Commentary on the book of Genesis

Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Book title. The first sacred book of our Slavic-Russian Bible is called “Genesis”. This name is a literal translation of the Greek inscription of this book in the text of LXX, indicating the content of the first sacred book (in the narrow sense - its first two chapters), inscribed in its Hebrew original with the first word of the text of the 1st verse - בראשית - bereschith. Origin and meaning of its name. From what has been said, it is already clear that the key to unraveling the name of the first book of the Bible must be sought in the text of its original. Turning to the latter, we see that each of the first five books of the Bible, forming the so-called Torah (“book of the Law”) or the Pentateuch of Moses, received its name from the first or two of its first words; and since the initial book in the Hebrew original opens with the words בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא, these were the words that the Jews set as its title. Book 1 (or Genesis) is called bereschith ("in the beginning") in the Hebrew text; 2nd (Exodus) – elleh-schemoth (“these names”); 3rd (Leviticus) – vajigra (“and called”); 4th (Numbers) – vajedabber (“and said”; another name is bemidbar – “in the wilderness”, cf. Numbers 1:1); 5th (Deuteronomy) – elleh-haddebarim. But although the name of the book of Genesis is of accidental origin, it surprisingly coincides with its essential content and is full of broad meaning. In the 1st book of Moses, the name toldoth, synonymous with the word “Genesis,” appears many times. Under the name תוֹלְדוֹת toldoth - “begetting, origin, offspring” (from the Hebrew chapter תלד “to give birth”), the Jews knew their genealogical tables and the historical and biographical records that were with them, from which their history itself was subsequently compiled. Clear traces of the existence of such “genealogical records,” corrected and consolidated by the hand of their inspired editor Moses, can be found in the book. Genesis, where no less than ten times we meet with the inscription תוֹלְדוֹת toldoth, namely “the origin of heaven and earth” (Gen. 2:4), “the genealogy of Adam” (Gen. 5:1); "life of Noah" (Gen. 6:9); “the genealogy of the sons of Noah” (Gen. 10:1); “the genealogy of Shem” (Gen. 11:10); “the genealogy of Terah” (Gen. 11:27); “the genealogy of Ishmael” (Gen. 25:12); “the genealogy of Isaac” (Gen. 25:19); “the genealogy of Esau” (Gen. 36:1); “the life of Jacob” (Gen. 37:2). From this it is obvious that the first book of the Bible is primarily a book of genealogies and that its Greek and Slavic-Russian names best introduce us to its inner essence, giving us the concept of heaven as the first genealogy of the world and man. As for the division of the book of Genesis, the most profound and correct should be its division into two far unequal parts: one, embracing its first eleven chapters, contains, as it were, a universal introduction to world history, since it concerns the starting points and initial moments of the primitive history of all mankind; the other, extending over all the remaining thirty-nine chapters, gives the history of one God-chosen Jewish people, and then only in the person of its ancestors - the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. The unity and authenticity of the book of Genesis is proven primarily from an analysis of its contents. Delving deeper into the content of this book, we, with all its conciseness, cannot help but notice the amazing harmony and consistency of its narratives, where one follows from the other, where there are no real disagreements and contradictions, and everything stands in complete harmonious unity and purposeful plan. The basic scheme of this plan is the above-mentioned division into ten “genealogies” (toldoth), which make up the main parts of the book and combine more or less minor ones, depending on the importance of one or another genealogy. The authenticity of the book of Genesis has both internal and external reasons. The first, in addition to all that has been said above about the content and plan of this holy book, should include its language, which bears traces of deep antiquity, and especially the biblical archaisms found in it. To the second we consider the agreement of the Bible data with natural science and ancient historical news drawn from various external scientific sources. At the head of all of them we place the most ancient tales of the Assyro-Babylonian Semites, known under the name of “Chaldean genesis,” which provide rich and instructive material for comparison with the stories of biblical genesis 1. Finally, the importance of the book of Genesis is self-evident: being the oldest chronicle of the World and humanity and giving the most authoritative solution to world questions about the origin of everything that exists, the book of Genesis is full of the deepest interest and has the greatest significance in matters of religion, morality, cult, history and in general in the interests of truly human life. For more on this see Comely, “Introductio in libro V. T.” II, 1881; Arko, “Defense of the Mosaic Pentateuch”, Kazan, 1870; Eleonsky, “Analysis of rational objections to the book of Genesis”; Vigouroux, “Introduction to the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament,” translated by priest Vorontsov. You might be interested in: