Genesis is a book composed of composite sources. For a couple of obvious introductory examples of these sources you might consider reading two short pieces, one on the two separate traditions describing the faith of Abraham, and for an obvious example of the editorial interpolation of a separate source consider the awkward insertion of the story of Judah and Tamar into the Joseph narrative. The story breaks the continuity and placed where it is it also introduces some impossible inconsistencies into the narrative. It is obvious on consideration of this particular piece of editing that an array of source materials were edited into the book of Genesis, and in the case of this story of Judah and Tamar it would seem that the spot of insertion was not chosen with consistency foremost in mind. The story had to go somewhere and that is where it went. (Spinoza used the example of this particular piece of editing to suggest that the material in Genesis was simply tossed into a heap. However the presence of chiasm in the manuscript suggest that he was being hyperbolic, although his analysis of the editing of the Judah story is valid. The chiastic structures and literary relationships in the manuscript suggest a more sophisticated editing job than simply tossing articles together promiscuously.)
In Genesis chapter one the book opens with a fragment from the priestly source, and then in Genesis chapter two a couple of parables rom the Yahweh source are introduced, and then in Chapter five another fragment from the priestly source appears. The priestly material is edited into the first eleven chapters of Genesis to form bridges between the parables which come from the Yahweh tradition. In the opening of chapter five the name of the deity is no longer Yahweh, but switches back to the plural term ‘Elohim' used in the priestly source of chapter one. The theological language also parallels the first chapter, and the wording also picks up where the P source left off in several chapters previous. We read, once again, in the style of the opening poem, that ‘in the beginning when the Elohim created humans beings, they were created in the image of the Elohim, male and female they were created." The term Elohim is not the terminology of the Yahweh school, and the language is quite familiar since this fragment of tradition logically follows the material in the first chapter that had been interrupted to allow the insertion of the parables from the Yahwist source.
There is also a peculiar asexual quality to the language used in the opening verses of the fifth chapter. We are told that when the Elohim created Adam, they created ‘him' (male pronoun, describing Adam) in the image of the Elohim, male and female they (plural pronoun) were created and they were called ‘human beings' (the word ‘adam' in the Hebrew once again, this time not used as a proper name with a corresponding male pronoun).
There would appear to be two genealogies from two separate sources, set side by side, one at the end of Genesis chapter 4 and the other found in chapter 5. The genealogy of Cain at the end of chapter four seems to interrupt the logical flow of the story, for after we are led far into the future to the time of Cain's great great grandchildren, we jump back to the time of Cain's expulsion, and the birth of Eve's next child who was ‘a replacement for Abel, whom Cain killed.' In this genealogy we are told that Cain is not a farmer, but rather the builder of cities. It is left unexplained how Cain went about building the first city (when, if we interpret the parables literally, there was as yet no human populations on the earth) and we also have no idea where Cain might have found himself a wife. At the same time we can see in the fnished product that the editing at this point introduces a literary relationship between the genealogy of Cain at the end of chapter 4 and the genealogical list of Adam and Eve. This type of structure is given the technical name ‘Chiasm' or 'Chiasmus' and is a literary form that is prevalent in books like Genesis and also in the Church Testament, notably in the gospel of Mark. The Chiastic structure is arranged in the form of matching ‘brackets' centered on a central pivoting point as in the following example.
While the genealogy of Cain seems to break the flow of the narrative in chapter four, its insertion does help to strengthen a parallelism that exists between the Cain and Abel story and the Garden story. The couple in the garden is told that there is something they must not do, and Cain is told that there is something that he must do (a kind of reverse parallelism seems to be present in the literary structure). Both violate the instructions, both try to hide the truth from Yahweh, both are confronted, both wind up on the wrong end of a curse, and then both are expelled. The introduction of the Lamech story introduces a further parallelism, as we find that after Cain is expelled, like Adam and Eve before him, his descendant Lamech gets himself involved in a similar Cain like incident, killing a young man, and sharing in the mark of Cain, only, as Lamech sings in a song to his wives, the curse resulting from carrying on the cycle of blood revenge would be seventy seven times worse for attacking Lamech than it would be for attacking Cain. (This would appear to be a commentary on the cycle of blood feuds, which so often spiral out of control.) So then there is a commonality in these parables, in that they share the name of Yahweh, a thematic dualism is present, and there would appear to be a structural literary relationship that spans the parables as well.
The priestly source, which is interrupted by the insertion, then picks up the thread of narrative continuity in chapter five, and this would suggest that the P source was also a separate literary work. Social pressures after the time of the division of the Jewish people into two nations and then their reuniting into one conquered nation, under constant pressure from the various foreign cultures that ruled over them at different times, was probably responsible for the impetus that resulted in the editing together of the composite stories of the many different movements and sects in ancient Judaism into one composite manuscript. The priestly genealogy in the fifth chapter begins with the statement that ‘these are the generations of Adam', and then has nothing to say about Cain and Abel, but rather begins the genealogy with Seth and uses this genealogy as a bridge to span the gap between the garden story and the story of Noah's Ark which follows.
The sacrifice of Cain is rejected. Verses 3 to 5
Cain finds his rejection unbearable. Verses 5 and 6
Cain warned that he must master his sin. Verse 7
Cain kills Abel. Verse 8
Central pivoting point. ‘Where is your brother?' verse 9
Cain confronted about Abel's murder verse 10
Sin has mastered Cain. Verse 11
Cain finds punishment unbearable. Verses 13 to 15
Cain is rejected. Verse 15
Cain and his wife give birth to descendants, Lamech. Verses 17 and 18
A Unified Field Theory
The Unified Field Theory
is also available as a zip file -> unified.zip
Introduction :The Pioneer Effect and the New Physics. A brief description of the new physics required to explain the 'Pioneer Effect', which is the constant deceleration of space craft as they fly through space.