Genesis (Gr., 'origin,' 'generation'), the name given by the Septuagint to the opening book of the Pentateuch. In the Hebrew Bible it is named, from its first word, Beresith ('in the beginning'). Critics are agreed that the book, like the rest of the Pentateuch, is a mosaic, drawn from various sources. A general description of these is already given in the section on the Law and Historical Books in the article BIBLE.
In Genesis the historical thread of the Priestly Code runs parallel to that of the Jehovistic element, which, in the view now prevailing, is the earlier of the two. The Priestly Code opens the book with its account of the creation of the world (i. 1—ii. 4a), which is immediately followed by the Jehovistic account (ii. 4b—iii. 24). After these are given, both in the Priestly narrative and the Jehovistic, the transition from Adam to Noah (iv. v.), the flood (vi.—ix.), and the transition from Noah to Abraham (x. xi.). In Genesis the Priestly narrative is a summary of facts mainly subordinated to the development of the theocracy. The history is broken into sections, each beginning with the words, 'these are the generations of,' &c. (cf. v. 1; vi. 9; x. 1; xi. 10, &c.), whence the name Genesis is derived. The whole is divided into three periods, each introduced by a covenant—(1) with Adam (i. 28—ii. 4); (2) with Noah (ix. 1—17); and (3) with Abraham (xvii.). Each covenant has its sign: the first has the Sabbath (ii. 3), the second the rainbow (ix. 12), the third circumcision (xvii. 10). These three periods and covenants lead up to the fourth period and covenant—viz. the Mosaic. The writer proceeds in an orderly and circumstantial manner, giving much attention to chronology, and, for the sake of clearness, sometimes repeating details more in the style of a lawyer than a historian (cf. vii. 13—16; viii. 15—19; xxiii. 17, 18, 20). The name for God used by him in Genesis is Elohim or El Shaddai (see Ex. vi. 3). The promises are by him confined to Israel, and have no reference to salvation through Israel for Gentiles (cf. xvii. 6—8; xxvii. 3, 4; xxxv. 11, 12).
The 'skeleton of ethnographic genealogy' which, in both narratives, is the foundation of the patriarchal history, is in the Jehovistic 'covered with flesh and blood.' Here the characters are living men, and their passions and actions are traced with the deep moral and religious inspiration and the marvellous epic vividness and force which give their imperishable charm to the stories of Genesis. And it is the prophetic narrative that shows how the Divine purpose included from the beginning a remedy for the world's sin (iii. 15), reveals the long-suffering mercy of the Divine mind (cf. viii. 21, 22; xviii. 23 et seq.), and prophesies that 'in Abraham's seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed' (xii. 3; xviii. 18; xxviii. 14). For the distinction made between different parts of the prophetic narrative (less obvious than that between the prophetic narrative itself and the Priestly Code), see PENTATEUCH. How the conclusions of science have affected the literal faith in the descriptions of creation given in Genesis is shown in the article CREATION, and in Riehm, Der biblische Schöpfungsbericht (Halle, 1881).
See the Commentaries by Luther, Calvin, Rosenmüller (1821), Kimchi (edited by Ginsburg, 1842), Kalisch (Lond. 1858), Wright (ib. 1859), Cook and others (ib. 1871), Tuch (2d ed. by Arnold & Merx, 1871), Reuss, F. Delitzsch (4th ed. Leip. 1872), Lange (2d ed. 1877), Keil (3d ed. 1878), Dillmann (4th ed. 1882), and Dods (Edin. 1882). See also Knobel, Die Völkertaufe der Genesis (Giessen, 1850); Wellhausen, Prolegomena (Eng. trans. 1885); and Driver's Notes on Lessons from the Pentateuch (New York, 1887).