Cambridge Bible Commentaries: Old Testament 32 Volume Set
2 total works
Chapters 12-50 of the book of Genesis may be considered as enshrining the patriarchal traditions of the Jewish people. Besides the elements of poetry and legend embodied in these traditions, Professor Davidson shows that there can be a historical basis for the narratives and offers guidelines for exploring it. The Genesis stories cannot simply be seen as a reading back into earlier times of the background to the social customs and religious outlook of their later editors. Introductory sections deal with the sources, historicity and general characteristics of the narratives, and are followed by a section-by-section presentation of the text with commentary in the established style of the series.
Chapters 1–11 of Genesis are like a poetic prologue to the early history of the Jewish people and to their religion. For Christianity also they later fulfil a similar purpose. Professor Davidson takes these chapters as a separate unity, comments on them, and explains their religious significance and their place in the Bible as a whole. Introductory sections on the sources and purpose of the book, and the meaning of myth, lead straight into the text and commentary which alternate with each other in the style of the series.