The Birth, the Curse and the Greening of Earth: An Ecological Reading of Genesis 1-11

154 Pages·2011·3.27 MB·English

by  Norman Habel

T B , C G e
he irTh The urse and The reeninG of arTh
The Earth Bible Commentary Series, 1
Series Editor
Norman Habel
Editorial Board
Vicky Balabanski, Hilary Marlow, Barbara Rossing, Peter Trudinger,
Elaine Wainwright, Joh Wurst
Dedicated to
Wilhelm Gottfried Habel
my great grandfather,
an early environmentalist
on a farm in Victoria, Australia,
in the 19th century.
T B , C
he irTh The urse and The
G e
reeninG of arTh
an eColoGiCal readinG of Genesis 1–11
Norman Habel
sheffield Phoenix Press
2011
Copyright © 2011 Sheffield Phoenix Press
Published by Sheffield Phoenix Press
Department of Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield,
45 Victoria Street, Sheffield S3 7QB
UK
www.sheffieldphoenix.com
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without the
publishers’ permission in writing.
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
Typeset by ISB Typesetting
Printed on acid-free paper by Lightning Source UK Ltd, Milton Keynes
ISBN 978-1-907534-19-5 (hardback)
C
ontents
Terminology vii
Preface ix
Abbreviations xi
Chapter 1
IntroduCIng The earTh BiBle CommenTary serIes 1
Chapter 2
IntroduCIng genesIs 1–11 17
Chapter 3
genesIs 1.1–2.4a: the orIgIn Myth of ereTs and shemayim 24
Chapter 4
genesIs 24b–3.24: the orIgIn Myth of adamah and adam 46
Chapter 5
genesIs 4.1-26: the Myth of adamah, CaIn, and abel 67
Chapter 6
genesIs 5.1–6.4: the fIrst InhabItants of adamah 77
Chapter 7
genesIs 6.5-13: ratIonales for destroyIng adamah and ereTs 83
Chapter 8
genesIs 6.14–8.19: the Catastrophe Myths of adamah and ereTs 90
Chapter 9
genesIs 8.19–9.29: post-flood Changes In adamah and ereTs 103
Chapter 10
genesIs 10–11: ereTs after the flood 115
Appendices
the ereTs, adamah and Tselem Myths 130
Bibliography 136

t
erMInology
Adam—the human/human being, derived from Adamah, as distinct from
Adam, the name given to the first human in the Genesis genealogies
Adamah—the fertile ground; the central domain/character in the Adamah
myth
Adamah myth—a sequence or cycle of origin stories set in the primordial in
which Adamah is the central domain/character
basar—flesh; the term for all life in the Erets myth
Elohim—God and the name of God used in the Erets myth
Erets—Earth, as distinct from sky (shamayim); the central domain/character
in the Erets myth
Erets myth—a sequence or cycle of origin stories set in the primordial in
which Erets is the central domain/character
Yhwh—the four consonants designating the name of Israel’s God; the
name for God in the Adamah myth
shamayim—sky, as distinct from heaven; the domain/character in the Erets
myth from which Erets is separated
toledoth—generations; the designation used as a framing device for the
collected myths and legends in Genesis 1–11
tselem—image, concrete replica; a central symbol in the Tselem myth
Tselem myth—a sequence of origin stories, some only fragments, set in the
primordial in which tselem is the central symbol
Note on transliteration: where Adam, Adamah, and Erets function as
central figures in a given myth, the silent aleph at the beginning of the
word is deleted to facilitate reading; the definite article is also omitted to
highlight that these figures are characters/domains of the myth rather than
background scenery.

p
refaCe
In 1964 I wrote my first major paper on Genesis 2–3 for an assembly of
the Lutheran hierarchy in St Louis. I was accused of heresy by some for
daring to suggest that this Genesis narrative may be ‘more than history’.
Over the years, I have applied a wide range of critical approaches to Genesis
1–11. In this volume, I am suggesting that if we read Genesis employing
an ecological hermeneutics, we discover new dimensions of meaning. Of
course, Genesis 1–11 embraces several myths. Perhaps today, as we read
with ecological eyes, we may say that these texts are ‘more than myth’: they
are also profound stories in which we may hear Earth telling her story and
voicing her indictments regarding our treatment of our environment.
The volumes in the Earth Bible Commentary series are the natural exten­
sion of The Earth Bible series published in 2000–2002. I wish to thank David
Clines and Sheffield Phoenix Press for resurrecting this series—it has already
made a significant contribution to biblical hermeneutics. I also wish to thank
Joh Wurst for her editing, and The Charles Strong Trust for its ongoing
support.
Since this volume is the first in the series, it also includes a general intro­
duction to the series. While this introduction articulates the key principles
and steps associated with recent ecological hermeneutics—such as those
found in the SBL Symposium volume, Exploring Ecological Hermeneutics—
subsequent writers in this series are free to adapt this approach as they feel is
appropriate for a given text and/or context.
Although the wider context for this volume is the current environmental
crisis, the immediate context of this volume is the literary context in which
the two myth cycles in Genesis are identified. To highlight the significance
and centrality of the key domains/characters in these myth cycles, I have
used the thematic Hebrew terms Erets and Adamah where appropriate.
In this volume I read these myths as an Earth being seeking to identify
with, and to hear the voice of, Erets, Adamah, and any members of the living
communities associated with these key domains/characters in the cosmos;
and to discern levels of meaning that are ‘more than myth’ that invite
us to relate to our environment as a network of vibrant living presences.
The title of this volume focuses on three key themes of these myths that