The Tablet Theory

Genesis 2:4

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

Commentary

This is the beginning of a pattern in genesis of use of the phrase “These are the generations of. This divides the Book of Genesis into sections forming the bases of what is known as the Tablet Theory.  According to this theory Moses compiled Genesis from accounts of event passed down from earlier generations, stating with Adam.

Division of the Tablets

Tablet	Starting Verse	Ending Verse	Writer
1	Genesis 1:1	Genesis 2:3	Possibly God Himself
2	Genesis 2:4	Genesis 4:26	Adam
3	Genesis 4:16	Genesis 4:24	Cain and descendents
4	Genesis 5:1	Genesis 6:8	Noah
5	Genesis 6:9	Genesis 9:29	Shem, Ham & Japheth
6	Genesis 10:1	Genesis 11:9	Shem
7	Genesis 11:10	Genesis 11:26	Terah
8	Genesis 11:27	Genesis 25:11	Isaac
9	Genesis 25:12	Genesis 25:18	Ishmael
10	Genesis 25:19	Genesis 35:29	Jacob
11	Genesis 36:1	Genesis 36:43	Esau
12	Genesis 37:2	Exodus 1:6	Jacob’s 12 sons

The account found in Genesis two is not, as some claim; a distinct creation account but a complementary account. Genesis 1 is a general account of creation focusing on the big picture of the entire creation and may have been given to Adam by God himself. The Genesis 2 account focuses on the creation of man and according to the tablet theory would have been written by Adam