Between documentary hypothesis and textual fact

IN the Middle Ages, the Bible was widely believed to have been written down in exactly its present form and to be infallible because it was the word of God.

We are no longer in the Middle Ages.

The belief that the Bible (however defined and delimited) was written by people has many far-reaching consequences since it implies that the same things that are usually true of most things written by people, by many people rather than a single man, by people living at different times, with different backgrounds, indeed in different languages, making different assumptions, pursuing different agendas and knowing different things, are also applicable to the Holy Scriptures.

It means recognition that the biblical text is heterogeneous in content, style and genre; brings together elements composed in different periods and contexts; and has reached its present form (which in the case of the Hebrew Bible of which Genesis forms part was fixed and codified in writing by the mediaeval Masoretes) through a prior process of written and oral transmission in the course of which changes occurred, either deliberately or unwittingly.

The evidence of all these things is everywhere to be seen in the existing text, as irrefutable as the unearthed bones which prove the existence of dinosaurs on the face of the earth many millions of years ago. Bible scholars of today, whether they be Jewish or Christian, Protestant or Catholic, religious or secular, accept these basic facts, and the study of biblical texts is so much more fascinating because of it!

Introduction: When God began building the sky and the land

The following article is loosely based, with quite a lot of added content and more detailed observations, on two talks I gave at Temple Emanu-El (Reform Jewish) in Honolulu, Hawai'i in October, 2014 in which I discussed with the synagogue's Seniors' Group and the Saturday morning Torah Study Group my personal views of my work translating the Book of Genesis into the Nawat language. I wish to thank Diane Farkas and Ken Aronowitz for their kind invitations to give these talks and to my audiences for their attention and their generous reception of my presentations. This article is also meant to serve in lieu of an "introductory chapter" to the blog which I hope to develop on this site over the coming year.

WHEN God began building the sky and the land	בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ
the land was not yet arranged darkness over depths wind of God fluttering on the face of the water	וְהָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ וְחֹשֶׁךְ עַל-פְּנֵי תְהוֹם וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם
then said God there should be light and there came to be light	וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי אוֹר וַיְהִי-אוֹר
God liked the light God separated light and darkness	וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאוֹר כִּי-טוֹב וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ
the light he called Day and the darkness he called Night night fell, morning dawned, one day	וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה וַיְהִי-עֶרֶב וַיְהִי-בֹקֶר יוֹם אֶחָד