Many thanks for the comprehensive feedback. Given that, I'd be interested in your thoughts on the following two questions. I really don't have any conclusive answer to either of these.

These are not questions that relate to "Is this actually true or divine?", but instead steps back from that and asks how to understand the presentation of the text.

Q1. The first is this. Also putting aside how we today view and interpret the Genesis text, how was it understood by people when it was first written?

Would they view it then as literal, or poetical, or something else?

I suspect there is a vast diversity on thought on this across the biblical scholars that devote their time to studying it all.

Q2.

The second question relates to how we (humanity, not just you or me) interpret and understand the full text (Genesis to Rev).

We, in general, tend to interpret some bits as mystical and symbolic and other bits as historical. For example, most (regardless of their belief or lack of belief) would view the biographical descriptions of Jesus as texts that are presented as historical (I'm putting aside the question - is it accurate, and simply looking at it as presented). Many would also take other Bible stories as symbolic and methorphical. So the question I ponder is this - what is written as literal historical and what is written as symbolic poetry?

How do we work out what is what?

Is it complex and actually a mixture of both and more, and how can we work it out?

It all feels (to me) to be a bit like the ultimate rorschach test, in the sense that we all interpret it through the lens of our current beliefs and understanding.

Regardless of what we might all conclude, it is a fascinating text.

I suspect both question are related. I also suspect that that are many layers of cultural complexity in play as well.