many instances led to a much richer and more nuanced understanding of the text, which enables those with ears to hear to appreciate the divine word the text enshrines. In what follows I shall try to show how these approaches illuminate the message of the Pentateuch. But the interpretation of the opening chapters of the Pentateuch is not clarified by these methods so much as by comparing them with other oriental texts of a similar genre. As an account of creation Genesis 1 invites comparison