Understanding Genesis

This book is almost 60 years old, which at first seemed to me to be rather problematic in my reading program about the earliest Israel/Palestine, but Nahum N. Sarna (1923-2005, Brandeis University US) is still well regarded for his pedagogical work in translating the biblical texts to a contemporary audience. In this book he mainly emphasizes the relationship and the striking differences of Genesis with Mesopotamian myths, such as on the creation, the flood, and so on. According to Sarna, Genesis was certainly a clear reckoning with those ‘pagan’ stories, and that comes across well. The other components of the Genesis story are also well described and interpreted.
This book is much less up-to-date with regard to the historical show more background of the biblical stories. For example, Sarna clearly still assumes that the patriarchal stories (Abraham and his descendants) are based on a historical core, and that the extensive Joseph story (the stay in Egypt) is also historically true. He also refers to the classical Hyksos theory, which has now been dismissed by almost all experts. Perhaps there are better introductions that deal with both the substantive relevance and the historical value of the book of Genesis in a much better way. Of course, as a mythical and religious document this Bible-book still appeals to the imagination. show less

Sarna wrote about the book of Genesis based on Jewish texts, which seemed to me to be an appropriate way to view this ancient text, a view not cluttered with Christian commentary.