Chapters and verses were inserted into both the Old and New Testaments during the Dark and Middle Ages in Europe, as scribes who were invested with the task of copying the Bible used a number system in order to track the sentences they were writing. Eventually, as the system worked well for clergymen who were given the task of interpreting the Bible for illiterate European towns and villages, chapters and verses became the norm.
You may wonder how the ancient Israelis were able to keep track of textual information whenever they needed to copy and recopy it, if the original texts of the Hebrew Bible did not include chapters and verses. The answer is as simple as it is shocking to 21st century ears: They knew the stories through oral transmission, so they knew when one ended and another began.
For example, Genesis 1 ends on the sixth stanza of what the ancient Hebrews would have remembered as a seven-stanza litany of God's creation and order, as well as God's relationship with humankind. In the Bibles published today, however, the seventh stanza appears, not at the end of Genesis 1, but at the beginning of Genesis 2:
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
I believe that this song, in its entirity, must have been recited by schoolchildren, as it evidences a rhythm and verb phrasing that could be easily memorized. Moreover, Genesis 1:1-2:3 serves as an excellent introduction to children of not only the existence and lordship of God but of the seven day week, the Sabbath, and the relationship between God and adam or human beings. An agricultural society in which writing was generally restricted to the priestly class (and in which writing may have been severely limited within the priestly class itself) would have passed on its knowledge, its traditions, and its beliefs from father to son, and mother to daughter, through the use of songs and stories.
Even in the 21st century, almost every schoolchild knows the significance of the words "Once upon a time . . . " even when those words are not followed by an actual story--and most of us know the structural significance of "And they lived happily ever after" in children's stories, that those words always appear at the end. Is it not conceivable that a generation of people who grew up memorizing songs like "row row row your boat" and "happy birthday to you" could imagine a culture in which knowledge was passed down from parent to child in rhyme and verse?
If not, then perhaps it would be instructive for me to provide an example of the kind of song I think Genesis 1:1-2:3 bears closest resemblance to (structurally) today:
On the first day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
A Partridge in a Pear Tree
On the second day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
On the third day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
On the fourth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
4 Calling Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
On the fifth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
5 Golden Rings
4 Calling Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
On the sixth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
6 Geese a Laying
5 Golden Rings
4 Calling Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
On the seventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
7 Swans a Swimming
6 Geese a Laying
5 Golden Rings
4 Calling Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
On the eighth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
8 Maids a Milking
7 Swans a Swimming
6 Geese a Laying
5 Golden Rings
4 Calling Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
On the ninth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
9 Ladies Dancing
8 Maids a Milking
7 Swans a Swimming
6 Geese a Laying
5 Golden Rings
4 Calling Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
On the tenth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
10 Lords a Leaping
9 Ladies Dancing
8 Maids a Milking
7 Swans a Swimming
6 Geese a Laying
5 Golden Rings
4 Calling Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
On the eleventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
11 Pipers Piping
10 Lords a Leaping
9 Ladies Dancing
8 Maids a Milking
7 Swans a Swimming
6 Geese a Laying
5 Golden Rings
4 Calling Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
On the first day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
12 Drummers Drumming
11 Pipers Piping
10 Lords a Leaping
9 Ladies Dancing
8 Maids a Milking
7 Swans a Swimming
6 Geese a Laying
5 Golden Rings
4 Calling Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
Yes--I'm saying that Genesis 1:1-2:3 is the structural equivalent of "The 12 Days of Christmas." (I hope I haven't been responsible for someone's heart attack as they read the above lyrics and realized, to their horror, the analogy I was making.)
The Bible is a remarkable collection of texts . . . but even more remarkable is the time period and civilization in which they were produced. As we will see, the ancient Hebrews were, according to the Torah, intended to be a society not only vastly different from the postmodern cultural matrix we inhabit today but also a nation far different than any of the kingdoms--such as Assyria, Persia, Babylon, or Egypt--that we have come to associate with the Middle East as it was (or must have been) 4000 years ago. To understand fully the depth and complexity of Israel's relationship with the God that Western societies adopted as their own for two millennia, it is important for us to fully appreciate the blueprint, core values, and structure of Israeli civilization--both as it was, and as the Torah indicates it should be.
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