Genesis Creation Stories Part 1: The Origin of the Book

Earliest Existing Documents for Genesis

Modern translations of Genesis and most of the Old Testament derive from ancient Bible copies known as the Masoretic Text (MT), and the Septuagint, (LXX).  The earliest complete Hebrew language Masoretic Text dates from 1009 A.D. (the Codex) although it is based on the earlier though now incomplete 915 A.D. Aleppo Codex.  Earlier more partial fragments dating to around 880 A.D. have been found in an old synagogue. Other fragments dating to 135 A.D. were found hidden in the cliffs of the Wadi Murabbat by the participants in Bar Kokhba's revolt against the Romans.  The earliest Genesis fragments are found in the Dead Sea Scrolls (300 B.C. to 68 A.D.) but these have verses which are slightly different from each other in addition to being slightly different from the standard Masoretic Text suggesting that different versions circulated in outside the tradition preserved by the Israelite scribes.

The Septuagint was the early Christian Greek version of the Old Testament whose first translation from Hebrew began around 100 B.C. in . Based on the many minor differences between available copies the translation of the Hebrew must have occurred over a period of time by different authors using different versions of the Hebrew text.  Many complete copies exist from around 1500 A.D. onward and fragments go back to the first century B.C. yet no consistent trail of translation can be found linking the existing complete texts with the earliest fragments as with the Masoretic text.  Consequently most Bible translators now base their English translations on the Masoretic Text using the Septuagint only to correct those few places where the Masoretic text seems corrupted.

The  Formation of  Genesis as a Book

The Hidden Book in the Bible

Richard E. Friedman

The book of Genesis is a combination of three different sources or traditions called J, E, and P.  The J and E traditions are mainly differentiated by their use of differing names for God with the J tradition calling God "Yahweh"  and the E tradition calling God Elohim (the plural of the Canaanite creator god EL).  Earlier English generations knew Yahweh as Jehovah and it is translated as Lord in the King James version ("Yaheweh" is linguistically closer to the Arabic "Allah" than the Indo-European "God" so it is obvious that both Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are referring to the same being).

These source can be further differentiated by other word usage. For example, J uses the word "create" while E uses the word "make" (in Hebrew of course).  The E  source, in general, is orderly and philosophical while J has the style of a story teller where God is very human like.  The E source is also concerned about linking Jacob with the name of the northern Hebrew kingdom, Israel. Also the E tradition is more influenced by the Babylonian traditions while the J source is influenced by the more ancient Sumerian traditions.  

All this points to the E source as coming from the northern kingdom of Israel so it must have been written after King Solomon's time of 970 B.C. when the northern kingdom first became independent yet before its destruction by Assyria in 720 B.C. The J source belongs to the southern kingdom of Judah and it must have been written between 884 and 700 B.C. based on its reference to Calah in the table of nations (Genesis chapter 10) which was the capital of Assyria between 884 and 700 B.C.  Both, however, must have included earlier oral traditions although based on the history revealed in table of nations the furthest folk memory seems to go back no farther than 1250 B.C.  Thus one can imagine each source as being a collection of separate writings located in the various holy places of each kingdom.

The later P source is indicated by the priestly concerns of genealogy and covenant event interpretations.  It has some parallel passages with the J source and can be differentiated from it by word usage.  Based on its reference to the Scythians in the table of nations who only arrived in the area after 680 B.C. it must have been written after that date.  Most scholars suspect that all three traditions were combined by the P source priests in Jerusalem sometime after the destruction of the northern kingdom by Assyria in 720 B.C. when large numbers of northern refugees settled in  the sourth requiring the need for a new combined tradition.

The book entitled "The Hidden Book in the Bible" by Richard Elliott Friedman is the best scholarly reconstruction of the J source.

 References

The Anchor Bible Genesis by E.A. Speiser, Doubleday, 1964:

Anchor Bible Dictionary with David Noel Freedman as editor-in-chief, Doubleday, 1992.

 In the words of the Anchor Bible editors, David Noel Freeman and the late William Foxwell Albright: "The Anchor Bible is a project of international and interfaith scope: Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish scholars from many countries contribute individual volumes.  The project is not sponsored by any ecclesiastical organization and is not intended to reflect any particular theological doctrine.  Prepared under our joint supervision, THE ANCHOR BIBLE is an effort to make available all the significant historical and linguistic knowledge which bears on the interpretation of the biblical record.  THE ANCHOR BIBLE is aimed at the general reader with no special formal training in biblical studies; yet it is written with the most exacting standards of scholarship, reflecting the highest technical accomplishment."