Page:A Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Genesis (Morgenstern, 1919, jewishinterpreta00morg).pdf/44

 The Book of Genesis

26 at least in the torical.

And

history,

they

form

even

in

if

which they developed

it,

was unhis-

they did believe that they were writing

understood

doubtless

that

presentation

their

was by no means complete and consecutive, and that their interest was only secondarily historical.

We

have seen that the stories of Genesis

fall

likewise,

naturally

four main groups, that in general each single story or

into

incident seems to voice religious

thought,

that

some profound, Jewish, these

various

single

ethical

stories

are

and in

turn closely correlated, so that each group gives concrete expression to some larger and more significant, and distinctive

principle

Genesis

of

Judaism, and

itself is a unit,

selection

witness

that,

finally,

the

Book

of

centering about the doctrine of God's

and preparation of Israel to be His people, His and the bearer of His law of life, redemption,

and blessing unto all the peoples of the earth. The Book of Genesis was not all written at one time, nor by one man, nor even by one single group of men. It is the product of literary activity in both the northern and southern kingdoms, extending over approximately four hundred years, from the beginning of the ninth to the end of the sixth century B. This long and eventful C., or probably even a little later. period witnessed the most momentous events in Israel's history, the rise and decay of prophecy, the downfall of both northern and southern kingdoms, the exile of Judah, the nation, to Babylon, and the eventual return of a fragment During this eventful thereof as a religious community. period religious and ethical ideas, beliefs, and ])rinci})les naturally

experienced a

and outlook of the

later writers of Genesis

far broader, higher, and

predecessors.

It

The thoughts

far-reaching evolution.

more

were necessarily

inclusive than those of their

was these very

latest writers

who gave

the

and worked into conception of God and of manit their own universalistic kind and of the life and destinv of Israel. book

its

present form, and added

to, recast,