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Begin Typing VigilThe Book of Genesis comprises the introductory period of this history, embracing the lives of the ancestors of the Hebrew nation, and ending with the death of Joseph in Egypt. The aim of the book is, however, more than merely to recount the ancestry of Israel itself; its aim is, at the same time, to define the place occupied by Israel among other nations, and to show how it gradually emerges into separate and distinct existence.
Accordingly the line of its ancestors is traced back beyond Abraham to the first appearance of man upon the earth; and the relation, both to each other and to Israel, of the nations descended from the second father of humanity — Noah — is indicated by a genealogical scheme (c. 10). The entire book may thus be divided into two parts, of which the first, c. 1-11, presents a general view of the Early History of Mankind, explaining the presence of evil in the world (c. 3), sketching the beginnings of civilisation (c. 4), accounting for the existence of separate nations (c. 10, 11:1-9), and determining the position occupied by Israel among them (10:1-22, 11:10-26); while the second, c. 12-50, comprehends in particular the History of Israel's immediate ancestors, the Patriarchs.
The narrative of Genesis is cast into a framework, or scheme, marked by the recurring formula, These are the generations (lit. begettings) of . . . This phrase is strictly one proper to genealogies, implying that the person to whose name it is prefixed is of sufficient importance to mark a break in the genealogical series, and that he and his descendants will form the subject of the record which follows, until another name is reached prominent enough to form the commencement of a new section.
The Torah is presented here with the first six books of the Nevi'im. Together they constitute the earliest history of the Abrahamic faith and it peoples.