James K. Hoffmeier - Genesis: history, fiction, or neither: three views on the Bibles earliest chapters

Books in the Counterpoints Series

Bible and Theology

Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy

Five Views on Law and Gospel

Four Views on Divine Providence

Four Views on Hell

Four Views on Moving beyond the Bible to Theology

Four Views on the Apostle Paul

Four Views on the Book of Revelation

Four Views on the Historical Adam

Show Them No Mercy

Three Views on Creation and Evolution

Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond

Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

Two Views on the Doctrine of the Trinity

ZONDERVAN

Genesis: History, Fiction, or Neither?

Copyright 2015 by Charles Halton, James K. Hoffmeier, Gordon J. Wenham, Kenton L. Sparks

ePub Edition March 2015: ISBN 978-0-310-51495-4

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Halton, Charles, 1978

Genesis : history, fiction, or neither : three views on the Bibles earliest chapters / Charles Halton, general editor ; James K. Hoffmeier, Gordon J. Wenham, Kenton L. Sparks.

pages cm. (Counterpoints: Bible and theology)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-310-51494-7 (softcover)

1. Bible. Genesis, I-XI Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Halton, Charles, 1978- editor. II. Title.

BS1235.52.H65 2015

222'.1106 dc23

2014030320

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Cover design: Tammy Johnson

Cover photography: Corbis Images

Interior design: Matthew Van Zomeran

15 16 17 18 1 9 20 /DCI/ 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To those who, like Jacob,
wrestle with God and man.

CONTENTS

Charles Halton (PhD, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion) is assistant professor in theology at Houston Baptist University. He has contributed to The IVP Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets and Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns: An Introduction. He is the co-author of The First Female Authors: An Anthology of Womens Writing in Mesopotamia. He virtually resides at charleshalton.com and his physical residence is in Louisville, Kentucky.

James K. Hoffmeier (PhD, University of Toronto) is professor of Old Testament and Near Eastern archaeology at Trinity International University Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He is the author of Ancient Israel in Sinai and Israel in Egypt, and co-author of Faith, Tradition and History.

Gordon J. Wenham (PhD, University of London) is tutor in Old Testament at Trinity College, Bristol, England, and professor emeritus of Old Testament at the University of Gloucestershire. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including Story as Torah and commentaries on Genesis, Leviticus, and Numbers.

Kenton L. Sparks (Ph.D., University of North Carolina) is professor of biblical studies and vice president for enrollment management at Eastern University. He is the author of several books, including Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible, Gods Word in Human Words, and Sacred Word, Broken Word.

No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.

Lewis Carroll, Alices Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

In our study of antiquity, we are operating with a deficiency as a matter of course because we must work with the remains that are left to us.

Angela R. Roskop, The Wilderness Itineraries

T hey cracked open the coffin and surveyed the shriveled remains, debating the best way to lift them out. They were transferring the body from the place of its hasty internment ninety-five years prior to a glorious tomb in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence. The move reflected Galileo Galileis change in status, once convicted as vehemently suspect of heresy and denied a proper burial, he was posthumously pardoned and placed in a tomb near his father. In a moment when no one was looking, a devoted admirer snapped a few fingers off the former heretic. Like pious Christians venerating the Crown of Thorns at Notre-Dame Cathedral, these digits became objects of devotion for those of a more critical bent. The slivers of bone and desiccated flesh changed hands several times until they came to rest in the Museo Galileo on the bank of the Arno. The middle finger now sits alone, on display in a glass egg, pointing upward toward the heavens, as it seems, in perpetual salute to the Catholic Church.