Introduction to Genesis

The editors tell us the Book of Genesis' purpose is to narrate God's dealings with man in general and his special purpose with Israel in particular.  Sounds interesting.

Like Asimov, the editors say the book is the work of an editor working from Judean, Ephraimite and Priestly traditions and documents.  This frankly doesn't interest me that much, other than as a riposte to fundamentalists that believe every word of the Bible is the literal word of God.  I'm sorry to keep bringing it up, but I just report the facts, ma'am.  Further, the work of the editor also reflects centuries of oral tradition.

Asimov discusses "man".  The creation of man as told in Genesis 2 is made of clay and not simply called into existence by spoken command, as in the Priestly tradition told in Genesis 1.  He further says that "man" is a translation of the Hebrew "adam", which has the same meaning as the English "mankind".  Now this is something I didn't already know, the first in this read through for me.  So the creation story is that of Mankind (similar to the WWE wrestler?) and Eve.  Hmmm.  Adam only becomes a proper name only in the fifth chapter of Genesis, although the KJ uses it as a proper name in Genesis 2:19, "every beast...and brought them unto Adam."

Tomorrow, God creates the universe, stay tuned.