f. Parallel Between Literary Composition of Genesis and Cuneiform Tablets
When the Jewish people spoke Hebrew, God made His revelation to them in that language; when they were using partially the Aramaic at the time of the Babylonian captivity, He gave some of His messages in that language; and after they began to speak Greek He naturally adopted this tongue in giving His revelation. Speech is the vehicle of thought. God's Word is the means by which He conveys His message to people. Hence, naturally He adopted the language which they were using at the time of the revelation. Furthermore, when papyri were used as writing material the men of God naturally employed that which was in use in their day. These facts are in accordance with common intelligence and good sense.
From the facts stated above we may conclude that when clay tablets and stone were used for writing material, God naturally employed them in preserving His revelation. Furthermore, when the cuneiform language was the international writing of the ancient world, it stands to reason that the Lord would use that language in giving His Word.
Do we have any evidence of these facts? Most assuredly. From the mounds of Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Palestine, and Egypt have been unearthed various clay tablets written in the language of the day--namely, Babylonian-Assyrian wedge-shaped writing. The Tell el-Amarna tablets from one of the ancient capitals of Egypt as well as others dug up in Palestine prove that clay tablets and cuneiform writing were used universally in Egypt and Palestine at the time of Moses and the Exodus. We naturally conclude, therefore, that God would give His revelation in the permanent form according to the methods employed at that time. These facts have long been recognized by conservative scholars but have not been emphasized, because of the scarcity of the evidence for comparison available to former generations. In the most recent discoveries, however, sufficient data have been brought to light and have been studied thoroughly to prove conclusively that the book of Genesis is a series of ancient documents which have been put together in permanent form by the great Lawgiver of Israel--Moses.
There were certain literary methods employed by the old Babylonian-Assyrian scribes which are very clearly demonstrated by the tablets that have been unearthed. As with the Hebrew, so with the ancient Babylonian tablets, the first words of tablet one of a series were used as the title of the following ones. They also employed the numerals which indicate the serial number of the tablet. Another safeguard in preserving the correct order came in the form of catchwords or catchlines. The first words of the first tablet of the series were repeated at the bottom of each succeeding one to indicate that it belonged to the same set. The numbering showed the numerical order and the catchlines were used as a check to confirm the serial order. In addition to these devices there was a colophon which appeared at the end of a document or a series of documents. This consisted largely of the name of the scribe and the date of the writing and corresponded largely to our title page of a book. These data came at the end of a document instead of at the beginning as in our case. Instead of the scribe or the writer's signing his own name, frequently his seal was used to close the communication and in addition sometimes the scribe gave his name.
An examination of the book of Genesis shows the remains of some of these ancient literary devices. The presence of these embedded in the text argues for a very early date of the composition of Genesis.
Evidence of this fact is to be found in the following examples:
Chap. Verse
i. 1. "God created the heavens and the earth."
ii. 4. "Lord God made the heavens and the earth."
ii. 4. "When they were created."
v. 2. "When they were created."
vi. 10. "Shem, Ham and Japheth."
x. 1. "Shem, Ham and Japheth."
x. 1. "After the Flood "
xi. 10. "After the Flood."
xi. 26. "Abram, Nahor and Haran."
xi. 27. "Abram, Nahor and Haran."
xxv. 12. "Abraham's son."
xxv. 19. "Abraham's son."
xxxvi. 1. "Who is Edom."
xxxvi. 8. "Who is Edom."
xxxvi. 9. "Father of the Edomites" (lit.: Father Edom).
xxxvi. 43. "Father of the Edomites" (lit.: Father Edom).
I wish the reader to note carefully that Genesis 1:1-2:4 begins and ends exactly alike. The same thing is true with the section 2:4-5:1. This section begins a certain way and closes with a repetition of the same words. The same thing appears in each of these pairs of sentences. This phenomenon cannot be accidental, because it is too uniform and exact. Since in it is reflected the ancient literary method of writing in the orient, and since these repetitions occur where our formula appears, which takes the place of the original colophon, we cannot avoid the conclusion that Moses took earlier documents and welded them into the form which they now have in Genesis 1-36.
A study of the cuneiform tablets shows that many of them were dated in the year of certain outstanding events. For instance, one document is dated: "Year in which Canal Hammurabi was dug." In perfect conformity with this method of dating we see in Genesis 2:4 the words "In the day that the Lord God made the heavens and the earth." A similar example of dating is found in 5:1, "In the day God created man." Later tablets were not dated so much by the year in which a specific incident occurred but rather were given in terms of the residence of some leading personage. For instance, in 25:11 the date of the writing of this tablet was when "Isaac dwelt by Beer-lahai-roi." Compare also the method of dating in 36:8; 37:1.
As noted above, the cuneiform tablets always ended with a colophon, giving the name of the scribe along with the date. The counterpart of this device in the Scriptures is found in our recurring formula, "These are the generations of ...." In view of these facts we cannot avoid the conclusion that Genesis 1-36 was first written in the language of the day whose authors used the literary contrivances common at that time. Moses adopted this method which the scribes of Ashur-bani-pal used in their copying tablets from earlier generations.
The proper understanding of the literary composition of the first thirty-six chapters of Genesis forever demolishes the critical, destructive theory which asserts that it was composed of documents unrelated and coming from different centuries. The unity of the book of Genesis is guaranteed by the manner in which it was welded together by Moses.
3. Who Wrote The Original Documents
Constituting The Book Of Genesis?
As has already been seen, archaeology has proved conclusively that writing extends back to the dawn of history--the beginning of the human race. Tablets have been unearthed which are admitted to have been written at least five and a half millenniums ago. Thanks to the tireless work of faithful archaeologists in bringing to our attention the historic past, we no longer have to depend upon the guesses and speculations of theorists concerning this matter. Accepting the cold facts which have been brought to light by archaeology, we are now in a position to affirm that the documents out of which Genesis was composed could have been written by any of the prediluvian patriarchs, beginning with Adam himself. It is now in order for us to examine minutely each of these original documents.
a. The Creation Document
We have already seen that the earliest material used for writing, especially in Babylonia, the cradle of civilization, was the clay tablet. We have also learned that there is abundant evidence in Genesis which proves that it was composed of documents which had the literary characteristics appearing in the early Babylonian clay tablets. We are, therefore, justified in concluding that these early documents were written on clay tablets; hence we shall think of them in such terms.
Genesis 1:1-2:4 is one of the most sublime pieces of literature extant today, being judged from the standpoint of simplicity, comprehensiveness, clarity, universality and majesty. Who could pen such an account? According to Commander Wiseman, who quotes Professor Wade in his Old Testament History, this account is most accurate. Here are the words of the Professor who speaks "of the inherent improbability of an ancient writing anticipating accurately the conclusions of modern science." Of course, the Professor, viewing things as he does, wished to claim for this record a late date. According to him and the critical school, the Pentateuch came into its present form during and after the Babylonian captivity. Were science and knowledge, as developed by men, taking the position set forth in Genesis 1 at the time of the reputed composition of the Pentateuch? Those acquainted with the historical facts must answer in the negative. In fact, it is utterly absurd to think that a scribe or historian at the time of the Babylonian captivity could have by his own natural powers written an account like Genesis 1. The Professor, together with all others occupying the same position as he does, was driven by facts to the statement that this portion of Scripture is absolutely accurate.
If no one after the days of Moses and before the present scientific age could have written this account, who did? And when was it composed? If any man today thinks that he can write an account of the Creation, let him try it. Evidence pointing to the date of its composition is found in the record of the work of the fourth day (1:14-16). According to it,
"God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years: 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also."
The name here given to the sun and the moon is "lights," or "luminaries." These two greater heavenly lights are not called in this document by the name which they later bore in Babylonia. According to the tablets unearthed there, the sun at a later date was called "shemesh." Likewise in the Biblical account of the time of Abraham the greater luminary is called by the corresponding word in the Hebrew language (Gen. 15:12). Hammurabi in his code depicted on his stele himself as receiving the laws from the god "shemesh." The moon god also was worshiped in Ur of the Chaldees. The chapel in which he was worshiped was erected on the great tower in the central part of the city about 250 years prior to the birth of Abraham. He was also worshiped in Haran, Upper Mesopotamia. Had Genesis one been written after names had been given to the two luminaries, the writer would have spoken of them by these names instead of simply calling them "lights." This very fact in and of itself is absolute and positive proof of the primitive character of Genesis 1:1-2:3.
Throughout this section the author repeatedly states, "and God said." The personal element together with the vivid portrayal of what was done and said all indicate clearly that the record was written by one to whom these events were told. In this connection let us bear in mind that the writer did not say "I saw," "I beheld," and "I heard." It is direct speech. Everything throughout the account argues for its primitive character as having been recorded by the Lord Himself. Compare the style, the brevity, and the majesty of this record with the two tablets of the ten commandments given directly by the Lord.
Another bit of evidence pointing to the conclusion just stated is that in the section attributed to Noah (Gen. 5:29) is an echo of the promise contained in 3:15. As a final statement relative to Genesis 1, I wish to quote the words of Commander Wiseman, which are clear, explicit, and most accurate:
"This first chapter is so ancient that it does not contain mythical or legendary matter; these elements are entirely absent. It was written before myth and legend had time to grow, and not as is often stated, at a later date when it had to be stripped of the mythical and legendary elements inherent in every other account of Creation extant. This account is so original that it does not bear a trace of any system of philosophy; yet it is so profound that it is capable of correcting philosophical systems. It is so ancient that it contains nothing that is merely nationalistic, neither Babylonian, Egyptian nor Jewish modes of thought find a place in it, for it was written before clans, or nations or philosophies originated. Thus it is the original, of which the other extant accounts are merely corrupted copies. Others incorporate their national philosophies in crude polytheistic and mythological form, while this is pure. Genesis chapter one is as primitive as man himself, the threshold of written history.--New Discoveries in Babylonia about Genesis.
b. The Tablet of Adam
The second tablet, or series of tablets, is attributed to Adam (2:4-5:1). In chapter 2 we have a description of the earth's being watered by a mist which went up from the ground. This is followed by a brief statement concerning the creation of man. This narration has been designated as a second record or duplicate account of man's creation. Unfortunately, some scholars have seen a contradiction between it and that which is contained in the first chapter. Furthermore, they have sought in these two accounts to find proof for the long-exploded documentary theory of the composition of the Torah. Since we are dealing with another tablet, or series of tablets, in the material found in 2:4-5:1, it is only natural to expect another reference to the creation of man. Since it was originally a document separate from 1:1-2:3 and since it recounts God's dealings with the human family, naturally it relates, in a different way, the story of man's creation as given in the first tablet. In a set of books today, which is well-written, each succeeding volume takes up the story where the former left off and ties the new volume to the preceding one. Exactly this is what we see here. Hence the myth concerning a duplicate narrative, which the destructive critics have used in support of their visionary hypotheses, vanishes in the light of the plain facts.
In verses 8-17 of the second chapter we have a very vivid, detailed, and graphic description of the Garden eastward in Eden. There is nothing fantastic, visionary, or mythical connected with this straightforward account. It is just such a story as one would expect an honest narrator to tell. It is tied down to earth--to realities and facts.
In this garden was planted every tree that was desirable for man's food and comfort. He was granted the privilege of partaking of the fruit of each one, except of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He had access all the time even to the tree of life. Nothing was withheld from him that was calculated to bring a blessing and make his stay in Eden all that was to be desired. A prohibition was imposed upon him, however, concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned man, saying, "in the day thou eatest thereof dying thou shalt surely die" (literal translation). This statement is absolutely correct. The very day that man partook of the forbidden fruit the katabolic processes, which are known to medical science, began to prey upon his physical body and they continued to eat at his very vitals until his life became extinct. The same destructive forces prey upon the bodies of everyone from the beginning of life and ultimately cause death. Thus this statement in this most primitive of all documents has been verified by modern science.
In verses 18-25 we have an account of Adam's naming the various animals and also of the creation of woman. Unfortunately and mistakenly some men have spoken of Adam and his intellectual capacities as being very limited. The facts here narrated indicate otherwise. He had a great mind and intellectual capacity to give names appropriate to the different animals. As they filed before him, each with his mate, there was found no companion for man. Thus at this point of the history God brought the woman into being.
The account of this miracle is told very simply in a straight forward manner and in language that all can understand. According to it, God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, at which time He removed from his side a rib. Out of this He created woman. Some theologians correctly, I believe, conclude that this surgical operation was performed in order to remove from man's body the feminine organs. Hence around them He built up the body of the woman and breathed into her nostrils "the breath of lives," and she became a living, i.e., an immortal, soul.
Unfortunately many light and flippant people have ridiculed this majestic account of the creation of woman and have dubbed it "the rib story." The making of such a frivolous remark reveals immediately the shallow thinking of the person thus speaking. The first great step in surgery was taken by a man who believed this account and who saw the practicability of it. God gave Adam an anesthetic before He performed this operation. The man who discovered modern anesthesia found his idea in this account. Every one who has undergone a surgical operation in modern times owes the absence of suffering at the time to the knowledge that is here set forth in this precious passage.
In Genesis 3:1-8 we have the record of the tempter's deceiving Eve. He is spoken of as the serpent. The curse falling upon him made him crawl in the dust of the earth. Here only in the Old Testament is he referred to as the serpent. After this time he is never thus designated, but is called the adversary or Satan. Since he was known by this latter appellation, it is absolutely certain that had this record arisen from later times, he would not have had this name. Therefore the presence of this primitive designation argues for an early date for this section of the record.
The account of God's coming and talking in the cool of the evening with Adam and Eve is very personal and, at the same time graphic and vivid. The Almighty is represented as appearing in human form and conversing with man.* In the books of Moses and throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, the Almighty is never spoken of thus, but rather is represented and thought of as the King of the universe, high, exalted, and lifted above the heavens. It is, therefore, inconceivable that the account in the third chapter of Genesis, narrating God's visit to man in the Garden, came from a later time in Jewish history. This fact argues most conclusively for the early origin of this portion of the Word.
In 3:9-21 we have an account of the Almighty's conversation with Adam and Eve announcing the coming of the world-Redeemer and at the same time pronouncing the curse upon man, woman, and the ground. This promise of a Redeemer, while definite enough, is veiled more or less in mystery. It becomes intelligible, however when read in the light of later predictions. It is of such a character that one would expect it to be the primitive or the initial promise. This fact, likewise, argues for an early date of this original section.
In the fourth chapter we have the account of the birth of Cain and Abel and the former's slaying the latter. This incident is followed by the pronouncement of the curse upon Cain. The section concludes with a short history of Cain's descendants up to and including Lamech. Here is found the record of the beginning of a materialistic culture, built up by those who have little regard for God and spiritual interests. This record closes with the eighth generation of Adam through Cain, the worldly branch of the human family which developed a godless civilization.
As stated before, Moses claims that this is "the book of the generations of Adam." Since the personal touch is so very evident and the narrative reflects most positively the earliest primitive civilization, the only reasonable explanation of this formula is that Adam was the one either who wrote this account, or, in whose possession it was.
c. The Tablet of Noah
This third tablet, which claims to give the generations or the historical account of Noah, begins with Adam and traces the former's genealogy to himself. This is found in the fifth chapter and is followed by an account of the corrupt condition of the world in Noah's Day (Gen. 6:1-8).
Some in modern times have stumbled over the record in this fifth chapter because of the extremely long span of life of the ancient patriarchs. Various efforts have been made to read into the record some other idea than that which is the simple, straight forward, plain meaning of the words. All efforts to make the chapter mean something different from what it says meets with failure.
It is logical to believe that primitive man had greater vitality and strength in the early period of the history of the race than in our day. The characteristic which we observe everywhere, and which affects both animate and inanimate creation, is that everything is tending towards dissolution and a general breakdown. Chemistry teaches this great lesson. It is visible on every hand in nature. As one grows older, the less vitality he has; consequently the smaller is his capacity for recuperation. As a person in youth has greater vitality and power, so did the human family in those early, primitive days. It is not unreasonable, therefore, to believe the record as it is given in the fifth chapter of Genesis which shows longevity at its best.
According to Genesis 5, there were ten of the patriarchs from Adam to Noah. Skeptics have often ridiculed the Biblical record on this point but confirmation has come to us from archaeology which confirms the Scriptures. For instance, Mr. H. Weld Blundell obtained a number of clay prisms which had been found at Larsa. These have been placed in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford and have been deciphered by Professor Langdon. One of them, which is designated -W.B.444 gives a list of those who "ruled before the Flood." Following this, we have a list of those who ruled "after the Flood" up to about 2000 B.C.E. of the current chronological scheme. On another tablet is found the list of ten persons who "ruled before the Flood" (See Tablet W.B.62).
The material in this section, as stated above, consists of the genealogical list of Noah's ancestors and of the culture and environment in which he lived, and which was very wicked--so very much so that God had to bring the judgment of the Flood on that generation to purge the world of its gross corruption.
Adam lived until the year 930 A.H. Methuselah was born in the year 687 A.H.; hence their lives overlapped for 243 years. Methuselah lived 969 years and died in the Flood year, 1656 A.H. Since that disaster occurred in the 600th year of Noah, his life overlapped with that of Methuselah for 600 years; therefore, he had ample opportunity to procure all the genealogical data from Methuselah who in turn could have gathered it from Adam and others of the early patriarchs. Therefore in this section we have a well authenticated genealogical table giving the exact facts of the theocratic line and a short description of the corruption of Noah's day. Since Moses attributed this section to Noah and since all the data are in harmony with this position, we are logically forced to believe that Noah was the author or the possessor of this tablet.
d. The Tablet of Noah's Sons
The fourth tablet, or series of tablets, as already seen, is found in Genesis 6:9-10:1. This section begins with 6:9b and speaks of Noah as a righteous man and places him in contrast with the corrupt world of his day. This is doubtless done to show that God always uses men whose lives are pure, chaste, and clean. Naturally in this new series of tablets the writer would depict the lost, corrupt condition of the world and God's pronouncing the curse upon it. This account is followed by the record of the Flood, of which we read in chapters 7 and 8. After Noah emerged from the Ark he made certain sacrifices to God, at which time the Lord entered into a covenant with him and gave the Magna Charta of civil governments. These things are recorded in chapter 9.
We are still living in the land of Babylonia in this section of the book and only leave it to see the Ark resting upon Mount Ararat north of Babylonia, which was probably in the present country of Armenia. The description of what took place at the time of the Flood is so very clear and minute that only eyewitnesses could have written such a vivid account. This record is by Moses attributed to the three sons of Noah. Since we are moving in the realm of ideas of ancient Babylonia in this section, we are again logically driven to accept the position that the authors are the three sons of Noah who passed through the experiences here narrated.
e. The Tablet of Shem
The fifth tablet, or series of tablets, is found in Genesis 10:2-11:9. This portion was written when the political situation had developed into small city-states consisting largely of clans or certain small tribes. This picture of the ancient orient shows the conditions as they existed from the time of the Flood to the breaking up of the original continent into the present land distribution which occurred in all probability, as stated before, in the year 1757, or 101 years after the Flood. But since the record takes us into the next generation after Peleg, we, of course, realize that it went for another generation beyond that of the catastrophe which befell the earth, and which is crystallized in the name of Peleg.
Nimrod, the founder of the kingdom of Babylon, was third in the Hamitic line. From Shinar he went out into the land of Assyria and built Nineveh and some other cities.
Let us remember that at the time of the writing of this tenth chapter of Genesis, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities of the Plain were still standing, as is evident from the nineteenth verse. Since they were destroyed in the days of Abraham, probably when he was 99, in the year 2107 A.H., it is likely that this judgment fell 350 years after the division of the earth. Therefore Shem's account was written before Abraham's day.
Moses, the compiler of the book of Genesis, attributes this section to Shem, who lived 502 years after the Flood, and whose life overlapped that of Abraham by 150 years; hence we may conclude that Shem either wrote the book or that it was in his possession. The probability is that he wrote it.
f. The Tablet of Terah
Terah's tablet is the shortest of the series. It consists only of the ancestral line of Terah, the father of Abraham, who traced his lineage from Shem. He had the opportunity of learning the facts from Shem and of continuing the genealogy to include himself.
g. The Tablets of Ishmael and Isaac
The next and longest division of Genesis is chapters 11:27-25:11. This is followed by what might be properly called a postscript consisting of verses 12-19. Abraham, of course, is the chief character in this section. Contrary to Dr. Driver's dictum, Abraham's name is not connected in any way with our formula as one would expect if Driver's assertion were correct.
Footnote:
* In the narration concerning the events of the tower of Babel, God is spoken of as coming down to earth (Gen. 11:1-9). In 17:1 we are told that Jehovah appeared to Abraham. Whether or not He appeared only in vision, or similarly to His appearance in Eden we are not told. A like situation appears in chapters 18 and 19. But from the days of Jacob and onward we read of the appearance of "the Angel of Jehovah." One would conclude naturally that the use of the primitive expression relative to the Lord's appearing in the early chapters of the book argue for the composition of the chapters prior to the time when the latter half of the book was written.
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