Genesis, A Royal Epic. Loren R. Fisher
our funeral text, the “Raphaim of the netherworld” and “the assembly of the Didanites” are summoned for the ritual. At Ugarit the most important ancestor of that assembly would be Keret.32 Therefore, I think that there is a real possibility that the Keret Epic was used on such occasions.
The sons of Joseph were to summon Jacob, Abraham, and Isaac at the tomb. By doing this they would be blessed; they would become a multitude. Now it is my guess that at some point in the observance of such rituals, the stories of the ancestors were told. I do not think that we can get back to the earliest forms of these stories, but the stories that we have may be based on such stories, and they were used by the kings of Israel.33
Genesis 48:16 is not the only place where the burial ritual is implied. In Gen 21:12b it says,
Whatever Sarah demands of you,
listen to her voice,
because through Isaac,
descendants will call forth to you.
In other words, Isaac’s descendants will care for you at the tomb, and you will bless them. We will see other examples in Genesis when we discuss the structure of these stories of the ancestors. Outside of Genesis this sort of thing is mentioned in Ruth 4:14. Concerning Boaz (David’s ancestor) it says, “May his name be called forth in Israel.” Perhaps the most revealing passage is Isa 14:4–21. Here the king of Babylon is shown to be the most horrible of all the kings. All the great kings are glorified in their tombs, but this one has no grave, no place to lay his head! “You shall not be joined with them in burial, because you destroyed your land; you murdered your people. Let the descendants of evildoers nevermore be called forth” (v. 20). He will not receive proper burial and neither will his descendants. His line is finished. This reminds one of a passage from an Assyrian text, Assurbanipal’s campaign against Elam, VI 70–76:34
The sepulchres of their ancient [and] recent kings, who did not fear Ashur and Ishtar, my masters, who harassed the kings, my fathers, I ravaged, destroyed, and exposed to the sun.35 I took their bones to Assyria. I made their shades insomniacs; I deprived them of funerary offerings36 and libations of water.”37
So the kings of Israel were certainly interested in genealogies and the stories of their ancestors, because they used these materials in rituals wherein they would receive a blessing and their line would endure. The book of Genesis contains royal literature.38
There are many other reasons for seeing in Genesis royal literature, and these items will be mentioned in the notes to the translation. But now, I want to turn to the structure of Genesis, and this will show some additional evidence as to the royal nature of the material.
The Structure of Genesis
At the end of this introduction there is an outline of Genesis titled “The Final Form of Genesis.” This outline will be helpful, because in this section on structure and in the notes to the translation, I will refer to the section numbers of this outline.
Most studies of Genesis divide the book into the Primeval History/Events (as seen in Genesis 1–11) and the Patriarchal History (Genesis 12–50). This way of looking at the book is not very helpful, and it is the invention of modern times. In this translation, Genesis is viewed as divided by the final editor. In other words, we take seriously the titles or division markers between the eleven segments (S 1–11 in the outline) of the book. If one wants to make another kind of division, it could be helpful in some situations, but it would probably have to do with pre-flood stories and post-flood stories. Even so, it is necessary to note that due to parallel literature, Genesis 1–10 should be seen as a unit.39 It may be useful to briefly state the main content of Genesis 1:1—11:26, because I do want to deal in some detail with the structure of the following chapters. So note the following:
1. Elohim brought order out of Chaos (Gen 1:1—2:3).
2. All humans and the other animals are mortal. The humans have a special vocation and have obtained all knowledge. This made the development of civilization a reality (Gen 2:4—4:26).
3. Genesis has its pre-flood sages, and it has accounted for the heroes of old (Gen 5:1—6:4).
4. The Genesis story of the flood is very interesting, and its flood hero, Noah, has given the Hebrews all of the pre-flood knowledge. Thus David, their king, “has wisdom like the wisdom of a messenger of the gods to know all things that are on earth” (2 Sam 14:17, 20). This is a new beginning (Gen 6:5—9:29).
5. The scribes were aware of post-flood developments and the world situation of their day (i.e., David’s day), and they were also interested in background materials for understanding the fathers of the kings of Israel (Gen 10:1—11:26).
In Genesis, there are three major cycles of tradition concerning the ancestors of the kings of Israel and Judah (see sections 6, 8, and 10 of chart one at the end of this Introduction).40 But we need a closer look at the shape of these three documents:
1) All three have similar titles:
a) “These are the Stories of Terah,” Gen 11:27—25:11.
(Terah is the father of Abraham, but the stories are about Abraham.)
b) “These are the Stories of Isaac,” Gen 25:19—35:29.
(Isaac is the father of Esau and Jacob, but most of the stories are about Jacob.)
c) “These are the Stories of Jacob,” Gen 37:2—50:26.
(Jacob is the father of the twelve brothers, but most of the stories are about Joseph.)
In this sequence we are missing a document between a) and b) that could be given the title “These are the Stories of Abraham.” If we had such a document the stories would be about Isaac. Some material from such a document has survived and can be found in Genesis 24 and 26 (see chart two at the end of this Introduction).
2) All three cycles have structural and thematic parallels in the following order:
a) All are interested in the birth of an heir, but great difficulties are always present (famine, seduction [Sarah, Rebekah, and Joseph], and infertility).
b) There is always the point made that the “elder shall serve the younger” (Gen 25:19–34 and 37:2–36). This was not the normal custom, but royal literature is not normal (even David was the youngest).
c) The hero either buys or receives land (e.g., the burial cave [Gen 23] and Shechem [Gen 33:18–20]).
d) Similar conclusions containing three parts: a burial scene (Gen 23:1–20; 35:16–20; 50:1–14), additional material on the heir(s) (Gen 24:1—25:6; 35:21–26; 50:15–21), and a death scene (Gen 25:7–11; 35:27–29; 50:22–26).
This last section (d) of these stories is very important. From our earlier discussion, it is clear that proper burial was important for the blessing of the next “father.” Without such a blessing there would not be another heir.
Now, the overall structure of these cycles is very useful in identifying fragments of such cycles. In Genesis 38, we have the first part of such a cycle (i.e., points 2.a and b). I have given this fragmented cycle the title of “These are the Stories of Judah” (with stories about Perez—see chart two). In Genesis 38, one can see that the scribe hurries by the early events, but soon we are aware of the danger: Judah’s sons are being killed by Yahweh!