Genesis recounts the creation of the world (Genesis 1–11) and the history of the first four generations of the Israelite ancestors (Genesis 12–50). Although the two sections contain very different types of literature, they are related as a single genealogy created by the repetition of the phrase, “these are the generations of . . .” (2:4; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12, 19; 36:1, 9; 37:2) and “this is the book of the generations of . . .” (5:1). The distribution of the genealogies may be illustrated in the following diagram.
| Table 5.1 Distribution of Genealogies in Genesis |
| Genesis 1—11: Creation and Origin of Humanity |
| Pre-Flood | Flood | Post-Flood |
| 2:4 | 5:1 | 6:9 | 10:1 | 11:10 |
Heaven
and Earth | Adam | Noah | Noah and Sons | Shem |
| Genesis 12–50: Origin of the Ancestors |
| Abraham | Jacob | Joseph and his Brothers |
| 11:27 | 25:12 | 25:19 | 36:1, 9 | 37:2 |
| Terah | Ishmael | Isaac | Esau | Jacob |
The genealogies in Genesis 1–11 are broad in scope; they separate into two parts, dividing the primeval age into time periods before and after the flood: (1) the first section traces the genealogy of the heavens and the earth (2:4) and the entire human race from Adam (5:1) to Noah (6:9); (2) the second section includes the lineage of Noah through his three sons Shem, Ham, and Japhet (10:1; Shem, 11:10).
The literary design underscores the central role of the flood story (Genesis 6–9) as the event that separates the two periods of the primeval history.
The genealogies in Genesis 12–50 are narrower in scope; they separate into three sections: the lineage of: (1) Abraham from Terah (11:27); (2) Jacob from Isaac (25:19); and (3) Joseph and his brothers from Jacob (37:2).
The stories of Abraham and Jacob include an additional genealogy of a family member who is excluded from the central lineage: Ishmael (25:12) from the family of Abraham; and Esau (36:1, 9) from Jacob.
Sidebar 5.1 Genealogy
The Hebrew word for genealogy is Toledot (“generations”), which derives from the verb yalad, meaning “to bear or bring forth a child” (Gen 3:16); “to beget” (Gen 4:18); “to assist in childbirth” (Exod 1:16). Toledot can have a narrow meaning of the descendants in a family (Num 1:20), or a broader meaning signifying the families of the earth (Gen 10:32). Toledot is concentrated in the Pentateuch (Gen 2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1, 32; 11:27; 25:12, 13; 36:1, 9; 37:2; Exod 6:16, 19; 28:10; and Num 1:20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42; 3:1), and in Chronicles (I Chr 1:29; 5:7; 7:2, 4, 9; 8:28; 9:9, 34; 26:31), occurring in three distinct formal phrases:
- “These are the generations of . . .” (e.g., Gen 2:4; 6:9; Num 3:1; I Chr 1:29).
- “These are (X) according to their generations (Exod 6:16, 19).
- “This is the book of the generations . . .” (Gen 5:1; many interpreters judge this phrase to be the introduction to a separate document [Genesis 5] now incorporated into Genesis).
The genealogy is supplemented with extensive narratives, which explore the evolution and conflict of the human race in the primeval period (Genesis 1–11) and the challenges of fertility and land possession of the Israelite ancestors (Genesis 12–50). Genesis often shifts from genealogy to narrative when there is family conflict (including Cain and Abel or Joseph and his brothers) or problems surrounding fertility (including infertility, ambiguity about the role of the matriarch and the rightful heir, or the problem of twins). In these instances, the ordered flow of genealogical progression is interrupted by what R. B. Robinson characterizes as the unpredictable events of “actual life.” The central themes of the book of Genesis are the role of the human in creation, the place of Israel among the nations of the world, and the divine promises to the ancestors of nationhood and land possession.
Sidebar 5.2 Flood Mythologies
The story of the flood is a prominent mythology throughout the ancient world. Versions of the story appear in the Sumerian Eridu Genesis, the Babylonian Atrahasis myth and the Epic of Gilgamesh, as well as in the Hebrew Bible (Genesis). Three floods are also recounted west of the Ancient Near East in Greek tradition, including the primeval flood during the reign of the mythic king of Attica, Ogyges (Plato, Critias 111–12), the flood in which Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha are saved by Prometheus (Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus), and the flood survived by Dardanus (recorded by Dianysius of Halicarnasssus). The mythology also appears east of the Ancient Near East in India within the account of Vishnu revealing the flood to Shraddhadeva, king of the Davida Kingdom (Shataphatha Brahamana). For a summary of the many cultural versions of the flood, see Alan Dundes (The Flood Myth).
Literary Design
Tradition of the Flood in Ancient Near Eastern Mythology
Genesis 1–11 is written within the tradition of the flood in Ancient Near Eastern mythology. The story is widespread in Sumerian and Akkadian literature. Sumerian accounts appear already in the third millennium, when the hero, Zuisudra (“found long life”) escapes the disaster in a boat and eventually is granted eternal life:
All the windstorms, exceedingly powerful, attacked as one,
The deluge raged over the surface of the earth.
After, for seven days and seven nights,
The deluge had raged in the land,
And the huge boat had been tossed about on the great waters,
Utu came forth, who sheds light on heaven and earth.
Ziusudra opened a window of the huge boat,
Ziusudra, the king,
Before Utu prostrated himself,
The king kills an ox, slaughters a sheep.
. . .
Ziusudra, the king,
Before An and Enlil prostrated himself;
Life like a god they give him,
Breath eternal like a god they bring down for him.
The Sumerian mythology includes a series of motifs that become standard features of the flood story: (1) the flood encompasses the entire surface of the earth; (2) the event destroys all humanity, except the hero, who, in this case, is a king, Zuisudra; (3) the hero survives the flood in a boat; and (4) the hero offers sacrifice to the gods after surviving.
This account also includes motifs that appear in some subsequent versions of the flood, but not in all: the boat has a window that allows the hero to see that the flood has ended and the hero is granted eternal life.
Sidebar 5.3 Bronze Age in Mesopotamia
Early Bronze Age
3300–2100 BCE | Middle Bronze Age
2100–1550 BCE | Late Bronze Age
1550–1200 BCE |
Sumerian City-States
(3300–2300) | Babylon Empire
(1800–1600) | Assyrian Empire
(1400–1200) |
Akkadian Empire
(2300–2100) | Hammurabi
(1792–1750) | Collapse of the Bronze Age
(1200–1150) |
Sargon the Great
(2270–2215) | | |
The Sumerian King List adds to the tradition of the flood by creating two periods in the institution of kingship, in which pre-flood kings rule for thousands of years (e.g., Alilim, the first king, reigns for 28,000 years), while the rule of post-flood kings shortens from centuri...
