...that the tablets usually held the signature of the writer or at least whoever wrote the tablet wrote his name at the end. If what he was writing spanned a few tablets, then he would use a method of repeating key phrases or words to identify all the tablets as belonging to him. This was the acceptable way of writing in early Sumerian times.
The Hebrews commenced their writing, on what to us, is the last page of the book, and wrote from right to left, so we find that in ancient Iraq, it was the ending and not the beginning of a tablet which contained the vital information as to the name of the writer, date on which written and description of the composition.
There can now be little doubt that the Book of Genesis was written on tablets. We know that they were in use in the days of Moses. The Ten Commandments were written on tablets (not tables) of stone, and in a manner similar to Babylonian tablets in "that the tablets were written on both their sides" (Exodus 32.15). The Hebrew verb "to write" means to "cut in" or "dig", a reference to the early method of writing. Some of these ancient literary usages are still embedded in the present English text, and that just as the scribes of Nineveh 2,500 years ago, when copying tablets which had been written a thousand years earlier, ended the tablet with a short statement indicating from which library the original text had come, so the compiler of Genesis has done the same.
The master-key to the discovery of the composition of the Book of Genesis is to be found in the proper use of the phrase, "These are the generations of . . ." If this key is handled properly, it will be seen that it solves every literary difficulty, critical or otherwise.
All scholars appear to agree that this is the most significant and distinguishing phrase in the Book. For example, Dr. Driver says (Genesis, p. ii), "The narrative of Genesis is cast into a framework, or scheme, marked by the recurring formula 'these are the generations (lit., begettings) of . . .' The entire narrative as we now possess it is accommodated to it." The formula is used eleven times in Genesis.
The formula is used in the following places:—
Gen 2.4 "These are the generations of the heaven and the earth."
Gen 5.1 "This is the account of the generations of Adam."
Gen 6.9 "These are the generations of Noah."
Gen 10.1 "These are the generations of the sons of Noah."
Gen 11.10 "These are the generations of Shem."
Gen 11.27 "These are the generation of Terah."
Gen 25.12 "These are the generation of Ishmael."
Gen 25.19 "These are the generation of Isaac."
Gen 36.1 "These are the generation of Esau."
Gen 36.9 "These are the generation of Esau."
Gen 37.2 "These are the generation of Jacob."

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