OLD TESTAMENT READING: GENESIS 1–11
The first eleven chapters of Genesis – and of the OT – constitute the Primeval History. This carefully arranged collection of traditions detail God’s good creation of the cosmos, the nature of humanity in the created order of the universe, and God’s relationship with humans. In this chapter, we will explore various genres such as cosmogony, theogony, myth , and history, all of which will help to demonstrate ways in which Israel’s Primeval History resembled the traditions of its ancient neighbors and ways in which Israel’s form and content were completely unique.
Importantly, Genesis 1–11 prepare the reader for the rest of the Bible. They also function as an explanation for Israelite readers of why things are the way they are. Furthermore, they introduce themes that will be central throughout the remainder of the OT: the concept of creation, the unchallenged sovereignty of God, the central role of humanity, and the first mention of covenant.
What would you expect to find at the very beginning of Israel’s library? If Israelite authors had been focused primarily on writing a national history, we might have expected them to begin straightaway with an account of their ancestors, the patriarchs and matriarchs who became the great-grandparents of all Israel. We’ll get to that story later (Genesis 12–50). But here, in the opening chapters of the Bible, we learn that Israel’s interests are broader and deeper than that. What we have here might surprise you.
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