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From Adam to Noah: A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Part 1

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This is one of the great masterpieces of Jewish Bible scholarship. Cassuto is thoroughly original and always illuminating. The opening part of Genesis is among the most difficult and misinterpreted sections of the Bible; Cassuto is a sure guide, explaining difficulties and resolving apparent discrepancies. He is a firm opponent of the Documentary Hypothesis, rebutting its arguments comprehensively. On the other hand, he never falls into the trap of slavish fundamentalist interpretation. It is a tragedy that Cassuto's commentaries only cover Exodus and part of Genesis, but for the limited area they cover they are essential reading.

Cassuto's commentary on Genesis is divided into two volumes. This volume, Part 1, is devoted to the sections from the Creation up to Noah, and the second volume, Part 2, is devoted to the sections from Noah up to and including some of the sections on Abraham. The commentary is clearly set forth, and Cassuto writes very gracefully. Tragically, the commentary was not completed.
Cassuto explains the original meaning of Genesis by exploring the literary and archaeological evidence from the ancient Near East. This evidence reveals the world and conceptions of its ancient audience in terms of which they would have interpreted the text.
He compares and contrasts Genesis with the other literature of the ancient Near East. The creation and flood traditions belonging to Israel and her neighbours are both similar and significantly different; Genesis introduces profound and original theological concepts in a literary form and tradition with which the ancient audience would have been familiar.
Cassuto shows the beauty and unity of Genesis by revealing its careful literary arrangement and patterns. His talent for recognising these patterns is very impressive and unique.
Cassuto sensitively engages both with classical Jewish commentators and more modern biblical critics. He defends his interpretations with an acute analysis of the text and simple commonsense. His breadth of knowledge and depth of insight is breathtaking.
Cassuto devastates the documentary hypothesis according to which the text is edited from four independent source documents. He explains the evidence that is supposed to support the documentary hypothesis in a far more plausible way than does the hypothesis. He also devastates the documentary hypothesis at book-length in his "The Documentary Hypothesis and the Composition of the Pentateuch: Eight Lectures", which I strongly recommend.
However, he does not adopt the traditional religious view of the composition of text, and while he is Jewish, his interpretations sometimes differ from the orthodox understanding of the text. But I think that Cassuto's commentaries give us a peak at a genius infinitely more sublime than what he suggest.
Cassuto's commentaries were written some time ago, and there have since been archaeological discoveries that broaden the understanding of the text that Cassuto tried to develop. For a recent exploration of the archaeology and literature of the ancient Near East relevant to the Hebrew Bible generally, I strongly recommend Kenneth Kitchen's "On the Reliability of the Old Testament".