"

"

authority or sphere of activity. This is the use that accounts the personal history of Joseph, and the descent of his father for the application of the term, as a substantive, to a military Jacob (or Israel) and his brethren into the land of Egypt officer of superior rank, a "general officer," or "general," who | (xxxvii.-l.). The book of Genesis, as a whole, is closely connected commands or administers bodies of troops larger than a regiment, with the subsequent oppression of the sons of Israel, the revelation or consisting of more than one arm of the service (see also of Yahweh the God of their fathers (Ex. iii. 6, 15 seq., vi. 2-8), OFFICERS). It was towards the end of the 16th century that the the "exodus" of the Israelites to the land promised to their word began to be used in its present sense as a noun, and in the fathers (Ex. xiii. 5, Deut. i. 8, xxvi. 3 sqq., xxxiv. 4) and its conarmies of the time the general was commander-in-chief, quest (Josh. i. 6, xxiv.); cf. also the summaries Neh. ix. 7 sqq., the "licutenant-general" commander of the horse and second Ps. cv. 6 sqq. in command of the army, and the major-general" (strictly sergeant-major-general ") commander of the foot and chief of the staff. Field marshals, who have now the highest rank, were formerly subordinate to the general officers. These titles general, lieutenant-general and major-general-are still applied in most armies to the first, second and third grades of general officer, and in the French service until 1870 the chief of the staff of the army bore the title of major-general. In the German and Russian services the three grades are qualified by the addition of the words "of cavalry," of infantry" and "of artillery.' The French service possesses only two grades, "general of brigade" and "general of division." The Austrian service has two ranks of general officers peculiar to itself, "lieutenant field marshal," equivalent to lieutenant-general, and Feldzeugmeister (master of the ordnance), equivalent to the German general of infantry or artillery. There is also the rank of general of cavalry." The Spanish army still retains the old "captain-general." In the German service General Oberst (colonel-general) and General Feldzeugmeister (mastergeneral of ordnance) are ranks intermediate between that of full general and that of general field marshal. It may be noted that during the 17th century "general" was not confined to a commanding officer of an army, and was also equivalent to "admiral"; thus when under the Protectorate the office of lord high admiral was put into commission, the three first commissioners, Blake, Edward Popham and Richard Deane, were styled "generals at sea."

64

term

The words, "these are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created" (ii. 4), introduce an account of the creation of the world, which, however, is preceded by a Analysis. relatively later and less primitive record (i. 1-ii. 3). The differences between the two accounts lie partly in the style and partly in the form and contents of the narratives. i. 1-ii. 3 is marked by stereotyped formulae ("and God (Elohim] said ... and it was so... and God saw that it was good, and there was evening ii. 4b-iii. is less systematic, fresher and more anthropomorphic. and there was morning," &c.); it is precise and detailed, whereas The former is cosmic, the latter is local. It is the latter which mentions the mysterious garden and the wonderful trees which Yahweh planted, and depicts Yahweh conversing with man and walking in the garden in the cool of the evening. The former, on the other hand, has an enlightened conception of Elohim; the Deity, though grand, is a lifeless figure; several antique ideas are nevertheless preserved. The account of the creation, too, is different; for example, in chap. i. man and woman are created together, whereas in ii. man is at first alone. The naiveness of the story of the creation of woman is in line with the interest which this more popular source takes in the origin or existence of phenomena, customs and contemporary beliefs (the garden, the naming of Cain and Abel (iv.), where the old-time problem of Cain's wife of animals, &c.). The primitive record is continued in the story and the reference to other human beings (iv. 14 seq.) gave rise in precritical days to the theory of pre-Adamites, as though Adam and Eve were not the only inhabitants of the earth. But all the indications go to show that there were at least two distinct popular narratives, wanderer, now becomes the builder of a city, and his descendants one of which ignores the flood. Cain the murderer, doomed to be a introduce various arts (iv. 16b-24). (See the articles ABEL; ADAM; CAIN; COSMOGONY; ENOCH; EVE; LAMECH.) From the tions" of the heavens and the earth (which one would have expected The list of the "Sethites," with its characteristically stereotyped at the head of ch. i.) we pass to the "generations of Adam "(v. 1). framework, has an older parallel in iv. 25 seq. (with the origin of the worship of Yahweh contrast Ex. vi. 2. seq.), and a fragment from the same source is found in v. 29.

genera

GENERATION (from Lat. generare, to beget, procreate; genus, stock, race), the act of procreation or begetting, hence any one of the various methods by which plants, animals or substances are produced. As applied to the result of procreation," generation After the birth of Noah the son of Lamech (v. 29, contrast iv. is used of the offspring of the same parents, taken as one degree 19 sqq.) comes the brief story of the demigods (vi. 1-4). It is no in descent from a common ancestor, or, widely, of the body part of the account of the fall or of the flood (note verse 4 and Num. of living persons born at or near the same time; thus the word is xiii. 33), least of all does it furnish grounds for the old view of the also used of the age or period of a generation, usually taken as division of the human race into evil Cainites and God-fearing Sethites. The excerpt with its description of the fall of the angels is used to about thirty years, or three generations to a century. As a term form a prelude to the wickedness of man and the avenging flood in biology or physiology, generation is synonymous with the (vi. 5). Noah, the father of Ham, Shem and Japheth, appears as Gr. Bloyéveois and the Ger. Zeugung, and may comprehend the the hero in the Hebrew version of the flood (see DELUGE; NOAH). whole history of the first origin and continued reproduction of Duplicates (vi. 5-8, 9-13) and discrepancies (vi. 19 sq. contrasted with vii. 2; or vii. 11, viii. 14 contrasted with viii. 8, 10, 12) point living bodies, whether plants or animals; but it is frequently to the use of two sources (harmonizing passages in vii. 3, 7-9). The restricted to the sexual reproduction of animals. The subject later narrative, which begins with the generations of Noah may be divided into the following branches, viz.: (1) the first (vi. 9-22; vii. 6, 11, 13-179, 18-21, 24; viii. 1-2a, 3b-5, 13a, 14-19; origin of life and living beings, (2) non-sexual or agamic repro-length of the flood (365 days; according to other notices the flood ix. 1-17), is almost complete; note the superscription and the duction, and (3) gamic or sexual reproduction. For the first two apparently lasted only 61 or 68 days). In the earlier source Noah of these topics see ABIOGENESIS, BIOGENESIS and BIOLOGY; for collects seven pairs of clean animals, one of each kind; he sacrifices the third and more extensive division, including (1) the formation after leaving the ark, and Yahweh promises not to curse the ground and fecundation of the ovum, and (2) the development of the emor to smite living things again. But in the later, he takes only one pair, and subsequently Elohim blesses Noah and makes a covenant bryo in different animals, see REPRODUCTION and EMBRYOLOGY. never again to destroy all flesh by a flood? The covenant (characterGENESIS (Gr. yéveois, becoming; the term being used in istic of the latest narratives in Genesis) also prohibits the shedding English as a synonym for origin or process of coming into being), of blood (cf. the story of Cain and Abel in the earlier source). Manthe name of the first book in the Bible, which derives its title kind is now made to descend from the three sons of Noah. The from the Septuagint rendering of ch. ii. 4. It is the first of the civilization, and to Noah is ascribed the cult of the vine, the abuse older story, however, continues with another step in the history of five books (the Pentateuch), or, with the inclusion of Joshua, of of which leads to the utterance of a curse upon Canaan and a blessing the six (the Hexateuch), which cover the history of the Hebrews upon Shem and Japheth (ix. 20-27). The table of nations in x. to their occupation of Canaan. The "genesis" of Hebrew ("the generations of the sons of Noah ") preserves several signs of history begins with records of antediluvian times: the creation of composite origin (contrast e.g. x. 7 with v. 28 sq., Ludim v. 13 with v. 22, and the Canaanite families v. 16 with the dispersion "afterthe world, of the first pair of human beings, and the origin of sin wards,' v. 18, &c.); see CANAAN; GENEALOGY; NIMROD. The (i.-iii.), the civilization and moral degeneration of mankind, the history of the primitive age concludes with the story of the tower history of man to the time of Noah (iv.-vi. 8), the flood (vi. 9-ix.), the confusion of languages and the divisions of the human race (x.-xi.). Turning next to the descendants of Shem, the book deals with Abraham (xii.-xxv. 18), Isaac and Jacob (xxv. 19– xxxv.), the "fathers" of the tribes of Israel, and concludes with

The abrupt introduction of a small poem (iv. 23 seq.) was long ago regarded as due to the use of separate sources (so the Calvinist Isaac de la Peyrère, 1654).

2 The divergences of detail, with corresponding stylistic variations, were recognized long ago (e.g. by Father Simon in 1682).

of Babel (xi. 1-9), which, starting from a popular etymology of Babel ("gate of God"), as though from Balbel ("confusion", tells how Yahweh feared lest mankind should become too powerful (cf.iii. 22-24), and seeks to explain the origin of the numerous languages in use. It is independent of x., which already assumes a confusion of tongues (vv. 5, 20, 31), the existence of Babel (v. 10), and gives a different account of the rise of the various races. This incident in the journey eastwards (xi. 2) is equally independent of the story of the Deluge and of Noah's family (see Wellhausen, Prolegomena, p. 316). The continuation of the chapter," the generations of Shem (xi. 10-27, see the Shemite genealogy in x. 21 sqq., and contrast the ages with vi. 3), is in the same stereotyped style as ch. v., and prepares the way for the history of the patriarchs.

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The detailed account of the purchase of the cave of Machpelah (contrast the brevity of xxxiii. 19) is of great importance for the traditions of the patriarchs, and, like the references to the death of Sarah and Abraham, belongs to the latest source (xxiii., xxv. 7-11a). The idyllic picture of life in xxiv. presupposes that Isaac is sole heir (v. 36); since this is first stated in xxv. 5, it is probable that xxv. 5, 116 (and perhaps w. 6, 18) are out of place. It is noteworthy that the district is Abraham's native place (xxiv. 4, 7, 10; contrast the Babylonian home specified in xi. 28, 31; xv. 7). In xxv. 1 sqq. Abraham takes as wife (but concubine, I Chron. i. 32 seq.) Keturah ("incense") and becomes the father of various Arab tribes, e.g. Sheba and Dedan (grandsons of Cush in x. 7).

After "the generations of Ishmael" (xxv. 12 sqq.) the narrative The "generations of Terah " (xi. 27) lead to the introduction of turns to "the generations of Isaac " (xxv. 19 sqq.). The story of the first great patriarch Abraham (q.v.). There is a twofold account the events at the court of Abimelech (xxvi.) finds a parallel in the of his migration to Bethel with his nephew Lot; the more statistical now disjointed xx., xxi. 22-34; note the new explanation of Beerform in xi. 31 sq., xii. 4b, 5 belongs to the latest source. The state-sheba, the reference in xxvi. I to the parallel story in xii., the absence ment that the Canaanite was then in the land (xii, 6, cf. xiii. 7) points of allusion to xx., and the apparent editorial references to xxi. in to a time long after the Israelite conquest, when readers needed tv. 15, 18. On the whole, the story of Isaac's wife at Gerar is briefer such a reminder (so Hobbes in his Leviathan, 1651). A famine forces and not so elevated as that of Sarah, but the parallel to xxi. 22-34 him to descend into Egypt, where a story of Sarai (here at least 65 is more detailed. The birth of Esau and Jacob (xxv. 21-34) introyears of age; see xii. 4, xvii. 17) is one of three variants of a similar duces the story of Jacob's craft when Isaac is on the point of death peculiar incident (cf. xx. 1-17, xxvi. 6-14). The passage is an in- (xxvii.). Jacob flees to Laban at Haran to escape Esau's hatred sertion (xii. 10-xiii. 2; xii. 9, xiii. 3 seq. being harmonistic). The (xxvii. 41-45); but, according to the latest source (P), he is charged thread is resumed in the account of the separation of the patriarch by Isaac to go to Paddan-Aram, and take a wife there, and his father and his nephew Lot, who divide the land between them. Abraham transfers to him the blessing of Abraham (xxvii. 46-xxviii. 9). On occupies Canaan, but moves south to Hebron, which, according to his way to Haran he stops at Bethel (formerly Luz, according to Josh. xiv. 15, was formerly known as Kirjath-Arba. Lot dwells in Judg. i. 22-26), where a vision prompts him to accept the God of the the basin of the Jordan, and his history is continued in the story place should he return in peace to his father's home (xxviii. 10-22), of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (xviii.-xix.; Hos. xi. 8, He passes to the land of "the children of the east" (xxix. 1), and Deut. xxix. 23 speak of Admah and Zeboim). Lot is saved and the scenes which follow are scarcely situated at Haran, the famous becomes the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites, who are and ancient seat of the worship of the moon-god, but in the desert. thus closely related to the descendants of Abraham (note xix. 37, Here he resides fifteen years or more, and by the daughters of Laban "unto this day"). The great war with Amraphel and Chedorlaomer and their handmaidens becomes the "father" of the tribes of Israel. -the defeat of a world-conquering army by 318 men-with the There are numerous traces of composition from different sources, episode of Melchizedek, noteworthy for the reference to Jerusalem but a satisfactory analysis is impossible. The flight of Jacob and (xiv. 18, cf. Ps. lxxvi. 2), has nothing in common with the context his household (from Paddan-Aram, xxxi. 18 P) leads over "the (see ABRAHAM; MELCHIZEDEK). It treats as individuals the place- River" (v. 21, i.e. the Euphrates); though the seven days' journey names Mamre and Eshcol (xiv. 13, cf. Num. xiii. 23 seq.), and by of this concourse of men and cattle suggests that he came to Gilead, mentioning Dan (v. 14) anticipates the events in Josh. xix. 47, Judg. not from Haran (300 m. distant), but from some nearer locality. xviii. 29. A cycle of narratives deals with the promise that the This is to be taken with the evidence against Haran already noticed, barren Sarai (Sarah) should bear a child whose descendants would with the use of the term "children of the east" (xxix. 1; cf. Jer. inhabit the land of Canaan. The importance of the tradition for the xlix. 28; Ezek. xxv. 4, 10), and with the details of Laban's kindred history of Israel explains both the prominence given to it (cf. already (xxii. 20-24). The arrival at Mahanaim ("[two ?] camps ") gives xii. 7, xiii. 14-17) and their present complicated character (due to rise to specific allusions to the meaning of the name (xxxii. 1 seq., repeated revision). The older narratives comprise (a) the promise 7-12, 13-21); cf. also the plays upon Jabbok, Israel and Peniel in that Abraham shall have a son of his own flesh (xv.)—the account xxxii. 22-32. He meets Esau (xxxii. 3-21, xxxiii. 1-16, another is composite; (b) the birth of Ishmael, Abraham's son by Hagar, reference to Peniel, “face of God," in v. 10), but they part. Jacob their exile, and Yahweh's promise (xvi., with a separate framework now comes to Shechem "in peace" (cf. the phrase in xxviii. 21), in vv. 14, 3, 15 seq.)-before the birth of Isaac; and (c) the promise where he buys land and erects an altar (xxxiii. 18-20, cf. Abraham of a son to Sarai (xviii. 1-15), now combined with the story of Lot in xii. 6 seq.). There is a remarkable story of the violation of his and the overthrow of Sodom. The latest source (xvii.) is marked daughter Dinah by Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite (xxxiv.). by the solemn covenant between Yahweh and Abraham, the revela- It has been heavily revised; note the alternating prominence of tion of God Almighty (El-Shaddai, cf. Ex. vi. 3), and the institution Hamor and Shechem, the condemnation of Simeon and Levi for their of circumcision (otherwise treated in Ex. iv. 26, Josh. v. 2 seq.). vengeance (cf. the curse in xlix. 5-7), the destruction of the city The more elevated character of this source as contrasted with xv. Shechem by all the sons of Jacob, and the survival of the Hamorites and xviii. is as striking as the difference of religious tone in the two as a family centuries later (xxxiii. 19, Judg. ix. 28). The narrative accounts of the creation (above). Abraham now travels thence continues with Jacob's journey to Bethel, the death of Deborah (xx. 1, Hebron, see xviii. 1), and his adventure in the land of Abime- (who accompanied Rebekah to Palestine 140 years previously, sce lech, king of Gerar (xx.), is a duplicate of xii. (above). It is con- xxiv. 59, and the latest source in xxv. 20, xxxv. 28), the death of tinued in xxi. 22-34, which has a close parallel in the life of Isaac Rachel (xxxv. 16-20, contrast xxxvii, 10), and ceases abruptly in the (xxvi., below). Isaac is born in accordance with the divine promise middle of a sentence (xxxv. 22, but see xlix. 3-4). The latest source (xviii. 10 at Hebron); the scene is the south of Palestine. The (xxxv. 9-13, 15, 226-29) gives another account of the origin of the story of the dismissal of Hagar and Ishmael, and the revelation names Israel (cf. xxxii. 28) and Bethel (cf. xxviii. 19), and the (xxi. 8-21) cannot be separated from xvi. 4-14, where w. 9 seq. are genealogy wrongly includes Benjamin among the sons born outside intended to harmonize the passages. Although about sixteen years Palestine (v. 24-26). In narrating Jacob's leisurely return to Isaac intervene (see xvi. 16; xxi. 5, 8), Ishmael is a young child who has at Hebron, the writers quite ignore the many years which have to be carried (xxi. 15), but the Hebrew text of xxi. 14 (not, however, elapsed since he left his father at the point of death in Beersheba the Septuagint) endeavours to remove the discrepancy. "After (xxvii. 1, 2, 7, 10, 41). these things comes the offering of Isaac which implicitly annuls the sacrifice of the first-born, a not unfamiliar rite in Palestine as the denunciations prove (cf. Ezek. xvi. 20 seq., xx. 26; Mic. vi. 7; Is. Ivii. 5), and thus marks an advance, e.g. upon the story of Jephthah's daughter (Judg. xi.). The story may be contrasted with the Phoenician account of the sacrifice by Cronos (to be identified with El) of his only son, which practically justified the horrid custom.

As early as 1685 Jean le Clerc observed that Ur of the Chaldees (Chasdim) in xi. 28 anticipates Chesed in xxii. 22, and implied some knowledge of the land of the Chaldaeans (cf. Ezek. i. 3, xi. 24).

The Catholic priest Andrew du Maes (1570) already pointed to the names Hebron and Dan as signs of post-Mosaic date.

Note the repetitions in w. 2 and 3; Abraham's faith, w. 4-6, and his request, v. 8; contrast the time of day, v. 5 and v. 12, and the dates, v. 13 and v. 16. In v. 12-15 there is a reference to the bondage in Egypt.

These and other chronological embarrassments, now recognized as due to the framework of the post-exilic writer (P), have long been observed-by Spinoza, 1671.

"The generations of Esau, the same is Edom," provide much valuable material for the study of Israel's rival (xxxvi.). The chapter gives yet another account of the separation of Jacob and Esau (with v. 6-8, cf. Abraham and Lot, xiii. 5 seq.), and describes the latter's withdrawal to Seir (cf. already xxxii. 3; xxxiii. 14, 16). It includes lists of diverse origin (e.g. v. 2-5, contrast xxvi. 34, xxviii. 9); various "dukes (R.V. marg. chiefs "), or rather

• Points of resemblance in xxiii. with Babylonian usage have often been exaggerated; comparison" shows noteworthy differences (T.G. Pinches, The Old Testament, p.238); see Carpenter and Harford. Battersby, Hexateuch, i. 64, Driver, Gen. p. 230, and Addenda.

Note, e.g., the sudden introduction of xxix. 15, the curious position of v. 24 (due to P), the double play upon the names Zebulun and Joseph, xxx. 20, 23 seq., the internal intricacies in the agreement, ib. v. 31-43; the difficulties in the reference to the latter in xxxi. 6 sqq. (especially v. 10).

See Ed. Meyer (and B. Luther), Die Israëliten und ihre Nachbarstämme (1906), pp. 238 sqq.; also the shrewd remarks of C. T. Beke, Origines biblicae (1834), pp. 123 sqq.

"

"thousands" or "clans"; and also the " sons of Seir the Horite, the most obvious intricacies. The Graf-Wellhausen literary i.e. Horite clans (vv. 20 seq. and v. 29 seq.). A summary of Edomite kings is ascribed to the period before the Israelite monarchy (vv. theory has gained the assent of almost all trained and unbiased 31-39), and the record concludes with the "dukes of Esau, the biblical scholars, it has not been shaken by the more recent light Lather of the Edomites (vv. 40-43, cf. names in vv. 10-14, 15-19). from external evidence, and no alternative theory has as yet been Finally, Genesis turns from the patriarchs to the "generations of produced. The internal features of Genesis demand some formuJacob" (xxxvii. 2), and we have stories of the "sons," the ancestors lated theory, more precise than the indefinite concessions of of the tribes. (In xxxiv. the incidents which primarily concerned Simeon and Levi alone have, however, been adjusted to the general the 17th century, beyond which the opponents of modern literary history of Jacob and his family.) The first place is given to Joseph criticism scarcely advance, and the Graf-Wellhausen theory, in (xxxvii.), although xxxviii. crowds the early history of the family spite of the numerous difficulties which it leaves untouched, is of Judah into the twenty-two years between xxxvii. 2 and Jacob's the only adequate starting-point for the study of the book. descent into Egypt (see xli. 46, 47; xlv. 6). In xxxvii., xxxix. sqq. we have an admirable specimen of writing quite distinct in stamp According to this, Genesis is a post-exilic work composed of a from the patriarchal stories. The romance which has here been post-exilic priestly source (P) and non-priestly earlier sources utilized shows an acquaintance with Egypt; the narratives are which differ markedly from P in language, style and religious discursive, not laconic, everything is more detailed, and more under standpoint, but much less markedly from one and another." the influence of literary art. The Reuben and Simeon which appear in it are not the characters which we meet in xxxiv., xxxv. 22, or in These sources can be traced elsewhere in the Pentateuch and the poem xlix. 3-7; and the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh do Joshua, and P itself is related to the post-exilic works Chronicles, not scruple to claim ancestry from Joseph and the daughter of an Ezra and Nehemiah. In its present form Genesis is an indisEgyptian priest at the seat of the worship of the sun-god (xli. 45) pensable portion of the biblical history, and consequently its The narratives are composite. Joseph incurs the ill-will of his brethren because of Israel's partiality or because of his significant literary growth cannot be viewed apart from that of the dreams. He is at Shechem or at Dothan; and when the brothers books which follow. On internal grounds it appears that the seek to slay him, Judah proposes that he should be sold to Ishmaelites, Pentateuch and Joshua, as they now read, virtually come in or Reuben suggests that he should be cast into a pit, where Midianites between an older history by "Deuteronomic " compilers (easily find and kidnap him (xxxvii., cf. xl. 15). The latter sell him to the eunuch Potiphar, but he appears in the service of a married house- recognizable in Judges and Kings), and the later treatment of the holder (xxxix., the second clause of v. 1 harmonizes). Among other monarchy in Chronicles, where the influence of the circle which signs of dual origin are the alternation of "Jacob" and "Israel,' and the prominence of Judah (xliii. 3, 8; xliv. 14, 18) or of Reuben There have been stages where earlier extant sources have been produced P and the present Mosaic legislation is quite discernible. (xlii. 22, 37). The money is found in a bag as the brothers encamp (xlii. 27, 28a; xliii.), or in a "sack" when they reach home cut down, adjusted or revised by compilers who have incorporated (xlii. 8-26, 29-35, 28b, 36 sq.). When Israel and his family descend fresh material, and it is the later compilers of Genesis who have into Egypt, the latest source gives a detailed list which agrees in made the book a fairly knit whole. The technical investigation the main with the Israelite subdivisions (xlvi. 6-27, cf. Num. xxvi. and 1 Chron. ii.-viii.). The families dwell in the land of Goshen, of the literary problems (especially the extent of the earlier east of the Delta, "for every shepherd is an abomination unto the sources) is a work of great complexity, and, for ordinary purposes, Egyptians (xlv. 10; xlvi. 28-34; xlvii. 1-6); or they are in it is more important to obtain a preliminary appreciation of the the land of Rameses" (xlvii. 11, and Septuagint in xlvi. 28); general features of the contents of Genesis. Joseph's policy during the famine is next described (xlvii. 13-26), although it would have been more in place after xli. (see ib. 34). There are several difficulties in Jacob's blessing of the sons of Joseph (xlviii.). The blessing in xlix. is a collection of poetical passages praising or blaming the various tribes, and must certainly date after the Israelite settlement in Palestine; see further the articles on the tribes. Jacob's dying instructions to Joseph (xlvii. 29-31) are continued in 1. 1 sqq., his charge to his sons (xlix. 28 sqq., P) in l. 12 seq. It is significant that Jacob's body is taken to Palestine, but the brethren return to Egypt; in spite of a possible allusion to the famine in v. 21, the late chronological scheme would imply that it had long ceased (see xlv. 6, xlvii. 28). The book closes with the death of Joseph about fifty years later, after the birth of the children of Machir, who himself was a contemporary of Moses forty years after the Exodus (Num. xxxii. 39-41). Joseph's body is embalmed, but it is not until the concluding chapter of the book of Joshua (xxiv. 32) that his bones find their last resting-place.

A com

posite work.

"

"

Only on the assumption that the book of Genesis is a composite work is it possible to explain the duplication of events, the varying use of the divine names Yahweh and Elohim, the linguistic and stylistic differences, the internal intricacies of the subject matter, and the differing standpoints as regards tradition, chronology, morals and religion. The cumulative effect of the whole evidence is too strong to be withstood, and already in the 17th century it was recognized that the book was of composite origin. Immense labour has been spent in the critical analysis of the contents, but it is only since the work of Graf (1866) and Wellhausen (1878) that a satisfactory literary hypothesis has been found which explained 1 It is interesting to find that the Spanish Rabbi Isaac (of Toledo, A.D. 982-1057), noticing that the royal list must be later than the time of Saul (also recognized by Martin Luther and others), proposed to assign the chapter to the age of Jehoshaphat.

But the chronology is hopeless, and only ten years are allowed according to another and later scheme (xxv. 26, xxxv. 28, xlvii. 9).

Cf. the account of the Israelites in Egypt, where they are in Goshen, unaffected by the plagues (Ex. viii. 22, ix. 26), or, according to another view, are living in the midst of the Egyptians (e.g. xii. 23). V. 7 breaks the context; there is repetition in vv. 10b and 136; interchange of the names Jacob and Israel; v. 12 suggests a blessing upon Joseph himself; and with v. 15 seq. (the blessing of the sons, not of Joseph), contrast v. 20 sqq. (the singular" in thee," v. 20). Only the more noticeable peculiarities have been mentioned in the preceding columns.

That the records of the pre-historic ages in Gen. i.-xi. are at complete variance with modern science and archaeological research is unquestionable. But although it is impossible to regard them any longer either as genuine Value of history or as subjects for an allegorical interpretation traditions.

(which would prove the accuracy of any record) they are of distinct value as human documents. They reflect the ideas and thoughts of the Hebrews, they illustrate their conceptions of God and the universe, and they furnish material for a comparison of the moral development of the Hebrews with that of other early races. Some of the traditions are closely akin to those current in ancient Babylonia, but a careful and impartial comparison at once illustrates in a striking manner the relative moral and spiritual superiority of our writers. On these subjects see. further COSMOGONY; DELUGE.

The records of the patriarchal age, xii.-1. are very variously estimated, although the great majority of scholars agree that they are not contemporary and that they cannot be used, as they stand, for pre-Mosaic times. Apart from the ordinary arguments of historical criticism, it is to be noticed that external evidence does not support the assumption that the records preserve

On the course of modern criticism and on the various sources: P. J (Judaean or Yahwist), E (Ephraimite or Elohist), see BIBLE (Old Test. Criticism). The passages usually assigned to P in Genesis are: i. 1-ii. 4a; v. 1-28, 30-32; vi. 9-22; vii. 6 (and parts of 7-9), 11, 13-16a, 18-21, 24; viii. 1-2a, 3b-5, 130, 14-19; ix. 1-17, 28-29; X. 1-7, 20, 22-23, 31-32; xi. 10-27, 31-32; xii. 4b-5; xiii. 6, 11b-12a; xvi. 1a, 3, 15-16; xvii.; xix. 29; xxi. 1b, 2b-5; xxiii.; xxv. 7-114, 12-17, 19-20, 26b; xxvi. 34-35; xxvii. 46-xxviii. 9; xxix. 24, 28b, 29; xxxi. 18b; xxxiii. 18a; xxxiv. 1-24, 4, 6, 8-10, 13-18, 20-24, part of 25, 27-29; xxxv. 9-13, 15, 226-29; xxxvi. (in the main); Xxxvii. 1-24; xli. 46; xlvi. 6-27; xlvii. 5-6a, 7-11, 27b-28; xlviii. 3-7; xlix. 10, 286-33, 1. 12-13.

See on this, especially, S. R. Driver's Genesis in the "Westminster Commentaries" (seventh ed., 1909).

The above is typical of modern biblical criticism which is compelled to recognize the human element (and can thus have no a priori preconceptions in approaching the Old Testament), but at the same time reveals ever more decisively the presence of purifying influences, without which the records of Israel would have had no permanent interest or value. They thus gain a new value which cannot be impaired when it is realized that their significance is quite independent of their origins.

genuine pre-Mosaic history. There are no grounds for any arbitrary distinction between the "pre-historic "pre-Abrahamic age and the later age. External evidence, which recognizes no universal deluge and no dispersal of mankind in the third millennium B.C., throws its own light upon the opening centuries of the second. It has revealed conditions which are not reflected in Genesis, and important facts upon which the book is silent-relationships, or to a poetical foreshadowing of historical vicissiunless, indeed, there is a passing allusion to the great Babylonian monarch Khammurabi in the Amraphel of Gen. xiv. Any careful perusal of modern attempts to recover historical facts or an historical outline from the book will show how very inadequate the material proves to be, and the reconstructions will be found to depend upon an interpretation of the narratives which is often liberal and not rarely precarious, and to imply such reshaping and rewriting of the presumed facts that the cautious reader can place little reliance on them. Whatever future research may bring, it cannot remove the internal peculiarities which combine to show that Genesis preserves, not literal history, but popular traditions of the past. External evidence has proved the antiquity of various elements, but not that of the form or context in which they now appear; and the difference is an important one. We have now a background upon which to view the book, and, on the one hand, it has become obvious that the records preserve-as is only to be expected-Oriental customs, beliefs and modes of thought. But it has not been demonstrated that these are exclusively pre-Mosaic. On the other hand, a better acquaintance with the ancient political, sociological and religious conditions has made it increasingly difficult to interpret the records as a whole literally, or even to find a place in pre-Mosaic Palestine for the lives of the patriarchs as they are depicted. Nevertheless, though one cannot look to Genesis for the history of the early part of the second millennium B.C., the study of what was thought of the past, proves in this, as in many other cases, to be more instructive than the facts of the past, and it is distinctly more important for the biblical student and the theologian to understand the thought of the ages immediately preceding the foundation of Judaism in the 5th century B.C. than the actual history of many centuries earlier.

diverse

features.

A noteworthy feature is the frequent personification of peoples, tribes or clans (see GENEALOGY: Biblical). Midian (i.e. the Midianites) is a son of Abraham; Canaan is a son of Fusion of Ham (ix. 22), and Cush the son of Ham is the father of Ramah and grandfather of the famous S. Arabian state Sheba and the traders of Dedan (x. 6 sq., cf. Ezek. xxvii. 20-22). Bethuel the father of Rebekah is the brother of the tribal pames Uz and Buz (xxii. 21 sqq., cf. Jer. xxv. 20, 23). | Jacob is otherwise known as Israel and becomes the father of the tribes of Israel; Joseph is the father of Ephraim and Manasseh, and incidents in the life of Judah lead to the birth | of Perez and Zerah, Judaean clans. This personification is entirely natural to the Oriental, and though "primitive" is not .necessarily an ancient trait. It gives rise to what may be termed the "prophetical interpretation of history" (S. R. Driver, Genesis, p. 111), where the character, fortunes or history of the apparent individual are practically descriptive of the people or tribe which, according to tradition, is named after or descended from him. The utterance of Noah over Canaan, Shem and Japheth (ix. 25 sqq.), of Isaac over Esau and Jacob (xxvii.), of Jacob over his sons (xlix.) or grandsons (xlviii.), would have no meaning to Israelites unless they had some connexion with and interest for contemporary life and thought. Herein lies the force of the description of the wild and independent Ishmael (xvi. 12), the "father" of certain well-known tribes (xxv. 13-15); or the contrast between the skilful hunter Esau and the quiet and respectable Jacob (xxy. 27), and between the 1 See the remarks of W. R. Smith, Eng. Hist. Rev. (1888), pp. 128 seq, (from the sociological side), and for general considerations, A. A. Bevan, Crit. Rev. (1893), pp. 138 saq.; S. R. Driver, Genesis, pp. xliii. sqq.

Cf. Amos i. 11; 1 Chron. ii. iv. (note iv. 10), the Book of Jubilees (see above), and also Arabian usage (W. R. Smith, Kinship and Marriage, ch. i.). For modern examples, see E. Littmann, Orient. Stud. Theodor Nöldeke (ed. Bezold, 1906), pp. 942-958.

tiller Cain who becomes the typical nomad and the pastoral Abel
(iv. 1-15). The interest of the struggles between Jacob and
Esau lay, not in the history of individuals of the distant past,
but in the fact that the names actually represented Israel and
its near rival Edom. These features are in entire accordance
with Oriental usage and give expression to current belief, existing
tudes. But in the effort to understand them as they were
originally understood it is very obvious that this method of
interpretation can be pressed too far It would be precarious
to insist that the entrances into Palestine of Abraham and Jacob
(or Israel) typified two distinct immigrations. The separation
of Abraham from Lot (cf. Lotan, an Edomite name), of Isaac
from Hagar-Ishmael, or of Jacob from Esau-Edom scarcely
points to the relative antiquity of the origin of these non-
Israelite peoples who, to judge from the evidence, were closely
related. Or, if the "sons" of Jacob had Aramacan mothers,
to prove that those which are derived from the wives were upon
a higher level than the " sons" of the concubines is more difficult
than to allow that certain of the tribes must have contained
some element of Aramaean blood (cf. 1 Chron. vii. 14, and see
ASHER; GAD; MANASSEH). Some of the names are clearly
not those of known clans or tribes (c.g. Abraham, Isaac), and
many of the details of the narratives obviously have no natural
ethnological meaning. Stories of heroic ancestors and of tribal
eponyms intermingle; personal, tribal and national traits are
interwoven. The entrance of Jacob or Israel with his sons
suggests that of the children of Israel. The story of Simcon
and Levi at Shechem is clearly not that of two individuals,
sons of the patriarch Israel; in fact the story actually uses the
term "wrought folly in Israel" (cf. Jud. xx. 6, 10), and the
individual Shechem, the son of Hamor, cannot be separated
from the city, the scene of the incidents. Yet Jacob's life with
Laban has many purely individual traits. And, further, there
intervenes a remarkable passage with an account of his conflict
with the divine being who fears the dawn and is unwilling to
reveal his name. In a few verses the "wrestling" ('-b -k) of
Jacob (ya'dqob) is associated with the Jabbok (yabböq); his
"striving" explains his name Israel; at Peniel he sees
face of God," and when touched on his vulnerable spot-the
hollow of the thigh-he is lamed, hence "the children of Israel
eat not the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the
thigh unto this day " (xxxii. 24-32). Other examples of the fusion
of different features can be readily found. Three divine beings
appear to Abraham at the sacred tree of Hebron, and when the
birth of Isaac (from ṣāḥaq, “laugh ") is foretold, the account of
Sarah's behaviour is merely a popular and trivial story suggested
by the child's name (xviii. 12-15; see also xvii. 17, xxi. 6, 9).
An extremely fine passage then describes the patriarch's inter-
cession for Sodom and Gomorrah, and the narrative passes on
to the catastrophe which explains the Dead Sea and its desert
region and has parallels elsewhere (e.g. the Greek legend of Zeus
and Hermes in Phrygia). Lot escapes to Zoar, the name gives
rise to the pun on the "little" city (xix. 20), and his wife, on
looking back, becomes one of those pillars of salt which still
invite speculation. Finally the names of his children Moab and
Ammon are explained by an incident when he is a cave-dweller
on a mountain.

"the

To primitive minds which speculated upon the "why and wherefore of what they saw around them, the narratives of Genesis afforded an answer. They preserve, in fact, some of the popular philosophy and belief of the Hebrews. They furnish what must have been a satisfactory origin of the names Edom, Moaband Ammon, Mahanaim and Succoth, Bethel, Beersheba, &c. They explain why Shechem, Bethel and Beersheba were ancient sanctuaries (see further below); why the serpent writhes along the ground (iii. 14); and why the hip sinew might not be eaten (xxxii. 32). To these and a hundred other questions the national and tribal stories-of which no doubt only a few have survived, and of which other forms, earlier or later, more crude or more refined, were doubtless current--furnish an evidently adequate answer. Myth and legend, fact and fiction, the common stock of oral tradition, have been handed down, and thus constitute one of the most valuable sources for popular Hebrew thought.

The book is not to be judged from any one-sided estimate of its

contents. By the side of much that seems trivial, and even non- details which happen to be preserved, and these not necessarily moral-for the patriarchs themselves are not saints-it is noteworthy in their original or in their only form. Since the antiquity of how frequently the narratives are didactic. The characteristic sense of collective responsibility, which appears more incidentally in xx. 7, is treated with striking intensity in a passage (xviii. 23-33) which uses the legend of Sodom and Gomorrah as a vehicle for the statement of a familiar problem (cf. Ezek. xviii., Ps. Ixxiii., Job). It will be observed that interviews with divine beings presented as little difficulty to the primitive minds of old as to the modern native; even the idea of intercourse of supernatural beings with mortals (vi. 1-4) is to-day equally intelligible. The modern untutored native has a not dissimilar undeveloped and childlike attitude towards the divine, a naive theology and a simple cultus. The most circumstantial tales are told of imaginary figures, and the most incredible details clothe the lives of the historical heroes of the past. So abundant is the testimony of modern travellers to the extent to which Eastern custom and thought elucidate the interpretation of the Bible, that it is very important to notice those features which illustrate Genesis. "The Oriental," writes S. I. Curtiss (Bibl. sacra, Jan. 1901, pp. 103 sqq.), “ is least of all a scientific historian. He is the prince of story-tellers, narratives, real and imaginative, spring from his lips, which are the truest portraiture of composite rather than individual Oriental life, though narrated under forms of individual experience." There are, therefore, many preliminary points which combine to show that the critical student cannot isolate the book from Oriental life and thought; its uniqueness lies in the manner in which the material has been shaped and the use to which it has been put.