Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible: Genesis

By Gordon J. Wenham

This extract from the Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible provides Wenham’s introduction to and concise commentary on Genesis. The Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible presents, in nontechnical language, the best of modern scholarship on each book of the Bible, including the Apocrypha. Reader-friendly commentary complements succinct summaries of each section of the text and will be valuable to scholars, students, and general readers.

Written by world-class Bible scholars, the ECB encapsulates in nontechnical language the best of modern scholarship on the sixty-six biblical books plus the Apocrypha. The only one-volume Bible commentary to cover all the texts (even including 1 Enoch) regarded by one or more Christian churches as canonical, the ECB provides reader-friendly treatments and succinct summaries of each section of the text that will be valuable to scholars, students, and general readers alike.

The primary objective of this work is to clarify the meaning of each section of the Bible. Rather than attempting a verse-by-verse analysis (virtually impossible in a one-volume work), the ECB focuses on principal units of meaning—narrative, parable, prophetic oracle, section of argument, and so on—highlighting their interconnectedness with the rest of the biblical text. The volume also addresses and answers major issues—including the range of possible interpretations—and refers readers to the best fuller discussions. Beyond providing reliable, informative commentary, this hefty volume also includes thirteen introductory and context-setting articles that do justice to the biblical documents both as historical sources and as scriptures.

The sixty-seven contributors to the ECB come from a wide variety of backgrounds and are acknowledged leaders in the field of biblical studies. Their contributions stand out either for their fresh interpretations of the evidence, or for their way of asking new questions of the text, or for their new angles of approach. While the translation of choice is the New Revised Standard Version, many of the contributors offer their own vivid translations of the original Hebrew or Greek.

Cutting-edge, comprehensive, and ecumenical, the ECB is both a fitting climax to the rich body of interconfessional work undertaken in the latter part of the twentieth century and a worthy launching pad for biblical study in the twenty-first.

Special Features of the ECB

• The only one-volume commentary to cover all the texts (including the Apocrypha and 1 Enoch) regarded by one or more Christian churches as canonical
• Thirteen major essays that introduce each section of Scripture and its study
• Encapsulates in nontechnical language the best of modern scholarship
• Includes superb bibliographies and an extensive subject index
• Written by sixty-seven first-rate Bible scholars
• Designed for use by scholars, students, pastors, and general readers

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Release date: Jun 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781467453301

Gordon J. Wenham

Gordon J. Wenham is professor of Old Testament at the University of Gloucestershire, England. His other books include Story as Torah and Exploring the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.

Book preview

Genesis

Gordon J. Wenham

INTRODUCTION

The Problem of Interpretation

The interpretation of Genesis should be straightforward. Most readers of this commentary will be familiar with the contents of Genesis and will come to the text with a pre-understanding that they have acquired in church, Sunday school, or at their mother’s knee. They will therefore think that they know what the text means, and will tend to consult a commentary only regarding points they feel unsure about or to discover what modern scholars are saying about this ancient text.

Now some pre-understanding is necessary for reading any text. But it can also be dangerous: prejudice, especially unconscious prejudice, may distort or even obscure understanding. We often meet this problem in ordinary communication, and we try to eliminate it. However, with Genesis we are on sensitive ground. It is the first book of the Bible, and is therefore regarded by both Jews and Christians as in some sense the Word of God and therefore authoritative for both faith and practice. In Genesis we therefore hope to find our beliefs and moral stances endorsed or at least not contradicted. But because believers’ convictions vary, so do their interpretations of Genesis.

Ultimately there is no escape from the reader’s input to the interpretation of a text. We decide the questions that we put to the text. Yet we need to ask ourselves whether the questions we are posing are fair. Is it reasonable to look for solutions to problems raised by modern science or ideologies in a three-thousand-year-old text? The text was written at a particular time with a specific readership in mind. So the traditional approach of the commentator has been to attempt to read the text as the presumed first readers did, or, even better, as the author meant it. The recovery of the original sense of the text was the basic duty of the commentator. It is now universally recognized that there are many obstacles to achieving that goal. We know little about the circumstances in which the biblical texts were written, or who their authors were. Interpretation is also dependent on the wider context, as well as on the assumptions and interests of the interpreter.

These factors make interpretation far from straightforward. Nevertheless, this commentary endeavors to make its first priority the recovery of the earliest meaning of the text, however uncertain that may seem to be, and hopefully to let its voice speak. The alternative is to let our personal interests have free rein and impose our own views on the text however contrary they may be to the writer’s. Such a capricious approach may be interesting or dull, but it is certainly of passing value.

The believing Christian or Jewish reader will not be satisfied with recovering the original meaning of the text, however. They will want to relate the message of Genesis to their current situation. Here a commentary cannot offer as much because readers differ so much in the situations they face. Yet very often Genesis seems to address issues of perennial concern, so that readers of this commentary should be able to apply its message themselves.

To discover the primary meaning of Genesis we need to look at the following issues: Arrangement, Theme, Sources, Date, and Authorship.

Arrangement

The book of Genesis consists of an introduction (1:1–2:3) followed by ten sections, each of which is headed by the title These are the descendants of … (2:4; 5:1; 6:8; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1; 37:2). Though the Hebrew is the same in 2:4 and 37:2, the NRSV translates the word differently in these passages, generations (2:4) and story of the family (37:2). This highlights the problem of translation: descendants does not fit the context here. Literally the Hebrew term toledot means what comes forth or what is generated, so something like subsequent history would fit all the contexts reasonably well. Chapter 1 tells of the creation of the heavens and the earth, so 2:4 begins a section about the subsequent history of the heavens and earth. Chapters 2–4 introduce us to Adam and his family, so 5:1 tells of the subsequent history of that family. Similarly, Noah is introduced in 5:29, and 6:8 opens a section describing his subsequent life much more fully.

Furthermore, these headings sometimes introduce just a short section like a genealogy (e.g., 25:12) and sometimes a full narrative (e.g., 25:19). Usually short and long sections alternate: 2:4 (heaven and earth) long, 5:1 (Adam) short, 6:8 (Noah) long, 10:1 (sons of Noah) long, 11:10 (Shem) short, 11:27 (Terah) long, 25:12 (Ishmael) short, 25:19 (Isaac) long, 36:1 (Esau) short, and 37:2 (Jacob) long. The last forty chapters of Genesis consist of three long sections (Terah, Isaac, and Jacob), separated by the short genealogies of Ishmael and Esau. Isaac and Ishmael were brothers, as were Jacob and Esau. In each case the genealogy of the nonelect brother precedes the long account of the chosen