Genesis stories.

In Creating the Old Testement: The Emergence of the Hebrew Bible (Bigger, 1989) I with colleagues explored the question, if the only secure fact is that someone wrote the Bible books, what does that tell us about the Bible's place in reconstructing history? Do we have to make a new set of assumptions? Should we consider characters such as Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David or Solomon fact or fiction? Conservative scholars over the ages have tried to assert the historicity of the historical framework, but this is not confirmed by archaeology. True, some archaeologists, and writers using archaeology have jumped to conclusions about site identifications and buildings, or to 'confirm' the Israelite conquest, but these views have not stood the test of time. Of course, any final writer of a biblical book may have used sources, but again old certainties about what these were, and their dates, have disappeared and new syntheses are being advanced. We can however make an overall generalisation which will help our search for clues - that the biblical books were finalised during a relatively short period of time between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE, for reasons tied in with the politics of those years.

Genesis, the Hebrew narrative about human beginnings, introduces the Hebrew Bible (that Christians call the Old Testament). This is no accident. The book sets the social and family framework of the Hebrew world view. The exploits of the 'patriarchs' (or 'first fathers') and their families cannot be confirmed by any evidence at all, and cannot be assumed to represent history. We have to regard these stories as fiction unless we can demonstrate otherwise. As stories, they have a purpose: to inform readers (or listeners if the text is recited) of their cultural heritage, that is, their raisin d'etre as a people and the social expectations laid upon them. This includes an assertion as to the legitimacy of national descent and thereby the legitimacy of land claims. The stories move from the first couple, created by God, expanding a family tree through Noah, Abraham, his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, to the birth of the eponymous founders of the twelve tribes. Genesis is a genealogy, albeit expanded by stories. Rival family lines are described and dismissed: Ishmael, from whom Arabs claim descent; and Esau, from whom Edomites claimed descent (Genesis 36).

Why were stories produced and included, by whom? why? and when? The framework, the envelope that contains the stories, is from the final writer whose clear purpose was to proclaim legitimate ancestry. When was this an issue, and why? It is generally accepted by scholars today that this writer worked in the period after the Babylonian exile (which began in586 BCE) when under Persian rule the exiles were allowed home. This was a fresh start which required foundations to be rapidly built to unite the people. Religious unity was held to be a factor in social cohesion, so a fundamentalist line was taken, prohibiting intermarriage and syncretism (religious mixing). Laws were ascribed to Moses, and thence to God. Yahweh was the chosen name for God, and war was declared on other deities. History was also rewritten by the 'school' or group that also produced Deuteronomy.

In studying Genesis, therefore, we have a glimpse of how a new state wished to write its history. Their historical legitimacy was asserted through a system of twelve tribes, given fictive kinship relationships to Jacob, Isaac and Abraham. We hear more about the tribes in settlement texts which defined their tribal boundaries, much loved of modern mapmakers. Their complex settlement patterns and political organisation have been much studies, and we have to consider the jury as still out. Inappropriate assumptions about the historicity of the narratives have been part of the confusion. Today we cannot confirm that the Exodus and conquest of Palestine, actually happened as described. Rather, they seem to be later ideological reconstructions produced for political and theological purposes.

I next discuss the stories in Genesis about this tribal legitimacy, starting with the twelve sons of Jacob, bearing the names of the tribes of Israel. Then I will work backwards through the generations until we reach Adam and Eve.