The Bible can be divided into historical periods and a basic awareness and knowledge of these periods is necessary in order to understand the following discussion. The outline below will provide the needed information. This material is adapted from OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY (in outline form) by Dr. Roy Gingrich.[1]
HISTORICAL PERIODS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
The dates listed for the first 6 periods are approximate.
I The Beginnings Period ‑ From creation to Abraham B.C. 4000 ‑1900. Genesis chapters 1‑11.
II The Patriarchal Period ‑ From Abraham to Israel's descent into Egypt. B.C. 1900 ‑ 1700. Genesis chapters 12‑50.
III The Egyptian Period ‑ From Israel's descent into Egypt until the exodus out of Egypt.
B.C. 1700‑1500. Exodus chapters 1‑14.
IV The Wilderness Period ‑ From the exodus out of Egypt to the entrance into Canaan. B.C. 1500‑1460. Exodus chapters 15‑40, and the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
V The Conquest Period ‑ From the entrance into Canaan to the death of Joshua. B.C. 1460‑1430. The Book of Joshua.
VI The Judges Period ‑ From the death of Joshua to the setting up of the kingdom. B.C. 1430‑1053. The Books of Judges and Ruth.
VII The United Kingdom Period ‑ From the setting up of the kingdom to the division of the kingdom. B.C. 1053 ‑ 933. (120 years, 3 kings) [Saul, David, and Solomon] I & II Samuel, I Kings chapters 1‑11, I Chronicles and II Chronicles chapters 1‑9.
VIII The Divided Kingdom Period ‑ From the division of the kingdom to the captivity of the Northern kingdom. B.C. 933 ‑722. I Kings 12:1 ‑ II Kings 17:41; II Chronicles chapters 10 ‑28; and the books of Jonah, Amos, Joel, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah.
IX The Single Kingdom Period ‑ From the captivity of the northern kingdom to the captivity of the southern kingdom. B.C. 722 ‑ 605. II Kings 18:1 ‑ 25:30; II Chronicles 29:1 ‑ 36:23; and the books of Nahum, Zephaniah, and Habakkuk.
X The 70 Year Captivity Period ‑ From the first deportation of the southern kingdom until the return from captivity, B.C. 605 ‑536. The books of Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Obadiah.
XI The Partial Restoration Period ‑ From the return from captivity to the close of the Old Testament Canon. B.C. 536‑400. The books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
The Authorship of the Pentateuch
For centuries it has been generally accepted that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. However, in the last century, another view arose within the circles of theological liberalism. This view is called the Documentary Hypothesis. It lists the existence of four different documents supposedly contained in the Pentateuch, three of which appear in Genesis. According to this hypothesis each of these documents has a different author and are identified using the letters J.E.D.P.
The J. Document is so called because of the use of the name Jehovah in that section to identify God. (Used only four times in the Old Testament and only once in the Pentateuch in Exodus 6) The theory holds that a single author would not use more than one title for God. (It is interesting, however, that today we refer to Him as God, Father, Lord, Master, and many other titles routinely.) This portion of scripture was allegedly written in the 10th century B.C. around the time of the United Kingdom, some 500 years after Moses. The author is unidentified.
The E. Document is so called because of the use of the name Elohim. (Elohim is used over 2600 times from Genesis to Malachi.) It was supposedly written around the 8th century B.C. during the Divided Kingdom.
The D. Document. This author supposedly wrote Deuteronomy, hence the D., and also sections of Joshua. It was supposed to have been written around 600 B.C. but before the Babylonian captivity in 605 B.C.
The P. Document. This was allegedly the writer or writers of the priestly material, written around 500 B.C. during the Partial Restoration Period, after the Babylonian captivity.
Of these four “documents”, Genesis is supposed to contain J, E, and P. sections and therefore, is the result of at least three different and unknown authors who wrote over a period of 500 years.
There are several reasons for rejecting this theory. First, there is the Testimony of Scripture. If the documentary hypothesis is true, then the Scripture is not. As material written under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, these five books record for us a first hand explanation of what took place during these historic periods of the Bible. God was there and so provides an eyewitness account of all of these events, including creation. If the J.E.D.P. theory is correct then what is contained in the Pentateuch is a lie. Psm. 119:160 "All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal." Notice what the Law itself says about it's authorship, Deut. 31:24-25 "After Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end, he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD” Ex. 17:14 "Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."
The second reason for rejecting the Documentary Hypothesis is the Testimony of Christ. Mt. 19:8 "Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning." This is a reference to Deut. 24:1‑4, which Jesus clearly attributes to Moses. Mt. 8:4 says, "A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." Again we find Jesus referring to the Pentateuch, specifically Lev. 14:2 and attributing its writing to Moses. In Mark 7:10 we find these words spoken by Jesus. "For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death." This is a reference to the fifth commandment in Exodus 20:12. In Luke 24:44, notice the threefold division of O.T. listed by Jesus himself. "And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me." Jesus agreed with Hebrew teaching and references that attributed the Law or the first five books of the Old Testament to Moses.
Finally there is the Testimony of History. Both Judaism and Christianity accepted the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch until the 19th century.
Moses as the Author of Genesis
Moses was not born until at least 2500 years after creation. How then did he get the information contained in the book of Genesis? There were two sources of information. The primary source is Divine Revelation. God simply communicated to Moses the record of those events. Exodus 19:3 and many other passages indicate that God communicated directly and verbally with Moses. "Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:" As a matter of fact Moses had a special relationship with God that was greater than any other prophet. Numbers 12:6-8a "Then He said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of the LORD..." (NKJV)
A secondary source of information may have been written or oral records. It is possible and even quite probable that records such as the genealogies found in the early chapters of Genesis were passed down from generation to generation. The existence of research and records does not harm the doctrine of divine inspiration. Research and revelation are not antithetical and are found together several times in Scripture. Luke openly admits that he had researched the writing of several others as well as the oral tradition regarding the life of Christ and yet wrote under the leadership and direction of the Holy Spirit. Lk. 1:1‑4 "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught."
Date of Writing
The Pentateuch was written during the Wilderness Wandering Period. 1500‑1460 B.C.
For some years secular and liberal religious historians believed that Moses couldn't have written the Pentateuch, because by this period, it was believed man had not yet reduced language to writing. However, in 1968, Ebla, an ancient city of northern Syria, was discovered. Excavating the site in 1975, archaeologists unearthed Ebla's royal archives: a collection of more than 14,000 inscriptions on clay tablets. Written in the cuneiform characters originated by the Sumerians of Mesopotamia, adapted to the language of Ebla's Semitic inhabitants, they show the city to have been an important commercial center ruled by a merchant aristocracy with an elected king. They also reveal the existence of a flourishing north Syrian civilization rivaling that of Egypt and Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC. The Ebla tablets were dated 2500-2200 BC, 1000 years before Moses.[2]
Time Period Covered in Genesis
Genesis covers about 2300 years. It spanned four dispensations, (which will be discussed later), and the first two and a half Old Testament Periods. (The Beginnings period, the Patriarchal period, and half of the Egyptian period.)
Genesis as a Target of Criticism
Along with Jonah and Daniel, the book of Genesis has been the target of much criticism. It is criticized as being historically and scientifically inaccurate. One purpose of this book is to demonstrate that those charges are wrong.
Title
Genesis means Beginning, which is an appropriate name since in it we find the beginning of many things, such as; Creation, Man, Woman, Marriage, The Sabbath, Sin, Death, Redemption, Birth, Sacrifice, Murder, Nations, Languages, etc.
The Division of the Book
The book of Genesis can be divided into five major sections.
1. From Creation to the call of Abraham. 1:1‑11:32.
2. From the Call of Abraham to the Death of Sarah. 12:1‑23:20.
3. From the Marriage of Isaac to the Stolen Blessing. 24:1‑27:46.
4. The life of Jacob; His departure from Canaan to the death of Isaac. 28:1-36:43.
5. The life of Joseph. 37:1‑50:26.
[1] Roy Gingrich, Old Testament Survey (in outline form), (Memphis, Riverside Press, 2001), p. 5
[2] Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia.
HISTORICAL PERIODS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
The dates listed for the first 6 periods are approximate.
I The Beginnings Period ‑ From creation to Abraham B.C. 4000 ‑1900. Genesis chapters 1‑11.
II The Patriarchal Period ‑ From Abraham to Israel's descent into Egypt. B.C. 1900 ‑ 1700. Genesis chapters 12‑50.
III The Egyptian Period ‑ From Israel's descent into Egypt until the exodus out of Egypt.
B.C. 1700‑1500. Exodus chapters 1‑14.
IV The Wilderness Period ‑ From the exodus out of Egypt to the entrance into Canaan. B.C. 1500‑1460. Exodus chapters 15‑40, and the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
V The Conquest Period ‑ From the entrance into Canaan to the death of Joshua. B.C. 1460‑1430. The Book of Joshua.
VI The Judges Period ‑ From the death of Joshua to the setting up of the kingdom. B.C. 1430‑1053. The Books of Judges and Ruth.
VII The United Kingdom Period ‑ From the setting up of the kingdom to the division of the kingdom. B.C. 1053 ‑ 933. (120 years, 3 kings) [Saul, David, and Solomon] I & II Samuel, I Kings chapters 1‑11, I Chronicles and II Chronicles chapters 1‑9.
VIII The Divided Kingdom Period ‑ From the division of the kingdom to the captivity of the Northern kingdom. B.C. 933 ‑722. I Kings 12:1 ‑ II Kings 17:41; II Chronicles chapters 10 ‑28; and the books of Jonah, Amos, Joel, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah.
IX The Single Kingdom Period ‑ From the captivity of the northern kingdom to the captivity of the southern kingdom. B.C. 722 ‑ 605. II Kings 18:1 ‑ 25:30; II Chronicles 29:1 ‑ 36:23; and the books of Nahum, Zephaniah, and Habakkuk.
X The 70 Year Captivity Period ‑ From the first deportation of the southern kingdom until the return from captivity, B.C. 605 ‑536. The books of Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Obadiah.
XI The Partial Restoration Period ‑ From the return from captivity to the close of the Old Testament Canon. B.C. 536‑400. The books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
The Authorship of the Pentateuch
For centuries it has been generally accepted that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. However, in the last century, another view arose within the circles of theological liberalism. This view is called the Documentary Hypothesis. It lists the existence of four different documents supposedly contained in the Pentateuch, three of which appear in Genesis. According to this hypothesis each of these documents has a different author and are identified using the letters J.E.D.P.
The J. Document is so called because of the use of the name Jehovah in that section to identify God. (Used only four times in the Old Testament and only once in the Pentateuch in Exodus 6) The theory holds that a single author would not use more than one title for God. (It is interesting, however, that today we refer to Him as God, Father, Lord, Master, and many other titles routinely.) This portion of scripture was allegedly written in the 10th century B.C. around the time of the United Kingdom, some 500 years after Moses. The author is unidentified.
The E. Document is so called because of the use of the name Elohim. (Elohim is used over 2600 times from Genesis to Malachi.) It was supposedly written around the 8th century B.C. during the Divided Kingdom.
The D. Document. This author supposedly wrote Deuteronomy, hence the D., and also sections of Joshua. It was supposed to have been written around 600 B.C. but before the Babylonian captivity in 605 B.C.
The P. Document. This was allegedly the writer or writers of the priestly material, written around 500 B.C. during the Partial Restoration Period, after the Babylonian captivity.
Of these four “documents”, Genesis is supposed to contain J, E, and P. sections and therefore, is the result of at least three different and unknown authors who wrote over a period of 500 years.
There are several reasons for rejecting this theory. First, there is the Testimony of Scripture. If the documentary hypothesis is true, then the Scripture is not. As material written under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, these five books record for us a first hand explanation of what took place during these historic periods of the Bible. God was there and so provides an eyewitness account of all of these events, including creation. If the J.E.D.P. theory is correct then what is contained in the Pentateuch is a lie. Psm. 119:160 "All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal." Notice what the Law itself says about it's authorship, Deut. 31:24-25 "After Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end, he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD” Ex. 17:14 "Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."
The second reason for rejecting the Documentary Hypothesis is the Testimony of Christ. Mt. 19:8 "Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning." This is a reference to Deut. 24:1‑4, which Jesus clearly attributes to Moses. Mt. 8:4 says, "A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." Again we find Jesus referring to the Pentateuch, specifically Lev. 14:2 and attributing its writing to Moses. In Mark 7:10 we find these words spoken by Jesus. "For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death." This is a reference to the fifth commandment in Exodus 20:12. In Luke 24:44, notice the threefold division of O.T. listed by Jesus himself. "And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me." Jesus agreed with Hebrew teaching and references that attributed the Law or the first five books of the Old Testament to Moses.
Finally there is the Testimony of History. Both Judaism and Christianity accepted the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch until the 19th century.
Moses as the Author of Genesis
Moses was not born until at least 2500 years after creation. How then did he get the information contained in the book of Genesis? There were two sources of information. The primary source is Divine Revelation. God simply communicated to Moses the record of those events. Exodus 19:3 and many other passages indicate that God communicated directly and verbally with Moses. "Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:" As a matter of fact Moses had a special relationship with God that was greater than any other prophet. Numbers 12:6-8a "Then He said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of the LORD..." (NKJV)
A secondary source of information may have been written or oral records. It is possible and even quite probable that records such as the genealogies found in the early chapters of Genesis were passed down from generation to generation. The existence of research and records does not harm the doctrine of divine inspiration. Research and revelation are not antithetical and are found together several times in Scripture. Luke openly admits that he had researched the writing of several others as well as the oral tradition regarding the life of Christ and yet wrote under the leadership and direction of the Holy Spirit. Lk. 1:1‑4 "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught."
Date of Writing
The Pentateuch was written during the Wilderness Wandering Period. 1500‑1460 B.C.
For some years secular and liberal religious historians believed that Moses couldn't have written the Pentateuch, because by this period, it was believed man had not yet reduced language to writing. However, in 1968, Ebla, an ancient city of northern Syria, was discovered. Excavating the site in 1975, archaeologists unearthed Ebla's royal archives: a collection of more than 14,000 inscriptions on clay tablets. Written in the cuneiform characters originated by the Sumerians of Mesopotamia, adapted to the language of Ebla's Semitic inhabitants, they show the city to have been an important commercial center ruled by a merchant aristocracy with an elected king. They also reveal the existence of a flourishing north Syrian civilization rivaling that of Egypt and Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC. The Ebla tablets were dated 2500-2200 BC, 1000 years before Moses.[2]
Time Period Covered in Genesis
Genesis covers about 2300 years. It spanned four dispensations, (which will be discussed later), and the first two and a half Old Testament Periods. (The Beginnings period, the Patriarchal period, and half of the Egyptian period.)
Genesis as a Target of Criticism
Along with Jonah and Daniel, the book of Genesis has been the target of much criticism. It is criticized as being historically and scientifically inaccurate. One purpose of this book is to demonstrate that those charges are wrong.
Title
Genesis means Beginning, which is an appropriate name since in it we find the beginning of many things, such as; Creation, Man, Woman, Marriage, The Sabbath, Sin, Death, Redemption, Birth, Sacrifice, Murder, Nations, Languages, etc.
The Division of the Book
The book of Genesis can be divided into five major sections.
1. From Creation to the call of Abraham. 1:1‑11:32.
2. From the Call of Abraham to the Death of Sarah. 12:1‑23:20.
3. From the Marriage of Isaac to the Stolen Blessing. 24:1‑27:46.
4. The life of Jacob; His departure from Canaan to the death of Isaac. 28:1-36:43.
5. The life of Joseph. 37:1‑50:26.
[1] Roy Gingrich, Old Testament Survey (in outline form), (Memphis, Riverside Press, 2001), p. 5
[2] Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia.
