Abstract
The main thesis of this work is to establish that Genesis 1-3 should be read proleptically of Israel’s failure to keep the Sinaitic Covenant. These three chapters, in a nutshell, encapsule the story of Israel: recipient of divine law, failed to conquer the land, and which finally resulted in exile. Postell carefully argues that this literary introduction to the Pentateuch, and the Hebrew Bible as a whole, was intentionally designed to ‘foreshadow’ Israel’s inability to observe the law and to point to God’s work ‘in the last days’ (p. 3). The narrative of Israel is the story of Adam writ large.
The book is divided into two main parts. The first part of the study, which is designed to set up the main exegesis for the second, is comprised of four quality chapters that briefly review the history of interpretation, both ancient and modern, of the primary text. His method is clearly stated as text-centred, which ‘maintains that a text in its final form embodies the intentionality of a historical author’ (p. 44). This excludes ahistorical, New Criticism, reader-response meaning, and canonical approaches. He emphasises the distinction between Historie and Geschichte, and his use of Leonard’s categories for intertextuality is creative and compelling.
Postell provides a compelling case for re-reading Gen 1-3 by considering both thematic and lexical correspondences of his text to other sections throughout the rest of the Pentateuch, and the Hebrew Bible. For example, he looks extensively at the leitmotif ‘land-theme’ and argues that an eschatological reading of Gen 1-3 shows the inherent inability of Israel to remain in the Promised Land (Garden). Just as Adam could not overcome the evil lurking in the Garden, so Israel did not overcome its enemies. The interpretative trajectory is that the people of God are east of the Promised Land, in exile. They must live by faith, looking from a distance. They wait for a second Adam, one like Moses, greater than Joshua, to lead them to victory over their enemies. This redeemer has royal, kingly, and priestly qualities that are all implied in the Garden narrative. This is couched in an eschatological frame, observed by use of the words ‘beginning’ (תישאר) and ‘last days’ (תירחא).
Postell has certainly moved forward the discussion of how to understand the Israel narrative in covenantal terms. The work does, however, suffer from a tendency to move too quickly and assertively over important issues. For example, the issue of authorship seems somewhat swept under the carpet of final form redaction. The argument is not tightly held together. Is authorship important? If not, why not? Furthermore, he is not clear on the nature of the law in the Garden compared to that given to Israel. At one point it seems that there is one command in the Garden (p. 116, 134) and at another point more (p. 131).
Overall, Postell has provided an excellent work that is readable, interesting, and has a handful of fascinating insights that will provide scholars, pastors, and lay-readers alike good material for years to come.