Genesis 5: Creation Story Version 4?

“This is the book of Adam’s lineage.—When God created man, He made him in the likeness of God”זֶה סֵפֶר תּוֹלְדֹת אָדָם בְּיוֹם בְּרֹא אֱלֹהִים אָדָם בִּדְמוּת אֱלֹהִים עָשָׂה אֹתוֹ (Genesis 5:1)We are five chapters into the Torah, and it sounds like we are starting over yet again. Jumping ahead 23 books, the I Chronicles starts in a similar fashion listing the lineage of Adam. Some commentators explain that this chapter is really meant to be the start of the Torah. The previous four chapters were just prologue. Where does this idea come from? First, the opening verse begins with “this is the book (sefer) of Adam’s lineage.” The listing of lineages happens elsewhere in Tanach—e.g., Genesis 25:19:“This is the lineage of Isaac”וְאֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדוֹת יִצְחָק בֶּן־אַבְרָהָם (Genesis 25:19)—but without the word “book.”The Ramban explains that the use of the word “book” here means the whole Torah; therefore, this is the true opening verse.Ibn Ezra explains that the first verse includes “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God”בְּיוֹם בְּרֹא אֱלֹהִים אָדָם בִּדְמוּת אֱלֹהִים עָשָׂה אֹתוֹto explain why Adam had no parents. One would only need to include this fact again if the Torah should begin with this verse and not chapter one.Sforno explains that the grand introduction signals that this is when recorded history begins. Everything beforehand is superfluous to the story.Chizkuni does not see this as the proper beginning, but more like a reset. With the story shifting to Noah, the last birth in this chapter, the chapter must get us to Noah. This is similar, again, to Chronicles where David is the central character so all lineages there only get the reader to David. Here too, we must get to Noah so the chapter only includes the relevant relatives.The Malbim adds that we know this chapter is just about the history of mankind because Cain and Abel are not listed as sons of Adam here. That is because Cain is murdered and Abel later dies and his lineage ends with the flood.Radak disagrees that this is a book (sefer) but rather a count (the verb סֵפוֹר). This chapter is necessary to provide a timeline from creation to the flood. In Radak’s understanding, the names are not relevant. The timing is what is relevant. That is why Cain and Abel are not mentioned. Their lineages do not allow us to get from creation to the flood.We can see from this exhaustive list that everyone seems to be puzzled with this fourth go-around at the creation story. Yet, how these commentators decide to handle this confusion explains their level of comfort with this difficult question. We can split these roughly into two camps. Some commentators are fine with framing this as the true beginning with the previous four being some sort of prologue. Others seem to be more uncomfortable with the idea that the Torah would have a different starting point. They try to frame this chapter as the start of the story of Noah and the flood. This tension between looking at the Torah as an immovable text and allowing for nuance and creativity will resurface many times throughout our studies together