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Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 1: Genesis 1–15 is unavailable, but you can change that!

Examine the compositional sources, textual witnesses, chronology, and theological significance of Genesis with Pentateuch expert Gordon J. Wenham. Review and evaluate modern critical perspectives on Genesis, and consider the legacy of nineteenth-century “higher critical” understanding of Genesis as an evolutionary document, and its relationship to other ancient Near Eastern creation stories such...

one of us, knowing good and evil.” On first reading at least, God seems to have tried to deceive his creatures by issuing threats he subsequently did not fulfill. The snake told the truth, not the LORD God. But as commentators have often pointed out, the snake was uttering half-truths. There is a subtle ambiguity in his words which warrants describing him as “shrewd.” Furthermore, as Gunkel (17) notes: “It is very neat, that the snake never directly demands that they should eat—he understands the
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