But in Q itself (Genesis
i.) the first man is only the generic man; if in spite of this
he is called simply Adam (Genesis v.), as if that were his proper
name, the only way to account for this is to suppose a
reminiscence of Genesis ii. iii., though here the personification
does not as yet extend to the name.
We come to the story of the flood, Genesis vi.-ix. In JE the flood
is well led up to: in Q we should be inclined to ask in surprise
how the earth has come all at once to be so corrupted, after being
so far in the best of order, did we not know from JE. In omitting
the fall, the fratricide of Cain, the sword-song of Lamech, the
intercourse of the sons of God with the daughters of men, and
parting with the distinctive gloomy colouring which is
unmistakably spread over the whole early history of man in JE,
the Priestly Code has entirely lost the preparation for the
flood, which now appears in the most abrupt and unaccountable way.
As to the contents of the story, the priestly version here agrees
to an unusual extent with the Jehovistic one; differing from it
chiefly in the artificial, mathematical marking out of the
framework.
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