The Book of Genesis
16
The Divisions of Genesis
The Book
in its present literary form and book of the Bible, a natural and effective introduction to the Pentateuch and, in a way, to the One central theme gives it distinct unity of entire Bible. thought and purpose. This central theme is God's selection of Israel to be the witness and messenger of His truth and His law unto all the peoples of the earth, and His testing and preparation of Israel for this arduous and sacred In its treatment in the book this central theme is task. resolved into four natural and logical concepts, (a) God and mankind, (b) God and Israel, (c) God's purification and preparation of Israel for His service, and (d) God's providence. The book itself may be divided correspondingly into four groups or cycles of stories, (a) chapters I-XI, stories
of Genesis
the
in its position as
is,
first
about mankind in general,
(b)
chapters
XII-XXV,
18,
the
Abraham, (c) chapters XXV, 19-XXXVI, the story of Jacob, and (d) chapters XXXVII-L, the story of Joseph. story of
Detailed consideration of these groups of stories establishes the relation and contribution of each to the central theme of
the book.
The
hrst
interesting tales.
group of
collection
They
stories,
of
chapters I-XI, contains a very
ancient
give the answers to
tions of life, as conceived tions of our early ancestors.
Israelite
some of
myths and
folk-
the primitive ques-
by the vivid and naive imaginaGenesis I and II, for example,
answer that most fundamental question of all, how did the world come into existence and life actually begin? Genesis II and HI form a collection of folk-tales, carefully worked together, which answer in ])rimitivc manner such (juestions of
existence as
why
the serpent, unlike
all
other animals,
livelihood,
why man must labor painfully for his why, unlike the animals, man wears clothes, and
why
comes
crawls upon his belly, there
into
man's
life
a love
for another being.
