According to Wiseman's "Tablet Theory" as opposed to the JPED theory, Genesis is composed of some 11 manuscripts edited by Moses into a single manuscript that were originally written in the literary style used on clay tablets from the eras during which the events of Genesis happened. That literary style consisted of a Title, Body and Colophon. The colophon ending stated that the preceding story in the body was the account of (or belonged to, or written by) some person and usually included a date. The following table gives a breakdown of Genesis using the known literary structure of ancient clay tablets.
Tablet Number Ancestry
Narrative Body
Colophon
Owner/writer Date
1. 1:1-2:4 1:1 1:2-2:3
Creation 2:4a
Heaven & Earth 2:4b
2. 2:4c-5:2 2:4c-2:6 2:7-4:26
Creatin/Fall 5:1a Adam 5:1b-5:2
3. 5:3-6:9 5:3-5:32 6:1-8 6:9a Noah 6:9b
4. 6:10-10:1 6:10 6:11-9:29
Flood 10:1a
Ham,Shem,Japheth 10:1b
5. 10:2-11:10 10:2-32 11:1-9 11:10a Shem
6. 11:10b-11:27a 11:10b-25 11:26 11:27a Terrah
7. 11:27b-25:12 11:27b 11:27-25:11
Abraham 25:12 Ishmael
7a. 25:13-25:19a 25:13-18
Ishmael 25:19a Isaac
8. 25:19b-369 25:19b 25:20-35:29
Isaac 36:1 Esau
8a. 36:2-9 36:2-7
Esau Family 36:9 Esau 36:8
8b. 36:10-43
Esau Descendants 37:2a Jacob 37:1
9. 1:1-37:1 1:1-37:1 37:2- 50:21
Joseph Joseph?
50:22-26
Postscript Moses?
Within this interpretation of Genesis, the literary units include a list of ancestors, the narrative body, and the colophon. In the case of the first "tablet," gives then ancestry of the universe for the Creation Week narrative. It ends with whose history it is of (the heavens and the earth) and dates it to "when God made heaven and earth) The second "tablet" give the history of Adam.
Chances are that these originated as oral stories which were later written down in the literary style of the times. Just when the switch from oral to written occurred is not evident in the stories. However, it is likely that Moses simply edited these several documents into one document still keeping the literary structure of the times.
So who wrote "In the beginning God. ...
Who knows. The story probably began as what God told Adam and Eve. They passed on the story, along with their own to the following generations. Eventually the stories were written down and eventually ended up in the Torah and the Bible.
Allen
From: Jim Eisele <jeisele@starpower.net>>
> Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
> What are the odds that this was not "written" by God?
> I would like to start the bidding at 1 in 300.
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