Study Questions for Genesis 1-11

  1.  Genesis 1-3 contains two different creation stories.  Genesis 1-2:3 is referred to as the "P" (or "Priestly") version [composed ca. 550-500 BCE], and Genesis 2:4-3:24 is referred to as the "J" (or "Jahwist/Yahwist") version [composed ca. 950-900 BCE].  Describe the differences between the two, not only in terms of narrative detail, but also in terms of how the stories are told. 
  2. What does each account of creation reveal, respectively,

a.     about the nature of God...what is God is like? (Note, carefully, the quite different portraits of God, respectively, including actual names, in the two accounts).

b.     about what is ideal for male and female relationship?

c.     about relationships to the animal world? (Gen 1:1-2:25)

  1. How does God  create?
  2. According to the Genesis narratives, when does time begin?
  3. Why does God forbid the man and the woman to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge?  Why is it dangerous to have knowledge of good and evil?  Why did God put the tree in Eden?
  4. What is the root of the woman’s wrongdoing--what finally tempts her? (Gen 3:1-7)
  5. How does the serpent draw the woman into a word game that eventually causes her to disobey God? (Gen 3:1-7)
  6. Where is the man when the woman and the serpent converse?  What causes him to disobey God?
  7. Do we know for sure why God did not favor Cain's gift? How important to Cain's story is any possible answer to this question? . So what is the story's focus?
     (Gen 4:1-16)
  8. Where does the drama lie in the story of Cain and Abel? How do God's words to Cain in 4:6,7 enable us to understand the story's focus? (Gen 4:1-16)
  9. How is God's punishment of Cain fitting for Cain's motives for wrongdoing? (Gen 4:10-16)
  10. How is Cain's dilemma connected to what lies at the root of Eve's wrongdoing? (Gen 4:1-16)
  11. Lamech: How does this brief mention function within the larger theme/themes of the prologue? (Gen 4:19-24)
  12. In Lamech's call to his wives, who is the main subject in each line? (Gen 4:23, 24)
  13. How does Lamech's threat of vengeance compare to the similar threat made by God about Cain? What does this reveal about Lamech? (Gen 4:15)
  14. Noah: There is a formula blessing about "multiplying" given by God to both Adam and Eve and then to Noah and family. What differs in the repetition, and how does this "twist" accentuate where the prologue is heading, dramatically? That is, would this be a positive or negative development? (Gen 1:28-30, 9:1-7)
  15. Compare the flood story in Genesis 6-9 to Gilgamesh.  Are there differences in how the stories are told, in addition to differences in narrative detail?  Do gods and mortals act differently in these versions?  Is the relationship between gods and mortals different?
  16. How does God's responses to human choice differ and change throughout the prologue? From Cain's story to Noah's? From Noah to Babel? (Gen 1-11)
  17. How does Babel's "problem" connect with the problems of Eve and Adam, Cain, and then Lamech? (Gen 11:1-9)
  18. How does this vignette (11:1-9) appropriately conclude the prologue?
  19. What is cleverly appropriate about God's scattering of the peoples (Recall Gen 1:28)? What does this possibly suggest about God's attitude, at this point, towards humanity? (Gen 11:6- 9)  How is God's punishment for the Babel builders fitting for the crime?

      

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