INTRODUCTION.
§ 1. Introductory: Canonical position of the book—its general scope—and title.
The Book of Genesis (on the title see at the end of this §) forms the opening section of a comprehensive historical work which, in the Hebrew Bible, extends from the creation of the world to the middle of the Babylonian Exile (2 Ki. 2530). The tripartite division of the Jewish Canon has severed the later portion of this work (Jos.-Kings), under the title of the "Former Prophets" (הנביאים הראשונים), from the earlier portion (Gen.-Deut.), which constitutes the Law (התורה),—a seemingly artificial bisection which results from the Tôrāh having attained canonical authority soon after its completion in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, while the canonicity of the Prophetical scriptures was not recognised till some centuries later.[1] How soon the division of the Tôrāh into its five books (חמשה חומשי התורה: 'the five fifths of the Law') was introduced we do not know for certain; but it is undoubtedly ancient, and in all probability is due to the final redactors of the Pent.[2] In the case of Genesis, at all events,
- ↑ See Ryle, Canon of the OT, chs. iv. v.; Wildeboer, Origin of the Canon of the OT2, 27 ff., 101 ff.; Buhl, Kanon und Text des AT, 8 f.; Budde, art. 'Canon,' in EB, and Woods, 'OT Canon,' in DB.
- ↑ Kuenen, Onderzoek, i. pp. 7, 331. The earliest external evidence of the fivefold division is Philo, De Abrah., init. (Τῶν ἱερῶν νόμων ἐν πέντε βίβλοις ἀναγραφέντων, ἡ πρώτη καλεῖται καὶ ἐπιγράφεται Γένεσις, ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου γενέσεως, ἣν ἐν ἀρχῇ περιέχει, λαβοῦσα τὴν πρόσρησιν· καίτοι κτλ.); Jos. c. Ap. i. 39. It is found, however, in [E] and G, and seems to have served as a model for the similiar division of the Psalter. That it;
