1) Internal arguments, but above all the most ancient tradition, both of the Synagogue and of the Church, affirm that the author is Moses himself, the great legislator.
2) With the initiation of minute literary criticism of the sacred text, presupposing certain postulates of Hegelian philosophy regarding the evolution of religious sentiment, one arrives at the theory of the Protestant J. WELLHAUSEN, JULIUS (v.). It holds that the work attributed to Moses by tradition is actually the result of various sources—documents arising in distant epochs, reworked and united into a single body—the present text. Thus, the substantial attribution to Moses of this book is denied.
3) Apart from the erroneous philosophical presuppositions, it must be said that literary criticism has raised very grave problems, which the Catholic must not ignore. It is now certain that the history of the text of Genesis, along with the other books of the Pentateuch, is very obscure and uncertain. Particular indications show that the possibility of significant reworking of the original text must be carefully studied.
Some of these indications are as follows:
a) The different use of the name of God: passages in which only Yahweh appears, others only 'Elohim, and others Yahweh-'Elohim.
b) Differences in language and style: e.g., the stylistic distinction of the first chapter from the following ones is clear; the appearance of a language used for popular narrative forms.
c) The so-called doublets (events narrated, it is claimed, two or even three times in slightly different forms). E.g., two accounts of creation; two instances of the danger to Sarah’s chastity (Gen. 12 and 20); two flights of Hagar (Gen. 16 and 21), etc.
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**GENESIS - Incipit of Genesis. Illuminated page from the Borso d'Este Bible, vol. I, f. 5° (1455-67).**
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1) The sacred author’s purpose is to lead us through the genealogies from Adam, who received the first messianic promise, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were to give rise to the chosen people. Thus:
a) The period from Adam to Abraham (and even after Abraham, cf. the story of Esau and Jacob) has a peculiar eliminatory character, meaning that the author, as he proceeds in his narrative, gradually excludes from the account those individuals and peoples who have not contributed to the history of restoration.
b) The narrative, therefore, setting aside the events of the collateral branches, focuses on Seth and his descendants: Noah, Shem, Arpachshad, Terah, and Abraham.
c) From this perspective, one might not condemn the opinion that the narrative of the flood may be confined only to the lineage among which Noah lived.
2) Chronology remains a problem. It is evident that here we have only some links in the chain. Otherwise, one would have to place the creation of man only a few millennia before Christ—a view that is absolutely false. The omission of intermediate members and the attribution of the term "son" or similar terms to grandsons and great-grandsons is in accordance with Semitic usage (cf. Matt. 1:8).
3) The figures indicating the extraordinary longevity of the ancient patriarchs are probably to be understood in light of a literary genre attested in documentary evidence. That is, in Mesopotamia a king could have a dual chronology: one real (e.g., at the age of 30 he begot X; after 50 years he died) and another official, in which the years of reign or life of the kings he had subdued were summed. This enormous total of years was attributed to the victorious king as if he summarized in himself the glories of the conquered kings. This system of counting years may offer a way to approach the solution of this biblical problem.
IV. THEOLOGICAL TEACHING
For the theological teaching contained in the first chapter, V. HEXAEMERON. For the rest, the following observations suffice:1) The fundamental doctrine of the elevation of man to the supernatural order, original sin, and the promise of redemption is contained both in the expression and in the inspiration of the account in Gen. 2-3. These chapters represent the pivot on which the subsequent Genesis narratives turn.
2) The characteristic of elimination recalls Paul’s words: “It does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy” (Rom. 9:16). Certain gifts of God—here, being the recipients of messianic promises—are entirely gratuitous. Elimination is proof of this. Human guilt is not, in itself, the issue. In this light, one must view the text cited again by St. Paul: “God loved Jacob, but hated (i.e., did not choose) Esau” (Rom. 9:13).
3) Genesis teaches how the relations between the Divinity and man were conceived in the Old Testament: namely, under the idea of covenant or alliance. The sacred covenant is generally a gracious concession by which God binds man to Himself through laws and promises.
In Genesis, there are probably three, certainly two, of these sacred covenants:
a) With Adam (the elements of a covenant are present in the text, though not the name) – the granting of the earthly paradise and the promise of restoration;
b) With Noah: explicitly twice – the promise of preservation from the flood (6:18) and the promise never to send another flood (9:9).
4) The most famous is with Abraham. This covenant is the culmination and ultimate purpose of the second part of Genesis. Abraham, especially in chapter 15, receives the promise of descendants in view of the messianic blessings made to him and to all peoples “in your seed” (cf. also 12:1-4).
This covenant is the one that resonates most in the New Testament, especially in St. Paul (cf. Gal. 3:6-18), inasmuch as, unlike the Sinai and Davidic covenants, it expressly contained the promise of messianic blessings (i.e., redemption) to all the descendants of Abraham. St. Paul then explains that “this descendant is not to be understood through the flesh, but through faith” (cf. ibid. 3:6).
For individual topics, V. ADAMO; ASSIRI; BABILONESI; DILUVIO; ESAMERONE; PATRIARCHI; PENTATEUCO; PROTOVANGELO.
ART. — Regarding the oldest and most important texts from the standpoint of art where Genesis events are narrated, V. BIBBIA.
Here it will suffice to recall how among the most distinguished and ancient monuments of this kind are to be placed the remains of the Genesis of Cortona now preserved in the British Museum in London, the Genesis of Vienna, which is likewise a fragmentary manuscript dating probably to the 5th century, and the Pentateuch of Ashburnham and of St. Galliano of Tours, which belongs to the 7th century.
GENESIS (SMALL), APOCRYPHAL: V. GIUBILEO, LIBRO dei.