Introduction to Torah
The first book of the Torah or the Old Testament in general is very intriguing and already calls us to be attentive to its message. Its first book, Genesis, as Robert Alder states “opens with a narrative of origins — Creation and the Garden Story — that is compelling in its archetypal character, its adaptation of myth to monotheistic ends, and that has set the terms, nor scientifically but symbolically, for much of the way we have thought about human nature and culture ever since”.
It is for sure an outstanding book. The Torah in itself is so inciting that has prompted Scholars to dive into its mysteries and to a better academic comprehension divided into four literary sources or “documents”. That approach is called the Documentary Hypothesis [or Developmental Theory] (originated in the 19th AD), which is divided into four initials to identify these alleged documents:
J that’s a reference for Jehovah or YHWH (dated aprox. 850 B.C.);
E for Elohim (dated aprox. 750 B.C.);
D for Deuteronomy (dated aprox. 620 B.C.);
P for Priest (dated aprox. 1000 years after the time of Moses)
Although its academic separation in Time is important for scholars to argue about the validity of its content, its authorship, and its relation with its period. I think that what is important for us, common people is to realize its moral and subjective validity. It seems that when something generally strikes and is engraved in people’s spirits, even though it is not a material truth, it is a spiritual one and it will survive through Time.
This separation of period is also important for scholars to identify possible authors of the Torah. But it goes back to what we argued before. And even though there is still this discussion, it’s commonly accepted that the author is Moses, which doesn’t exalt or diminish the content of the Pentateuch. That is something that will maintain itself. Why? Because its message is for us to internalize and then manifest in our daily lives. It’s only possible when we have an individual representation, someone to mirror ourselves with and bring to our reality.
Collective Sense of Torah
As we have been saying, the Torah, and consequently the Tanakh, brings the story of the formation of a nation. Even though we will see specific stories about important characters, the Torah will always be directed to a collective sense of life.
Alter discusses this in his Introduction to the Five Books: they “are chiefly an account of the origins and definition of the nation from its first forebears who accepted a covenant with God to the moment when people stand on the brink of entering the Promised Land, the ancient writers conceived three major constituents of national identity and cohesion. The first, and the one that we can most readily understand, is the trajectory of the collective and of its principal figures through the medium of history. [Second] In the tracing of this trajectory, the narrative shows us how historical events shape the people, how the people achieves a sense of its identity and purpose through the pressure of events. This, in essence, is the grand narrative arc from Genesis 12 to Exodus 20. But [Third] the biblical writers assumed that Israel's covenant with God had to be realized through institutional arrangements as well as through historical acts; and so the account of national origins and destiny required a body of cultic regulations, in which the people's relationship with God would be enacted regularly, repeatedly, through ritual, and a body of general law governing persons, property, acts of violence of man against man, social obligations, and ethical behavior.”
He continues “The Torah is manifestly a composite construction, but there is abundant evidence throughout the Hebrew Bible that composite work was fundamental to the very conception of what literature was, that a process akin to collage was assumed to be one of the chief ways in which literary texts were put together. (...) The Torah exhibits seams, fissures, and inner tensions that cannot be ignored, but it has also been artfully assembled through the ancient editorial process to cohere strongly as the foundational text of Israelite life and the cornerstone of the biblical canon.”
Genesis
The first book conveys a cyclical story of creation, alliance, consciousness, failure, true repentance, and spiritual baptism of responsibility. In the first part of God’s Testament, we see in figures and examples of personalities the evolution of the Spirit until they reach the State of Christ.
History Parts
Scholars separate the beginning of the book of Genesis into two parts for a better organization and understanding of the structure of the text: Primeval and Patriarchal history. The Primeval is an interesting tale of God’s Revelation about Creation and the origin of humans and its Eternal Spirit. The Patriarchal, sometimes called Ancestral, focuses on the how and why an alliance is established between God and human beings and its descendants, which are represented by Abraham and his family. Each part tries to present an authoritative aspect in historical accounts at the same time that presents a universal archetypal story. They are organized as follows:
Primeval History (chapters, 1-11);
Patriarchal/Ancestral History (chapters, 12-50).
We begin our study in the Primeval History part of the book of Genesis.
The Creation
God’s creation narrated in the book of Genesis is a beautiful and even poetic narrative that brings forth an idea and a concept of how everything was created. This is an artistic prose that later would be transformed into a scientific one. Funny enough, science and art are closer than we think. Musicians could argue about it.
So it is inherent in us, as we said in the previous episode, to naturally try to find a Way, a Truth, a Life of the origin of things, of the representation of Everything and Nothing: God.
[1] When God began to create the heaven and the earth, [2] and the earth then was welter and waste and darkness over the deep and God’s breath hovering over the waters,
(Genesis 1:1-2 MEV)
The narrative of the origin of things from darkness already gives us some insights. For instance, one thing is put in evidence: the “messiness” of creation. Order must come out of Chaos, and the opposite is true. That’s a living example of our lives.
Every time we decide to create something it’s chaotic, it’s messy. But then we acquire the ability to put things in Order and come up with a result, sometimes, better than what we thought and which will have a life of its own. That’s the result of a harmonious state acquired through the junction, union, between our will and the Will of God. What comes from it will be good in the eyes of God.
