Topic(s): Old Testament, Bible Infallibility

Bob Prichard

There has long been a movement by theologians who call themselves the “higher critics” to find multiple authors for many Bible books, but especially the book of Genesis. These critics tend to reject the long held understanding that Moses is the human author of Genesis and the other four books of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. A good case in point is the first few chapters of Genesis, where the writer describes man’s creation in chapter one and then again in chapter two. There is no need to ascribe this to multiple authors, however. There is another explanation.

Genesis 1:24-31 describes the events of the sixth day of creation. After the creation of the animals, “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Verse 31, the last verse of the chapter, tells us, “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31). Thus the first chapter describes the six days of creation in chronological order. The height of God’s creation was the creation of man, created in God’s image, to have dominion over all creation. This creation account shows the overall picture of the creation, setting down its events in chronological order. God only revealed the key facts of creation here.

Genesis chapter two also tells the story of the creation of man. It is not a contradictory account, or the account of a separate writer, but instead is a more detailed description of the high point of creation, the creation of man and woman. The close-up account of Genesis 2 begins with the words, “These are the generations of” (Genesis 2:4). Moses uses this phrase throughout Genesis to set off major parts of the book. He uses these same words in Genesis 5:1 as he names the descendants of Adam, and again in Genesis 6:9 when he describes Noah’s ark, and at least ten more times in the book.

Critics have noted some small stylistic differences between the general creation account of chapter one and the close-up account of chapter two. There seem to be some differences in the writing style, but these differing styles are not unexpected because of the nature of the two subjects. There is also a difference in the use of God’s name. We find “God” used uniformly throughout the first chapter, but beginning with Genesis 2:4, He is referred to as “Lord God,” or “Jehovah God” (American Standard Version). “God” is the title preferred in chapter one because Moses speaks more of Him in the abstract, but prefers“Lord God” or “Jehovah God” in the second chapter because of his emphasis on the covenant relationship between God and man. Elsewhere in scripture, such as Genesis 7:16, we find both terms used in the same verse.

It appears that the chronology of the two chapters conflicts, but in actuality, the account of Genesis 2 is not chronological at all. Chapter one sets out the chronology, so chapter two fills in the details. The multiple author interpretation of Genesis comes more from modern literary tastes than from actual Bible evidence.