The Kohlhammer staff, particularly Florian Specker and Jonathan Robker, have provided fantastic support as I have worked to complete this project. In addition, I must thank my fellow IECOT/IKAT authors. Some paved the way for this commentary by writing earlier volumes in the series, while others provided especially helpful feedback on draft sections of this commentary at IECOT author-editor workshops in November 2017, August 2019 and November 2019. In particular, I benefited from the careful, frank feedback of Christl Maier at those workshops, and feedback from Carolyn Sharp prompted me to engage postmodern and (consciously) ideological readings of Gen 1–11 more than I otherwise would have.
I conclude with three mechanical notes and one dedicatory one. As per the style of the series, I use abbreviations from John Kutsko et al., The SBL Handbook of Style: For Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Christian Studies, 2nd ed. (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2014). Therefore, I do not provide a separate list of abbreviations here aside from noting here my frequent use of Gesenius18 to refer to the eighteenth edition of the Gesenius Handwörterbuch.4 In addition, even though the Hebrew names in Gen 1–11 often diverge from their common equivalents, I have used standard English forms of biblical names as they generally appear in the Bible (following the NRSV), and I default to the most common form of characters whose names change across the biblical narrative, e.g., Abraham rather than Abram. Along the way, I frequently use the convention of using an asterisk (*) to indicate a citation of a verse range that is substantially, though not completely, made up of the texts that I mean to point to. For example, I sometimes refer to priestly elements embedded in Gen 10—Gen 10:1a, 2–7, 20, 22–23, 31–32—with the shorthand Genesis 10* after I have specified those elements at least once in the prior discussion.
Finally, I dedicate this book to a person who will not be aware of its existence for quite some time: my new (and first) granddaughter, Kaia Comorau, who was born on Oct. 17, 2019 in the later stages of finishing this work. While the outset of the present decade (2020) seems quite fraught and the outlook for earth’s life unclear, Kaia’s birth and that of others in her generation stand as symbols of human commitment to the future. Genesis 1–11 is a story of first births, and it articulates both that potential and certain challenges for human life on this earth. I dedicate this critical analysis of Gen 1–11 to Kaia and other little ones in a prayer for them finding ways to flourish together. To quote a poem by Buddhist teacher and author, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel “For All Beings”:5
May all beings be cared for and loved,
Be listened to, understood and acknowledged despite different views,
Be accepted for who they are in this moment,
Be afforded patience,
Be allowed to live without fear of having their lives taken away or their bodies violated.
May all beings,
Be well in its broadest sense,
Be fed,
Be clothed,
Be treated as if their life is precious,
Be held in the eyes of each other as family.
May all beings,
Be appreciated,
Feel welcomed anywhere on the planet,
Be freed from acts of hatred and desperation including war, poverty, slavery, and street crimes,
Live on the planet, housed and protected from harm,
Be given what is needed to live fully, without scarcity,
Enjoy life, living without fear of one another,
Be able to speak freely in a voice and mind of undeniable love.
May all beings,
Receive and share the gifts of life,
Be given time to rest, be still, and experience silence.
May all beings,
Be awake.
Let us turn now to look at stories of earth, family, and awakening in Gen 1–11.
Introduction to the Commentary
Initial Overview of the Contents and Literary Patterns in Gen 1–11
The first eleven chapters of Genesis offer a picture of the origins of their audience’s present world—e.g., their agricultural way of life, family relationships, distinction from and relation to animals, and the backgrounds of social groups (e.g., Kenites, Canaanites) and famous foreign loci (e.g., Babylon, Nineveh). The general lack of focus in these chapters on specifically Israelite figures and explicitly Israelite places distinguishes these chapters from the rest of the book of Genesis, indeed from Exodus and other historical books that follow.1 At the most, the figure of Shem among Noah’s sons is identified here as Abraham’s direct ancestor (Gen 11:10–26), and he is particularly connected in Gen 10:21 with a group—“all the sons of Eber”—that seems specially related to, though not identical to the “Hebrews” with which Israel is later identified.
This primeval history is split by the great divide of the flood narrative. Indeed, the Jewish liturgical calendar separates Gen 1–11 into two liturgical portions that are read in the first two weeks of the annual Torah-reading cycle: an initial pre-flood portion labeled “in the beginning” from Gen 1:1–6:8 and then a subsequent liturgical reading labeled “Noah” that covers Gen 6:9–11:32.
The text of Gen 1–11 itself contains explicit structuring elements: a series of labels, starting in Gen 2:4a, that designate the following text as concerning the “descendants” (תולד]ו[ת)—or, by extension, “generations” for Gen 2:4a—of figures featured in the preceding text. Here again the flood features prominently, with both post-flood labels (Gen 10:1; 11:10) stressing the post-flood character of the descendants that they focalize. As indicated in the following overview, most of these labeled subsections feature an element toward their conclusion that anticipates the focus of the following one:2
In the beginning (Gen 1:1–6:8)
[God’s seven-day creation of heaven, earth and living beings in them (Gen 1:1–2:3)]
“These are the generations of heaven and earth” (Gen 2:4a): first humans along with animals (2:4b–4:26)
Anticipation of the first parts of the following Adam-to-Noah genealogy (Gen 4:25–26)
“This is the book of the descendants of Adam” (Gen 5:1a): Adam-to-Noah genealogy (5:1–32), demigods (6:1–4)
Anticipation of flood destruction/Noah rescue (6:5–8)
Noah (Gen 6:8–11:32)
“These are the descendants of Noah” (Gen 6:9a): Story of Noah/flood (6:9–9:17), Noah and his sons (Gen 9:20–27)
Anticipation of post-flood humanity from Noah’s sons (Gen 9:18–19)
“These are the descendants of Noah’s sons … after the flood” (10:1a): The expansion and spreading of post-flood humanity (Gen 10:1–11:9)
“These are the descendants