The story of genisis

[flameingcrouton]

Where exactly did the Authors, specificly the one who wrote chapter one through 3, get the story of the creation?

 

[justified]

They were born with it. They group up with stories that they adapted under the inspiration of God, to show that YHWH was the only one who created the world, not Horus masturbating or Baal cutting up seven-headed sea snakes.

 

[Remus]

Where exactly did the Authors, specificly the one who wrote chapter one through 3, get the story of the creation?

Since most of it happened prior to Adam, it would have to have been given to Adam directly from God.

 

[stumpjumper]

Where exactly did the Authors, specificly the one who wrote chapter one through 3, get the story of the creation?

You are obviously going to get a much different answer from a YEC than you will from a TE. It was an oral tradition handed down from generation to generation. Even if you are a YEC and believe that Moses wrote the Torah you have to accept that it was oral tradition because Moses was not there. Myself I follow the three author hypothesis and believe that the Torah was compiled from oral tradition. William Dever has probably the most conservative view of the Bible that I will accept. Here is a good article that counters the views of some of the Biblical minimalists: http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2964

 

[mixin machine]

Even if you are a YEC and believe that Moses wrote the Torah you have to accept that it was oral tradition because Moses was not there.

Where did Moses get the 10 commandments?

 

[SnowBird77]

You are obviously going to get a much different answer from a YEC than you will from a TE. It was an oral tradition handed down from generation to generation. Even if you are a YEC and believe that Moses wrote the Torah you have to accept that it was oral tradition because Moses was not there. Myself I follow the three author hypothesis and believe that the Torah was compiled from oral tradition. William Dever has probably the most conservative view of the Bible that I will accept.

I tend to think that the purpose of Gen. 1, 2 was to convince the Hebrew slaves that the God who sent Moses was the Creator. They

 

[gluadys]

Where exactly did the Authors, specificly the one who wrote chapter one through 3, get the story of the creation?

That should still be authors.

Genesis 1:1-2:4a (up to the point in vs. 4 where it says "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth.") were written by one author and the rest of chapter 2 along with all of chapter 3 by a different author.

So we have two independent creation stories here. The one that is placed first is called a P (for "priest") document. Over half the Torah is written by the same author (including practically all of Leviticus) and his interest in matters to do with the priesthood explain the label. This priest is believed to have written in the fifth century BCE, though there is some dispute as to whether his writing preceded the fall of Jerusalem or occurred later.

The story that begins in the second part of Genesis 2:4 ("In the day that the LORD God created the earth and the heaven...") is called a J document (from the German spelling of God's personal name JHVH). This author lived earlier, during the divided kingdom. He focuses on the history of Judah (and not that of the northern kingdom, Israel) and is the only author of the Torah to use the name JHVH or Yahweh right from the beginning instead of waiting until it is revealed to Moses.

As mentioned by other posters, the source for both writers was mainly oral tradition. But scholars also consider that the Babylonian creation story, Enuma Elish influenced the priestly author as there are several parallels between the stories, and it seems that P was consciously writing a polemic against polytheism, asserting the supremacy of the God of Israel over all pagan gods.

 

[Critias]

What came first polytheism or monotheism?

 

[SnowBird77]

What came first polytheism or monotheism?

Ignorance parading as knowledge came first. Humans could not accept the fact that they could not figure out who was in charge. We still don't know which is which.

 

[gluadys]

What came first polytheism or monotheism?

I don't know if the question has meaning. These are modern classifications of religion. And it is not always easy to tell. Is Hinduism polytheistic or monotheistic? What about Christianity? A Muslim considers Christians polytheists.

In any case, at the time the bible was being written, pagan polytheism was alive and well, as the writers of the bible acknowledge. And the Israelites often succumbed to the lures of pagan religion, as the prophets attest.

Hence the need to attack polytheism and defend monotheism.

 

[artybloke]

Ignorance parading as knowledge came first.

Nothing changes then.

 

[SnowBird77]

Nothing changes then.

You got that right.