Who originally wrote the first chapter of the bible?

Question

Who wrote Genesis?

Without going into the greater theological question: "was it the word of God?" (which would be more contentious), can anyone tell me who the first person was to write this down, and how they came to know the story of Adam and Eve etc.

Answer 1

The first five books of the Old Testament (known also as the Pentateuch, meaning "five-volumed book" are referred to in Jewish tradition as the five fifths of the law (of Moses). Acts 15: 1 also refers to Moses as the author, an allusion to Genesis 17. Over the last two centuries, intensive archaeological and literary research has tended to undermine many of the arguments used to challenge Mosaic authorship. It is thought that Moses wrote Genesis during the 40 year period of Israel's wanderings in the desert, which lasted from c. 1446 to c. 1406 B.C.

How did Moses know the story of Adam and Eve? Through successive generations passing down the story by word of mouth. Christians and Jews would also claim divine inspiration was involved.

Answer 2

It's been known for a couple of hundred years now that more than one person has had a hand in the writing of the Pentateuch.
We can analyse the style of writing, the content, and other clues and reconstruct different versions of them over a period of time.
We know that four authors predominantly wrote the Pentateuch .. the books traditionally ascribed to Moses .. I can't recall all the details but the political circumstances at the time were very influential in the bibles construction .. different authors vied for their influence as opposed to others.
One result of this mixture of authorship and competition is the seemingly contradictory messages which are not hard to find, for example in Genesis a priestly class portrayed God as somewhat aloof and all powerful, whereas another of the authors wrote a picture of God as quite human, walking in Eden and talking to Adam.

Answer 3

The Old Testament grew over a long period of time. The idea of collecting the various fragments into books, chapters and verses was more recent.
Out modern Bible starts with Chapter 1 of Genesis which is probably the most recent part of the Old Testament. It is the story of God creating the Universe in six days, then giving himself a day off. It is based upon scientific thinking from about 200BC. Chapter 2 of Genesis is much older, probably written about 600BC. This gives a different account of creation, as well as the story of Adam and Eve.

Answer 4

Jewish tradition has always attributed the writing of the first 5 books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) to Moses.
I would say Moses came to know of Adam and Eve through stories passed down through families and then later, when he was leading the Israelites to the promised land, the details (and command to write it all down) was given by God.
God bless

Answer 5

The Canaanites. However, the mythology has a long oral tradition, and has been captured in written form at various points in its long history, the biblical version being one of the more recent. The creation of the Earth and universe is actually a more recent addition to the mythology, the garden and flood stories are older.

Answer 6

The first five books of the bible are known as the five scrolls. Dating back 3000 years these books are attributed to Moses.

Answer 7

A sheep herder in the Sinai desert.

It was a popular work of fiction in the 5th century BC.

Unfortunately some weirdos actually think it is for real.

That is like people in 2,500 years time thinking that Gandolf the Great was a real character and the Lord of the Rings trilogy actually happened!!

Answer 8

most of the previous testomony substitute into initially written in Hebrew, alongside with some bits that have been in Aramaic and Chaldean, jointly as the books of the hot testomony have been written in Koine Greek.

Answer 9

God inspired Moses.

Answer 10

The first of the 40 monks, who collectively completed the whole story book.