This is the book of the generations of Adam.
Genesis 5:1
"One obvious argument for the historical nature of Genesis 1–11 is that it transitions seamlessly to Genesis 12–50. The latter, sometimes called ‘patriarchal’ history, is universally understood to be intended as historical narrative—more specifically, the ‘origin story’ of Israel. Hoffmeier notes the absence of a break between primeval and patriarchal history, and that this was probably intentional (pp. 24–25). While there are obvious contrasts—for instance, Genesis 1–11 covers a vast period of about 1,500 years, while 12–50 covers only a few generations—the book comes together as a unified whole.
Also, Genesis 1–11 tells about people and events that are grounded in time and space. Eden is described in straightforward geographical terms, so presumably before the Flood someone would have been able to locate Eden geographically (Genesis 2:10–14).
The chronogenealogies in Genesis 5 and 11 actually allow us to create a timeline from creation to the Flood and beyond. One may argue that Moses is not relating accurate geographical or chronological information, but the presence of these markers alerts the reader that this is not a ‘fairy tale’ or a myth, but claims to be a real-world history.
The grammar of Genesis 1–11 is what we would expect of a historical narrative. One grammatical form that occurs often is the waw consecutive, and its purpose “is to present events in a historical sequence. It appears throughout Hebrew narrative, but it is almost non-existent in Hebrew poetry.” In Genesis 1, it occurs 51 times. This indicates that the author of Genesis clearly intended to convey a straightforward narrative.
The toledot structure is another historical marker—Genesis claims to be a family history, tracing the origin of all humanity from Adam, all post-Flood humanity from Noah and his sons, and Israel from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But Genesis only fulfills this explanatory purpose if it relates historical details. If Adam did not really sin, what is the basis for the ‘offspring’ promise (Genesis 3:15; 5:29; 12:3)? If Abraham is not really the descendant of Eber, the descendant of Shem, then who is he? So the author of Genesis intends to talk about people who really existed, and events that actually happened, and he intends the Hebrews to understand their existence as a nation in light of the events that he is recording.
In contrast, there is a lack of poetic or figurative language.
Genesis 5:1
"One obvious argument for the historical nature of Genesis 1–11 is that it transitions seamlessly to Genesis 12–50. The latter, sometimes called ‘patriarchal’ history, is universally understood to be intended as historical narrative—more specifically, the ‘origin story’ of Israel. Hoffmeier notes the absence of a break between primeval and patriarchal history, and that this was probably intentional (pp. 24–25). While there are obvious contrasts—for instance, Genesis 1–11 covers a vast period of about 1,500 years, while 12–50 covers only a few generations—the book comes together as a unified whole.
Also, Genesis 1–11 tells about people and events that are grounded in time and space. Eden is described in straightforward geographical terms, so presumably before the Flood someone would have been able to locate Eden geographically (Genesis 2:10–14).
The chronogenealogies in Genesis 5 and 11 actually allow us to create a timeline from creation to the Flood and beyond. One may argue that Moses is not relating accurate geographical or chronological information, but the presence of these markers alerts the reader that this is not a ‘fairy tale’ or a myth, but claims to be a real-world history.
The grammar of Genesis 1–11 is what we would expect of a historical narrative. One grammatical form that occurs often is the waw consecutive, and its purpose “is to present events in a historical sequence. It appears throughout Hebrew narrative, but it is almost non-existent in Hebrew poetry.” In Genesis 1, it occurs 51 times. This indicates that the author of Genesis clearly intended to convey a straightforward narrative.
The toledot structure is another historical marker—Genesis claims to be a family history, tracing the origin of all humanity from Adam, all post-Flood humanity from Noah and his sons, and Israel from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But Genesis only fulfills this explanatory purpose if it relates historical details. If Adam did not really sin, what is the basis for the ‘offspring’ promise (Genesis 3:15; 5:29; 12:3)? If Abraham is not really the descendant of Eber, the descendant of Shem, then who is he? So the author of Genesis intends to talk about people who really existed, and events that actually happened, and he intends the Hebrews to understand their existence as a nation in light of the events that he is recording.
In contrast, there is a lack of poetic or figurative language.
“Genesis 1 contains little or no indication of figurative language. There are no tropes, symbolism, or metaphors.” It also lacks the most important markers of poetry, namely, parallelism and figures of speech. There are bits of poetry in Genesis, mostly climactic statements (e.g. Genesis 1:27; 2:23; 4:23–24; 9:6), but they are inserted into the overall narrative as direct quotes from a speaker, sometimes God.Also, when we look at the rest of Scripture, the authors of Scripture unanimously interpret Genesis historically. The authors of the New Testament point back to creation, the Fall, and Noah’s Flood as precedents for what God will do in the future. Also, they don’t recognize any break between supposed primeval and patriarchal history, since they quote both sections seamlessly (Luke 3:23–38, Hebrews 11:4–38)." CMI
