THE UNITY OP GENESIS. 



347 



again, when Adam and Eve are driven out of Eden. I agree with 

 the critics, that the existence of these two trees is a difficulty ; 

 I should even call it one of the mysteries, of which there are 

 several in this marvellous narrative of the Fall. But I cannot 

 say that the supposed existence of two writers is an explanation : 

 what light does it bring on this unintelligible question to admit 

 thai the tree of life is a creation of another writer? One can 

 admit a late redactor adding a gloss in order to clear up in some 

 way a vague point. But in this case, if he combined two 

 versions, he only obscured that which seemed more simple, that 

 which spoke only of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 

 Certainly the result of this combination cannot be called 

 satisfactory. Let us consider the two trees as being one of the 

 difficulties which we cannot solve ; but that has no bearing on 

 the tablet itself, which is the natural sequel to the first : after 

 the creation of the world, that of mankind. 



The third tablet begins (chapter v, verse 1) like the first : " In 

 the day that "... It is not long. It describes the genera- 

 tions of man as far as Noah (vi, 9) and it ends with these 

 words, which w ? e translate from the Hebrew like the end of the 

 first tablet : " This is the generation of Noah." The words 

 certainly do not refer to the following, which is the Deluge. 

 Though the text is short, it is a perfect rainbow in the coloured 

 Genesis : it has no fewer than four authors. But if we 

 remember the plan which Moses had in view — the way of God's 

 leading for the people of Israel — there can be no order more 

 logical than to run quickly over the past, sum up the 

 genealogies, leave aside what is useless, and end with Noah. 

 The thread which goes through the two first tablets is easily 

 recognizable in the third. 



In the preamble, we notice the man who knew Egypt well : 

 in the day that God created man male and female, He created 

 them so that they might have children. This seems at first 

 quite useless. But these words written by Moses in this place 

 show that he repudiates some ideas current among the Egyptians. 

 A god, in their mythology, may be said to give birth to his son 

 from his own substance, or he says to men : " You are a tear 

 from my eye." With these ideas .Moses absolutely disagrees, 

 and this is the reason why, when he is going to describe the 

 generation of man, he begins with these simple words : " He had 

 created them male and female." 



The new tablet, that of the Deluge, begins with these words 

 (vi, 5): " Noah was a righteous man, and perfect in his genera- 

 tions." This tablet, more than any other, bears the character of 



