Genesis covers an amazingly broad time period. Biblical scholars place the beginning of human history between 7000 and 4000 B.C. and the book ends with Joseph's death in 1804 B.C. That is quite a huge span of time! Now the author accepted by both Judaism, Christianity, the New Testament authors, and Jesus is Moses. The historical Moses lived in the 1400s B.C.
"How," one might ask, "did a man write an accurate book about events that long before him?" That is an excellent question and it is the first one that we will address here. One must remember 2 Peter 1:20-21, which tells us that men wrote the Bible as the Holy Spirit (God) moved them to. That means that Moses was writing because of the Holy Spirit and writing the Word of God for the Holy Spirit, so he doesn't necessarily have to have experienced the things he is writing to be 100% accurate- God knew. However, Moses was likely basing what he was writing on written and oral records of history available to him. Today, oral transmission is not considered accurate in Western culture, but it was so important to many societies pre-writing (and many even after the invention of writing) that it was very accurate. Look at many of the Native American tribes whose history was passed on orally. It was a way of life, culture, and often even profession. The structure of the book is actually a major argument for the accuracy and even genre of the book. The term "generations (or "genealogy" depending on your translation)"- well, actually the underlying Hebrew term תולדה (toledoth)- occurs 13 times in Genesis. Each time it introduces the story of a family genealogy (except 2:4, where it is the toledoth of the universe not a family); thus here, "toledoth is a technical term for a method of keeping family and clan records."1 Under the inspiration of God, Moses was collating the family records of different important clans/families. In some areas this is obvious, such as the birth and death records (genealogies). In other places, these take the form of family stories that are accurately preserved. This was an important legal, historical, and religious document for Israel to have- an accurate record of their families dating back to the beginning. Seen in this light, it is a history book- a secondary source closely connected to the original events- from as close to the beginning as we could get with the system of writing. It is a highly reliable and time honored method of preserving accurate historical records.
Another common concern about the book, at least from critical scholars is this- "Did Moses really write this book? Nah, it is just a collection of writings by various authors of a much more recent date." Julius Wellhausen, a German Bible scholar, published a hypothesis in 1878 that has laid the groundwork for the philosophy most theologically liberal scholars approach the Bible today. In it, he focused on the first five books of the Old Testament, theorizing that there were actually 4 authors (J, E, D, and P) much later that the historical Moses based on the tone and which Hebrew term for God was used in certain places. This theory, when examined in detail, borders on absurd. It requires the material from these authors to have been spliced literally thousands of times in those books, usually even in the middle of sentences. He required there to have been many editors even in addition to the 4 authors. If this were the case, the editors should have been shot with how the 4 sets of material were so badly spliced! Of course, a far more simplistic approach is to accept the view held for thousands of years that a single man, named Moses wrote the book in the 1400s B.C. An absolutely fabulous work has been writing by secular scholars at the University of California Berkeley that refutes this view using literary criticism. Though at times technical, I highly recommend reading Before Abraham Was by Kikawada and Quinn. Though the do not argue for the historical Moses as author (nor do they dispute it), they prove that Genesis had one consistent author. The only exception to the Mosaic authorship of the first five books of the Old Testament is in Deuteronomy 34, which was likely written by Joshua who followed him in leadership. Its style and tone are unique from the rest of these books. I will finish my answer to this question with a quote from them: "The evidence commonly used to show that Genesis 1-11 is a literary patchwork does in our opinion- when closely examined and put in its proper context- support the view that Genesis 1-11 is a literary masterpiece by an author of extraordinary skill and subtlety. So much so, that when we think we find this author napping we had better proceed carefully."2
"What about Creation and Noah's worldwide flood- aren't those ideas in conflict with science?" The director for the human genome decoding project, Dr. Francis Collins, does not think so. At least within the realm of living beings, he argues for intelligent design in our DNA. In The Language of God, he does not go so far as to support the Biblical teaching, but he does lend scientific support for an intelligent creator rather than evolutionary chance. Evolution is a scientific hypothesis. The Bible is an historical record. The realm of human/universal origins really doesn't fit with the field of science (not testable, observable, or repeatable), and should be addressed through history, archaeology, and religion. There are many, many stories from human cultures worldwide of both a divine creation and worldwide flood that parallel the Biblical record (such as the Epic of Gilgamesh). If one were to approach this like an historian looking for the truth about, say, a battle between Egypt and Babylon, the conclusion that would be come to is that these sources describe real events with some details different between cultures due to transcription. Try looking here for an interesting site with more information on the topic. Regarding the flood, The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb is an absolute classic on the matter and is a comprehensive analysis, although it is both long and technical. My answer here is only the tiniest scratch on the surface of what could be said on the matter. If you would like more reading recommendations on the topic, please email me.
There are certainly many more things to be answered and said about the Book of Genesis, but this is just a brief introduction to one of our most important historical records. Feel free to contact me or comment with questions, but I hope this kind of lays the foundation for where we are going. Also, if you have not read my post on how to interpret what the Bible means, I would highly, highly suggest it.
- Rethinking Genesis: The Sources and Authorship of the First Book of the Pentateuch by Duane Garrett, 93.
- Before Abraham Was by Kikawada and Quinn, 83.
Recommended Reads on the Topic:
- THE BIBLE
- Before Abraham Was by Kikawada and Quinn
- Actually quite readable while conveying detailed and often technical information. Focuses on a literary analysis that also ends up being a defense of the traditional authorship of the book.
- Rethinking Genesis: The Sources and Authorship of the First Book of the Pentateuch by Garrett
- Another great book for understanding Genesis. Examines historicity, structure, and authorship. Refutes the alleged scholarly JEDP Hypothesis.
- The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris
- An absolute classic on the topic. Readable and interesting, it is a comprehensive analysis of the Flood Narrative. in Genesis.
- The Language of God by Collins
- Interesting perspective from a famous scientist responsible for decoding the human genome about the origin of man being an intelligent creator rather than evolutionary chance.
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