Mark S. Smith - The Priestly Vision of Genesis I

Mark S. Smith

xi

xiii

xvii

PRELUDE

Creation in the Bible

PART ONE

Creation and the Priestly Vision of Reality

Chapter 41

Chapter 87

PART TWO

Literary Issues concerning Genesis 1 and its Position in the Hebrew Bible

Chapter 117

Chapter 139

Indexes

This book examines the priestly vision of the creation account in Genesis 1:1-2:3 (which I will call Genesis 1 from now on). Its vision of God, humanity, and the world has inspired readers for centuries, and as a result, it has been regarded as one of the all-time classics of biblical literature. In recent decades, scholars have arrived at a number of insights about Genesis 1 worth sharing with a wider readership. One central purpose in writing this book is to bring what biblical scholars have learned about Genesis 1 to people interested in the Bible and in ancient Israel.

The scholarly approaches taken to Genesis 1 have long acknowledged its priestly background. It has become evident to scholars that Genesis 1 drew on the language and imagery of the priestly tradition, known from priestly books of the Bible-especially Leviticus and Ezekiel. While Genesis 1 also shows features known from other creation accounts in the Bible and in the ancient Near East, it typically depicts creation after the image and likeness of the Bible's priestly texts. Viewing Genesis 1 in the context of other priestly texts therefore helps us to get at its worldview. It is this priestly dimension of Genesis 1 that this book focuses on. In addition to the priestly texts in the Bible, the ritual texts discovered at the ancient site of Ugarit (located on the coast of modern day Syria) can also help us to appreciate the priestly sensibility of Genesis 1. As the largest group of nonbiblical ritual texts predating the literature of nearby ancient Israel, the Ugaritic ritual texts offer an important context for understanding the priestly tradition of the Bible and for interpreting a number of specific priestly details in Genesis 1.

In drawing on this older tradition, Genesis 1 was participating in a larger discussion that was going on among Israelites during the sixth century BCE about the origins of the universe and about the nature of God and reality. While Genesis 1 weighs in on this discussion in a major way, we may also hear other voices engaged in this conversation. This discussion included two major prophetic works of the sixth century BCE. One such work was the book of Ezekiel. This figure was a priest exiled to Babylon in 597 BCE who had a prophetic career there spanning from the year 593 down to 571. The other was Isaiah 40-55, an anonymous addition made to the book of Isaiah (which scholars often call "Second Isaiah"). Deuteronomy as well as job perhaps belonged to this discussion. Like Ezekiel, Genesis 1 offered a priestly response and vision. All of these biblical works offered reflections on the world in light of the terrible experience of Jerusalem's destruction and the exile of its leadership in 586 BCE, vividly captured by Psalm 74 and the book of Lamentations. This experience of Israelite suffering occurred not only at home but also abroad, as mournfully recounted by Psalm 137 ("by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept..."). All these reflections by these great writers took place in the sixth century and reflect this time of dramatic and traumatic change for Israel.

Genesis 1's vision of God and the world that this deity created spoke to Israel's dire conditions in the sixth century. The world may change, at times with great violence. It may seem to have become a "void and vacuum" (Genesis 1:2) or a world without divine blessing (Genesis 1:22, 28; 2:3). Whatever the world was coming to in the sixth century, the God who had created this world remained the God of Israel. The account of creation in Genesis 1 was designed to teach Israel not simply about the distant past. Creation also served to instruct Israel about the world that God had brought into being in order to benefit humanity and especially Israel throughout time. God's creation in Genesis 1 offered to Israel a vision of life and blessing, of order and holiness, in the midst of a world marred by violence and disaster, servitude and death.

For centuries readers of the Bible have been drawn to ponder this story. In their contemplation of the seven days of creation, they join the author of Genesis 1 in considering the nature of God. My aim in this book is to trace the path taken by the writer of Genesis 1 to arrive at its priestly vision, here presented for a broader audience just as it was intended when it became the beginning of the Bible.

This book has a lengthy history going back to 1995. As a result, I have a lengthy list of institutions and individuals to thank. Chapter 1 began from two lectures. The first, "The Politics of Creation in the Bible," was delivered on February 21, 1995 at Saint Vincent's College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. I am particularly indebted to Professor Elliott C. Maloney, OSB, of Saint Vincent's College, for the kind invitation to lecture there. The second address, "Psalm 8 and the Politics of Creation," was given at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in November 1995 in Philadelphia.

Chapter 2 began as a presentation given at the Society of Biblical Literature in 2002 and appeared in 2008 in the Shalom Paul Festschrift. For decades, Professor Paul has been a sharp commentator on biblical and ancient Near Eastern parallels. I am grateful for his generous support and friendship since my student days at the Hebrew University in 1983-1984. Baruch Schwartz and Jeffrey Tigay also provided very helpful comments on this chapter, as acknowledged in the endnotes. I would also like to acknowledge the original inspiration for a major part of this chapter (concerning the light of the first day), namely the 1998 book by James Kugel entitled Traditions in the Bible.

Chapter 4 was presented before the Columbia University Bible Seminar in January 2002, and before the Old Testament Colloquium in March 2002. My thanks go to the members of these groups for their many suggestions, especially David Carr, Alan Cooper, David Marcus, and Bob Wilson. David Carr also offered helpful comments on an earlier draft of this chapter. As readers will see, my discussion here is particularly indebted to the works of the scholars involved in the discussion of scribal activity in ancient Israel, in particular David Carr but also Seth Sanders and Karel van der Toorn.