Hi, need to submit a 2500 words paper on the topic Early Chapters of Genesis. In Genesis though we have rather an interweaving of two different accounts, in this cases creation stories – rather as in a court case two witnesses may describe the same events , but each uses their own version of events and their own styles as when events are described both in the books of Kings and in Chronicles.

According to Jewish tradition, the whole Pentateuch i.e. the first five books of the Bible were written by Moses, despite the fact that his death is recorded within those pages ( Deuteronomy chapter 34.) Many scholars accept that these 5 books several authors referred to as J, E, P, and D, with some breaking J down into J (1) and J (2) P refers to a priestly strand and D to the Deuteronomic writer. Scholars claim that all of these writings were at some point collected together and combined in an editorial process. This theory, usually referred to as the Documentary Hypothesis, is one that attained popularity in the 19th century according to Wayne Jackson in his article ‘Are there two creation accounts in Genesis?’ when a French doctor, Jean Astruc, claimed to have isolated certain “source” authors within the texts of the Pentateuch. E refers to the passages where God is referred to as Elohim, a title that emphasizes strength and creative force according to Nathan Stone in his 1944 book ‘Names of God’ as quoted by Wayne Jackson, whereas Yahweh or Jehovah is the name used to express the basic spiritual nature of a moral God, especially when referring to His relationship to the people of Israel. Jackson also cites scholars as believing that Genesis 1 dates from the Babylonian captivity, a 70 year period dating from 598 B.C.E. or post-Babylonian period, whereas the second account, is thought to date from the 9th-century B.C.E.