Genesis

Frontispiece of the book of Genesis: In principio ... ( Carolingian Bible , IX ^century)

The Book of Genesis (the Greek , "Birth", "beginning", "source", "origin", "cause") is the first book of the Torah (Pentateuch), so the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) or the Old Testament. In Hebrew , the title is Bereshit ("early ...") after the first word of the first Torah portion of the Book ^{Allocation of the book}

The book of Genesis as a work does not mention any summons to an author is a section of the Orthodox Jewish faith to believe that the book was dictated in its entirety by God to Moses on Mount Sinai.

The study's linguistic and semantic terms used and the contradictions between the various legends which are intermingled, led, from the 12th Century villa Maimonides (1) and especially Spinoza in the ^seventeenth century (2), questioning - despite the hostility of religious authorities and the threat of excommunication - its historicity and uniqueness of its author. Since then, archaeological and historical discoveries in the Middle East have helped to date the text of Genesis ⁱⁿ the seventh century BC. AD under the reign of King Josiah. Egyptian hieroglyphics and Sumerian cuneiform tablets especially (3) show that the text is an adaptation of legends known and conveyed throughout the ancient world, including Sumer, in a hagiographical and educational purpose to strengthen the unity the kingdom.

Bereshit aleph pereq first chapter of the Book of Genesis, written on an egg, the Israel Museum.

Summary

Chapters 1-5 of Genesis tell the organization necessary for the appearance of life on Earth and the stages of the emergence of this life to the beginnings of humankind. The man discovers that disobedience leads to bad, that is to say evil on the body (in Hebrew the word is bad and is relative to the body while in Greek it is translated poorly and is on the entity). Adam and Eve , the first man and first woman eat the fruit of the forbidden tree, they now know good and evil and are expelled from the Garden of Eden , Cain, son of Adam and Eve kills his brother Abel.

In subsequent chapters, God, seeing the corruption of men, causes the deluge , which he does survive the family of Noah. God then established a covenant (9:9)

Chapter 10 talks about families who are at the origin of humanity.

Chapters 11-20 speak of Abraham and his family until the time of Isaac. Chapter 12 begins with the call of Abram (later Abraham ) and his wife Sarai (later Sarah ), so barren, and their departure from their native land of Ur (probably in Babylon) to the land of Canaan. Abram accepted it involves God and was accepted by him, and relates the divine promise that all peoples on earth will be blessed by his descendants (22:3).

Chapters 21 to 35 after the family of Isaac. Genesis then describes the facts of his descendants, Isaac , and Jacob (later Israel ) and their families, and to a lesser extent, the "other" offspring, which form large antagonistic peoples of Israel, that Ishmael and Esau ( Edom ). When the last verse ends, the descendants of Jacob, the Israelites , came to Egypt at the invitation of one of them, Joseph , became a coincidence (that the Bible describes as "the divine finger") The most important minister to Pharaoh.

Chapter 36 deals with Esau and his family.

Chapters 37-50 speak of the family of Jacob , telling how Joseph was sold into Egypt and the role it played in preserving the house of Israel.

Interpretations of the Book of Genesis

The interpretation of the Book of Genesis is a very delicate exercise, since on the one hand, we must not confuse Genesis and Creation (which is only part of the book of Genesis), on the other hand, the historicity of the stories varies greatly depending on whether one looks at the Creation, the Flood and Noah , or the figures of Abraham , Isaac , Jacob and Joseph , who are realistic.

Depending on circumstances, we interpret these texts literally or by using the spiritual senses.

Using the literal creation to date

On the basis of genealogies (Toledot) in the Book of Genesis and later parts of the Bible , religious scholars Jews and Christians have independently estimated the dating of the Creation of the world, using interpreted in a literal sense.

This approach suggests that it should hold around the fourth millennium ACS after six days in which God created the heavens and the Earth (some assume it is day 24 hours, that Adam, Eve , and the Garden of Eden existed, and that a complete trace of events from Creation until historically verifiable lies in the Biblical account).

Other scholars argue that the days are related to the creative action on Earth and would last 7000 years. The story is intended for a terrestrial observer, the word heaven to be understood from the perspective of the observer. This makes consistent the narrative of Genesis and the dating of the Earth.

Many academic biblical scholars question the accuracy of the historical account of the Bible and its use to track the events presented in Genesis and to date in human history has been rejected by the vast majority of historians and archaeologists.

The topic will be addressed more specifically in Bible and history , and Young-Earth Creationism.

Interpretations literal vs. allegorical

The Book of Genesis begins with one (or more) original story. As a literal reading of it or they may seem in conflict with commonly accepted scientific theories, like the Big Bang or evolution theory , many believers view (s) account (s) of Creation according to Genesis as allegories.

However, the interpretation, if not allegorical, at least not literally did not wait for Darwin. Jewish tradition knew different ways of interpreting sacred texts , as distinguished four senses of Scripture. Subsequently, the Christian tradition, with Origen and John Cassian , said these methods of interpretation for the reading ( lectio divina ) of Scripture Christian. The non-literal interpretation of creation already beginning with Augustine of Hippo .

For the ^twelfth and ^thirteenth centuries , reconciliation made by the school scholastic between Christian tradition and the philosophy of Aristotle ( Thomas Aquinas ), allowed to draw a parallel between Genesis and the root cause as it was defined by Aristotle.

Questioning by scientific theories in ^{seventeenth-century}

From the ^seventeenth century , the observations of Galileo handed into question the interpretations of the Bible , particularly passages cosmological the First Testament.

In 1623 , Father Marin Mersenne , a correspondent of Descartes , who was at the center of a network philosophical and scientific published Questions on Genesis, a book in which he criticized severely the Christian Kabbalah.

After the trial of Galileo ( 1633 ), Descartes had consistently criticized the "speculative philosophy" taught in the scholastic school , preferring a method of "practice" allowing men to "make the masters and possessors of nature "( Discourse on Method , Part VI , 1637 ). The cogito of Descartes ( Meditations on First Philosophy , 1641 ) is the manifestation of that doubt a root cause understood as religious and metaphysical tradition.

This was the starting point for the establishment of a paradigm mechanistic ( Michel Foucault speaks of episteme ), which gradually discredited the first philosophy of Aristotle , the building shook and Scholastic. The positivism of Auguste Comte , philosophies scientists , and Darwinism abandoned the principle of first causes , and went so far as to deny any causal phenomena understood in a direction other than purely physical.

Contemporary Interpretations

However, even today, advocates of the literal interpretation of the first eleven chapters have not said their last word: they argue that the scriptural style of the early chapters share the characteristics of passages usually considered historical, and Nowhere is it mentioned that it would not be a literal narrative (which is the case for the prophecies of Balaam for example) .

Such analysis, based on a strong tradition of biblical infallibility (the failure to return the Bible question, on principle), have led many individuals and organizations from the scientific and religious, to reject the scientific theories traditional origin of life and the universe to theories of "alternative", as Young-Earth Creationism (Young Earth creationism-in short YEC). Proponents of YEC use their knowledge of the original story according to Genesis in order to provide answers to questions posed by the evolution and the origin and the meaning of life, rather than to rationalize their positions in light of the theories of fallible men.

But these cases are now a minority. The controversy Ptolemeo-Copernican and evolution have been an opportunity to thoroughly review the methods of exegesis and hermeneutics. Besides the fact that the crisis was apparently a Galilean item back to the original texts (in Hebrew ), both the Protestant tradition that the Catholic tradition had to renew the heart of reading Scripture , avoiding any literal interpretation excessive.

There is thus a growing number of Jews and Christians who profess that the first chapters of Genesis does not tell the beginning of physical creation. Trying to read the Scriptures in the way of the first recipients of these (ie the former Jews ), they think that these early chapters recount the spread of the order divine physically existed before the beginning of the narrative.

Some even decry any attempt to interpret the texts as anything other than organizing the world.

This interpretation was already that of Augustine of Hippo , who rejected the suggestion, however, that Genesis is an allegory, he says, "light" means any time "order," Illumination, higher plane of existence, "day" is an interval of time which is defined by a paradigm of central, as in the phrase "dawn of a new day." From this point of view, we can reject the objection of the first three days (which preceded the award of the light before the Sun), in favor of interpreting "literal" that the universe was created quite a room for progress in light of the chaos-"understanding", not the entire electromagnetic spectrum, then in heaven, etc.. Ecological crisis and Theology of Creation

The ecological crisis calls to the agenda these fundamental questions. Scientists and engineers questioned again on the report of the human being in nature. They wonder what is the position of traditional Judeo-Christian on this topic.

Jean Bastaire believes that the position stated by Descartes in the Discourse on Method , by which men were asked to "make as masters and possessors of nature", is causing a profound change in attitudes and mentalities on the environment. According to him, in the tradition Judeo-Christian , about God as outlined in the first chapter, verse 28 of Genesis ("Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. ") corresponds to a rule, but not a farm. In the vision Christian , the man should not behave like an operator, but as a faithful steward, according to the teaching of Scripture ^{Genesis in Jewish Tradition}

Although paradoxically low legalistic content for a book of laws and regulations , Sefer Bereshit is the center of historical consciousness and political Israelite and Jewish.

Wise named Rabbi Itz'hak sums up this idea when it teaches that, without the need to tell the story of His people His work so that they inherit the legacy of nations, the Torah n 'would not have started with the Sefer Bereshit (comment of Rashi on Genesis. 1:1).

According to the computation of Maimonides ( one of the greatest rabbinical authorities of the High Middle Ages ) and the Sefer Hahinoukh , it inspires,

• the first requirement, "fruitful and multiply" Genesis 1:28 , speaks to all humanity.
• the second, the circumcision Gen. 5:10 p.m. , open to all Abraham's son.
• third, do not eat the sciatic nerve Gen. 32:33 , open only to children of Jacob.

The prophets , particularly Hosea , constantly refer to stories that are recounted, and Jeremy likes to use the language of his earliest verses (hurly-burly, dark without lights, etc..) to describe the disaster represented by the destruction of the First Temple.

The first chapter sets the day of the Hebrews, corresponding to rest more than a lunar cycle solar day begins at evening (erev, that is to say, as the rabbi and exegete Abraham ibn Ezra , when things mix, yit'arbou see. "night, all cats are gray").

Finally, the descendants of the two main protagonists of the story of Joseph and his brothers , including Joseph and Judah , distinguished themselves in the episode of Explorers ( Book of Numbers ), the only training an encouraging report from the land of Israel is Joshua son of Nun (descendant of Joseph) and Caleb ben Yefoun (descendant of Judah). It is also this story from what the concept of two Messiahs , the Messiah son of David (a descendant of Judah ) and the Messiah son of Joseph.

Sefer Bereshit is also widely discussed in the Mishna and the Talmud : the fifth chapter of the Treaty of fathers is largely devoted dealing with "Ten words with which God created the world", the "ten creations at twilight of the sixth day, "the" ten tests of Abraham , "etc..

The second chapter of the Treaty ' Haguiga is also devoted to the secrets of the Act of Creation (Ma'ass Bereshit), which with the act of the Chariot (Ma'ass HaMerkava - the "trolley" is the Celestial Chariot described by Ezekiel ) form the nucleus of an esoteric tradition that can be transmitted in a secret, Kabbalah.

The first chapters will also be discussed over the centuries, the foundation of ethics and Jewish ethics. the philosophers try to reconcile them (or differentiate) the assumption Aristotelian of the First Cause and Prime Mover. Moses Maimonides devoted to this subject thirty chapters of the Guide for the Perplexed - his interpretation, although prominent Jewish thought deeply Later, will be hotly debated during the Rabbinic literature.

Genesis in the Christian tradition

The New Testament contains many allusions and direct quotations from Genesis, these references seem to assign an author. It is not explicitly named, but the Books of the Act is in some places (Mark 12:19, 26; Luke 24:27) given to Moses, we may assume that it is the same.

The author of the Gospel of John uses language similar to that of the first chapter of Genesis, when he personifies the eternal divine Word as Logos ( which is the origin of all things "with God", and "was God" and "became flesh and lived among us." Many Christians interpret this as an example of teaching the apostolic doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus , the source is in fact based on the testimony of John that Christians assign a personality the creative word of God, and identify this figure with Jesus ( Hebrews 1:2,3 , Colossians 1:16,17 are other biblical sources for these beliefs).

In addition to these references to Genesis in the New Testament, Christian theologians (since the early Fathers of the Church to the present writers) have continued to interpret and discuss the stories and images of this book, using a myriad of methods and theological perspectives. In fact, the interpretation of the first three chapters of Genesis remains a topic of high debate among Christians today.

In his encyclical Humani generis , Pius XII reminded of important points:

(...) There are those who, in the field of history, boldly ignore the limitations and precautions that the Church establishes. And especially, we must deplore the manner just too free to interpret the historical books of the Old Testament, which advocates cite wrongly, to justify the recent letter from the Pontifical Biblical Commission to the Archbishop of Paris This letter, in fact, clearly warns that the first eleven chapters of Genesis, although they do not respond exactly to the rules of historical composition, such as have followed the great Greek and Latin historians and scholars to follow today, however, belongs to the historical genre in a sense true that scholars should study again and determine: the letter also said that the same chapters in the simple style and figured, well suited to the state of mind of poorly educated people, report essential truths underlying the pursuit of eternal salvation, as well as a popular description of the origin of mankind and the Chosen People. If otherwise, the old hagiographies (sacred writers) have drawn something in the popular narratives (which can certainly concede), we must never forget that they have done under divine inspiration which has preserved any error in the selection and evaluation of these documents.

But all that has been borrowed from popular narratives and hosted in the Holy Scripture can not possibly be equiparation to mythology or fables of the same kind, which proceed from the imagination rather devoid of all restraint that this remarkable concern for truth and simplicity that bursts into sacred writings, even the Old Testament, so that our sacred writers (sacred writers) must be announced well above the profane writers of antiquity.

Genesis in academic studies

Really starting with Spinoza , the "study of the text with the text", ie the exegetical criticism, doubts about the attribution of Genesis to Moses alone. Beginning by noting post-mosaic, it will eventually find that the Book of Genesis is not the work of one author, but to writing several oral traditions predating Moses reshaped and modified over time perhaps even totally separate and artificially merged in order to obtain national cohesion around "a" common history.

The classical theory literature nineteenth ^century are three layers of writing, she has titled:

• Yahwist narrative: God , always named YHWH created the Man in his image, but man is poor and fails to fulfill its duties. There then follows a succession of alliances and ruptures of the Covenant between God and men, until the appearance of the patriarchs.
• Elohistic narration: written probably during difficult times in Israel , the tone is more austere, less optimistic for increased emphasis on the duty of obedience to the man. This is the term elohim which means God in this narrative.
• narration priestly probably written during the exile in Babylon , it is giving the text a more dogmatic religious dimension focusing on the meaning of the Alliance.

The modern theory literature of the ^twentieth century no longer distinguish two layers:

• priestly layer, called P, which takes a few nuances that category of classical theory.
• non-priestly layer, called non-P. Now we recognize is not possible to determine a clear separation between Yahwist and Elohist.

This theory considers that in most cases, the priestly writers proofread, comment text and increase the non-P.

Today, many academic studies on the Bible and religion in general are conducted in the Faculties of Theology, by either believers or non-believers (atheists or agnostics).

Themes

• God created the world , calling all things and beings into existence through His Word. The word is creative. It should emphasize the literary qualities of the first chapters of Genesis. Repeating for each day of creation the same cycle: "God said ... God saw that it was good." gives this text a truly poetic.

• The universe was created was when, in the opinion of God, good. Optimist Genesis expresses satisfaction and pleasure in the world.

• God is personal, although the terms anthropomorphic and anthropopathiques describing are generally seen as allegorical. God can come and speak to the humanity.

• The Book of Genesis does not philosophically rigorous definition of God. The description she gives him is instead located in a perspective "practical" and "historic", that is to say in reference to his actions in the world and humanity.

• The humanity is the "crown" of creation, and was done in the "image of God." Like all creationists stories, Genesis shows that man perceives himself different from other living beings. Animals, plants have been created by speech. But man is created from dust and divine breath. The uniqueness of man comes from the divine breath that God has placed in him. It is this spirit that allows him to think, to have a conscience.

• All peoples are descended from Adam and Eve, the human race is precisely one and only one race.
• The earth has to man a certain moral grandeur, in the respect, man must respect the creatures that live there, the operator does not for selfish needs.
• God is presented as the sole creator of nature , while the transcendent Being in her.
  • Some historians believe that monotheism is more recent than the Zoroastrianism , interpreting the commandment "do not have other gods before Me" as a trace of henotheism primitive Israelite society. However, Genesis describes monotheism as the original faith, the polytheism being a mistake later humanity.

• God makes a covenant eternal and irrevocable with humanity as a whole at the time of Noah , and a second with Abraham and his descendants through his son Isaac , through which their descendants will be selected to have a special destiny.

• The Jewish people is to be elected in a special covenant with God, God told Abraham "I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing for the people. I will bless them that bless thee and curse those who curse you, and you, all the families of the earth be blessed ". God often repeats the promise that the descendants of Abraham will be numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the shore.

The themes of Genesis were found throughout the Middle East , including Mesopotamia , where there are stories predate the writing of Genesis and working on common themes (Creation of Man by the god Marduk with clay; creation of woman from the rib of man - a pun Sumerian as "coast" and "life" are homonyms in the language - they do not, however, in Hebrew , " side "is to be taken to mean" side, man and woman were created "side by side", that is to say undifferentiated until God separates) adventures of the hero Gilgamesh with narration a deluge ; Babylonian tower construction ...).

However, if an opinion is that the authors of Genesis have taken these issues by giving them a new meaning religious, they could be a variant of common themes emerging evidence that a single regional story.

Basic story for the three major monotheistic religions with the figure of Abraham , it is often at the heart of controversies including:

• the creationism ,
• the nature of the couple ,
• The first social taboos,
• The draft God.

Source: TOB ecumenical Bible translation

portrayal in art

• Beni Hassan mural camper Semitic entering Egypt and Egyptian officials by the host
• brick (tomb at Thebes) Gen 11.3

Genesis is mentioned in several cathedrals:

• Chartres Cathedral : north portal
• Cathdrale Saint-tienne d'Auxerre : canopy, Creation and Original Sin (Bay 21)
• Cathedral of Cahors : frieze of the west

References

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