The Book of Jubilees; The Little Genesis, The Apocalypse of Moses

The Book of Jubilees; The Little Genesis, The Apocalypse of Moses Review

At first when I picked up this book, I mistook it for one of the lost books of the Bible referenced by canon, such as the Book of Jasher. However, as it turns out, this was even better. This book is a rabbinical Midrash, probably written around the second century B.C./B.C.E. Because it is a Midrash, we see through this book how many of the religious leaders before the time of Christ rationalized certain questions that were left unanswered in Genesis, such as the name of Cain's wife and who she is, an additional explanation why Jacob was favored to inherit God's covenant over Esau, as well as a deeper explanation of the beginning of Genesis 6 that is elaborated upon in the Book of Enoch.

This last explanation was helpful in current study I am doing about the Nephilim and that the sons of God mentioned in Genesis 6 were in fact angels and not the sons of Seth intermarrying with the daughters of Cain, as some commentators over the centuries have said.

This book is great for theological study on the basis that we see the evolution of theology in the Jewish community as well as the Christian community who had also used this book as a reference during the early years of the movement. However, because this is not revered as canonical Scripture by Jews or Christians today, if you are going to study this on a theological level, just make sure that you study it within proper context.

The Book of Jubilees; The Little Genesis, The Apocalypse of Moses Overview

The Book of Jubilees, also known as The Little Genesis and The Apocalypse of Moses, opens with an extraordinary claim of authorship. It is attributed to the very hand of Moses; penned while he was on Mount Sinai, as an angel of God dictated to him regarding those events that transpired from the beginning of the world. The story is written from the viewpoint of the angel. The angelic monolog takes place after the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt. The setting is atop Mount Sinai, where Moses was summoned by God. The text then unfolds as the angel reveals heaven's viewpoint of history. We are lead through the creation of man, Adam's fall from grace, the union of fallen angels and earthly women, the birth of demonic offspring, the cleansing of the earth by flood, and the astonishing claim that man's very nature was somehow changed, bringing about a man with less sinful qualities than his antediluvian counterpart. The story goes on to fill in many details in Israel's history, ending at the point in time when the narrative itself takes place, after the exodus.

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The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb

The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb Review

After so many years of hearing bits and pieces of these stories it is fantastic to now read them in their entirety. If I just sat down and read the text I would quickly get bored and not get too far. But with these graphic images the stories come to life with all their rough edges, quirks, flaws, and unbelievable qualities.
The most redeeming value of the Genesis text is that it laid the groundwork for this fantastic comic. Since I have been reading this, people have been asking me why I have such a smile on my face. I haven't finished the book yet and can't wait to see what will happen next.
At first I thought that this might not be so great since Crumb was using the actual text instead of using creative writing to satirize it. But after reading it as actually written the brilliance of his art has put these stories in their proper perspective.

The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb Feature

• ISBN13: 9780393061024
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb Overview

From Creation to the death of Joseph, here are all 50 chapters of the Book of Genesis, revealingly illustrated as never before. Envisioning the first book of the bible like no one before him, R. Crumb, the legendary illustrator, reveals here the story of Genesis in a profoundly honest and deeply moving way. Originally thinking that we would do a take off of Adam and Eve, Crumb became so fascinated by the Bible’s language, “a text so great and so strange that it lends itself readily to graphic depictions,” that he decided instead to do a literal interpretation using the text word for word in a version primarily assembled from the translations of Robert Alter and the King James bible.

Now, readers of every persuasion—Crumb fans, comic book lovers, and believers—can gain astonishing new insights from these harrowing, tragic, and even juicy stories. Crumb’s Book of Genesis reintroduces us to the bountiful tree lined garden of Adam and Eve, the massive ark of Noah with beasts of every kind, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by brimstone and fire that rained from the heavens, and the Egypt of the Pharaoh, where Joseph’s embalmed body is carried in a coffin, in a scene as elegiac as any in Genesis. Using clues from the text and peeling away the theological and scholarly interpretation that have often obscured the Bible’s most dramatic stories, Crumb fleshes out a parade of Biblical originals: from the serpent in Eden, the humanoid reptile appearing like an alien out of a science fiction movie, to Jacob, a “kind’ve depressed guy who doesn’t strike you as physically courageous,” and his bother, Esau, “a rough and kick ass guy,” to Abraham’s wife Sarah, more fetching than most woman at 90, to God himself, “a standard Charlton Heston-like figure with long white hair and a flowing beard.”

As Crumb writes in his introduction, “the stories of these people, the Hebrews, were something more than just stories. They were the foundation, the source, in writing of religious and political power, handed down by God himself.” Crumb’s Book of Genesis, the culmination of 5 years of painstaking work, is a tapestry of masterly detail and storytelling which celebrates the astonishing diversity of the one of our greatest artistic geniuses. .

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