The Book of Genesis contains eleven distinct markers readily acknowledged as the toledot formula.1 Commentator Nahum Sarna counts the ’elleh toledot to be “…one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Book of Genesis”.2 Among translations, the noun is variously translated as “generations” (ESV, KJV), “records of the generations” (NASB), or “account” (NIV). Yet, as notable as the phrase and its occurrences are, a uniform understanding of its purpose has remained somewhat elusive.
Nagging questions have prohibited solid footing from being formed to discern their purpose. For instance, why is the first formula given to the “…heavens and the earth…” while the rest are given to people? Or, among those individuals given toledots why are Terah, Ishmael, and Esau given one considering their somewhat minor roles in the entirety of the narrative—especially from a spiritual perspective? Further, of all the toledots within the book, why is Terah’s centrally located among the eleven? Didn’t he live “…beyond the Euphrates…” serving “…other gods?” (Jos 24:2-3).
Categorizing the toledots as structural—marking significant sections or stages within the narrative’s storyline,3 has been the most prominent interpretation of this literary device. Another view, not necessarily in competition with the first, is to see them as tracking the development of the elect line.4 Finally, a third view, also not in disagreement with the previous two, is to see them as a source from which the record or account derived.5 While not disagreeing with any of the above, I’d like to offer apotential framework through which the toledots may be further considered.
My proposal is this: reading the toledots against the backdrop of Jesus’ Parable of the Sower may shed further light on how they’re meant to be read (Mat 13:3-23). In fact, I’d go as far as to say that Jesus may have derived His strategy for developing the Parable of the Sower from a faithful reading of Genesis.
It’s significant to note how many commonalities exist between Jesus’ parable and Genesis’ toledots.
- Genesis’ opening Narrative associates the soil and its produce with Humanity and its produce, as does Jesus’ parable. Day 3 of the Creation Narrative tracks the marking of land and its ability to be fruitful. Day 6 correlates to Day 3 in that Humanity is created to inhabit the land, given ability to be fruitful like the vegetation, as well as freedom to partake of it (Genesis 1:9-13; 1:28-29). Each association creates a link between land/vegetation and Humanity—allowing further analogies to be developed.6 Jesus’ parable reflects one such analogy.
- Both Jesus’ parable and Genesis’ toledots are concerned primarily with bearing fruit. The term toledot is a derivative of the verb y-l-d, meaning “to give birth”.5 This demonstrates the Genesis formula to be highlighting that which is springing forth. The question remaining is whether the forthcoming “fruit” would be productive or unproductive in an ultimately spiritual sense. Both Jesus’ parable and Genesis’ toledots hold this as their prime concern.
- Jesus’ parable and Genesis’ toledots move from the vegetative realm to the realm of Humanity. While it may be natural to think of the toledot formula in relation to people, it’s significant to note its first usage refers to “…the heavens and the earth…” (Gen 2:4). The Narrator moves from the “…birth of the heavens and the earth…” to the birth of people in the remaining usages. In this sense, Humanity is placed in the same context as the heavens and the earth. This feature is shared in Jesus’ parable which also moves from the vegetative realm to a Humanitarian realm—one involving people.
- Jesus’ parable contrasts that which is of Heaven and that which is of Earth, as do Genesis’ toledots. The first toledot concerning “…the heavens and of earth…” offers a line by which to divide and interpret subsequent toledots. Just as some soils in Jesus’ parable produce fruitfully and other plots languish, so within Genesis some lines are birthed of Heaven while others are birthed of Earth. A grid is thereby presented by which to judge each remaining toledot: is this person’s toledot being influenced from Heaven or from Earth?
- The prophets link Earth’s fruitfulness with Humanity’s, as do Jesus’ parable and the book of Genesis. Consider the prophet’s consistent pairing of Earth’s fruitfulness with Humanity’s (regarding physical/spiritual fruit): “And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors” (Hag 1:11 ESV). “For there shall be a sowing of peace. The vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give their dew. And I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things” (Zec 8:12 ESV; see Hos 4:1-3). Like Jesus’ parable, Humanity’s production is frequently paired with Earth’s throughout the prophets—continuing the analogy begun in the Creation Narrative.
- Jesus’ parable moves from less fruitful soil to climaxing with more fruitful, as do Genesis’ toledots and genealogies. Throughout Genesis, genealogies follow a consistent pattern of “wrapping up” lines readers are to follow less (in a spiritually fruitful sense), before moving on to the more spiritually profitable lines meant to keep one’s attention: Cain’s closes before Adam’s (through Seth), Japheth and Ham’s close before Shem’s, Lot’s before Abraham’s, Ishmael’s before Isaac’s, and Esau’s before Jacob’s. Presented in this fashion, the Narrator seems to present genealogies in a “dead end” and “doorway” fashion (even though God holds out hope even for the “dead ends”). This literary touch seems to highlight that which is spiritually flourishing while casting less light on meager lines—like Jesus praises the fruitful soil as the last soil mentioned (Mat 13:8).
- Both Jesus’ parable and Genesis’ toledots include unprofitable lines. Understanding the toledots against Jesus’ Parable of the Sower may explain why toledot formulas consider not just Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but also that of less-spiritually fruitful Ishmael and Esau. There are different types of soil. In addition, both Isaac’s and Jacob’s toledot sections are substantially longer than that of Ishmael’s and Esau’s, similar to Jesus’ “…a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty” (Mat 13:23 ESV). Like the toledots, Jesus’ parable describes seed thrown on the path, the rocky soil, and thorny soil, in comparison to that which falls on the fertile soil.
- Both Jesus’ parable and Genesis’ toledots reflect the mysterious nature of kingdom growth. Perhaps most notable and illuminating among the Genesis’ toledot usages is the central toledot: Terah—who fits neatly in neither category of spiritually profitable nor unprofitable. Joshua 24:2-3 makes clear that Terah worshipped idols. In this sense, Terah’s toledot serves to highlight Him who is truly behind Heaven’s growth on Earth. This central toledot makes a very intentional point: it is God who is raising up the spiritually fertile line out of that which is otherwise unfruitful and infertile. Out of the cursed soil, God is growing the kingdom anew. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1Co 3:6 ESV). Terah’s toledot follows Genesis 4 to 11 which brackets a section illustrating the world wholly in Man’s Image. Time and again, it’s proved spiritually unfruitful and unprofitable. Abraham and Sarah’s infertility may be demonstrative of this. Yet, it’s out of this spiritually lifeless line (physically barren to match) that God raises up a multitudinously fruitful line from Abraham and Sarah in both a physical and spiritual sense. In this way, the centrality of Terah’s toledot communicates the book’s central character—the keeper of the line, the cultivator of fertile soil, the vinedresser: God.
Heaven is coming to earth. The book of Genesis tracks this journey. Just as in Jesus’ parable, the toledot formula offers fruitful lines and unfruitful lines. Some lines meant to be followed with more urgency and others with less; seeds of Heaven, seeds of Earth.
Yet, towering behind the narrative strategy of both the toledots and the Parable of the Sower is the Sower, Himself. In each case, He is the one who causes the growth of the kingdom—against which the gates of Hell will not prevail. Through Isaiah, He states boldly,
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off (Isa 55:10-13 ESV).
His word ensures the fruit. Just as He made the land fertile in Creation, so He causes spiritually/physically fruitful lines within Humanity. That line culminated in the Person of Christ—the line to which all previous lines pointed—through whom the kingdom has ultimately flowered. He is the truest fruit-bearer. Matthew begins his Gospel with the final toledot, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Mat 1:1 ESV).7 It’s He who “…indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold…” (Mat 13:23 ESV). He is the vine from which all branches bear fruit (Jn 15:1-6).
In summary, whether parable or narrative, each employs a similar narrative strategy. In His parable Jesus traces how “…the word of the kingdom…” is received by different types of ground: a path, rocky ground, thorny ground, and good soil (Mat 13:1-23). Similarly, I believe the Genesis’ toledot formulas are meant to be considered as thoughtfully as the soils within Jesus’ parable. Of each toledot formula, readers should ask, “Is this a fruitful or unfruitful line? A line coming from Heaven or from Earth?” Just as there are a variety of toledots within Genesis, so there are a variety of soils within Jesus’ parable—some producing in Heavenly fashion (thirty, sixty, a hundred-fold) and some in an Earthly fashion. The growth, though, always belongs to the Sower.
Ben Lovelady (M.A., MTS) serves as a pastor in northwestern Illinois, where he and his wife live with their six children.
- Gen 2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:19; 36:1; 36:9; 37:2. ↩︎
- Nahum M. Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 16. ↩︎
- Derek Kidner, Genesis and Introduction and Commentary. Ed. D. J. Wiseman (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1967), 59. Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17 (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), 8, 10. Nahum M. Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 16. Gordon J. Wenham, Word Biblical Commentary Genesis 1-15 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1987), 55. ↩︎
- Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from Genesis (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2007), 12, 15. Bruce K. Waltke with Cathi J. Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 106-7. ↩︎
- Nahum M. Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 16. ↩︎
- Further, it is the ground that is cursed in conjunction with man—furthering the connection. James Jordan makes this connection in his lecture on Genesis 1:1-23 (Biblical Horizons, WordMp3.com), 2022. ↩︎
- I’m grateful for Alex Turkmani pointing out this association to me. ↩︎