The End of Source Theories? The Genealogies in Gen 4:17–5:32 and Their Reworking in the New Testament

A thorough analysis of the genealogies in Gen 4:17–5:32 has shown that they are the result of a highly creative (hypertextual) and at the same time strictly sequential reworking of an older text of Deut 2:9–23. This means that the theories postulating the genealogies in Gen 4:17–5:32 as having come from various hypothetical sources of the Pentateuch (J, P, etc.) are no longer necessary to explain their origin and function. Similarly, detailed analysis of the genealogies presented in Luke 3:23–38 and Matt 1:1–17 has demonstrated that the Matthean genealogy is the effect of a deliberate reworking of the earlier genealogy composed by Luke. That, in turn, means that the theory of the “Q source,” intended to serve as an explanation of the origin of the Matthean–Lucan materials that had not come from the Gospel of Mark, is also exegetically superfluous.