Authorship of the Pentateuch . Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) claims to be written by Moses. He wrote “all the words of the Lord” (Ex. The rest of the Pentateuch is claimed to be written by Moses, as well (Ex.
Later OT authors believed Moses wrote the Pentateuch (Josh. Kings 2: 3; 2 Kings 1. Dan. Moreover, Jesus believed Moses wrote this book, quoting Exodus 2. Mk. 2. 0: 3. 7), and Paul also attributed Exodus to Moses (Rom. Because Moses was trained in the Egyptian court, he is the most likely candidate to write the book. The other Jews were uneducated slaves in Egypt, and they were most likely illiterate. Critical View of Authorship.
The JEDP theory (sometimes called the Graf- Wellhausen or Documentary Hypothesis) was developed in the 1. Bible. Under this view, the Pentateuch was not written by Moses. Instead, it was the result of a later author/editor, who pieced multiple sources together. Among these sources were: J: From the German “Jahweh” or Yahwist source (dated ~9. BC). E: From the Elohist source. Northern kingdom (~7.
BC). D: From the Deuteronomistic source. Southern kingdom (~6. BC). P: From the Priestly source. Post- exilic (~5. BC). The JEDP theory became a popular theory in critical schools.
The mosaic authorship of the pentateuch Download the mosaic authorship of the pentateuch or read online here in PDF or EPUB. Please click button to get the mosaic authorship of the pentateuch book now. All books are in clear. Authorship of the Pentateuch. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) claims to be written by Moses. He wrote “all the words of the Lord” (Ex. The rest of the Pentateuch is claimed to.
Under this view, the entire Pentateuch was not finished until around 4. BC! Even today, this view of Pentateuchal authorship is commonly taught in universities. Response to the JEDP Theory. There are multiple arguments against the JEDP theory. First, the JEDP theory was developed before the advent of modern archaeology. Over the last two hundred years, the science of archaeology has confirmed, rather than denied Mosaic authorship.
Even JEDP supporter William F. Albright writes, “Wellhausen still ranks in our eyes as the greatest biblical scholar of the nineteenth century. But his standpoint is antiquated and his picture of the early evolution of Israel is sadly distorted.”. The JEDP theory is a purely literary theory –not an empirical one. When scholars excavated the Qumran Caves, they did not discover pieces and parts of books. Our oldest manuscripts (the Dead Sea Scrolls) have entire books –not pieces and parts split into different schools or sources. That is, we have never discovered the “J” or “E” sources; these are only theorized.
Third, this theory has an antisupernatural bias. Most of the conclusions of the JEDP theory are not based on the evidence; instead, they are based on a previously assumed worldview: naturalism. Archer equates this with “the attempt of persons who are color blind to judge the masterpieces of Turner or Gainsborough.”.
- Robert baral**pentateuch**moses author of the torah**9/25/2006 ad**page 3 table of contents i.
- Genesis and the Books of Moses: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Pentateuch.
WILLIAM HENRY GREEN AND THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH: SOME HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS peter enns*. The Authorship of the Pentateuch Thomas B. Dozeman THE PENTATEUCH INCLUDES THE FIRST FIVE BOOKS of the Hebrew Bible (Gen-esis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). These books sepa-rate into two unequal parts: Genesis. THE GENUINENESS AND MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF GENESIS Timothy Lin. THE GENUINENESS OF GENESIS.
Archer observes, “Conceivably every historical record in the Bible could be verified by archeological discovery and the rationalist would still affirm his antisupernatural position.”. When doing history, we should approach the text (whether secular or sacred) based on the claims it makes about itself –unless we are given good reasons to deny these claims. These JEDP theorists begin by assuming these claims are wrong, rather than proving these claims are wrong. In this way, these theorists assume that they know more about the authorship of these books than the ancient men themselves. Archer documents the muddled subjectivity accompanying this theory in chapters 6 and 7 of A Survey of the Old Testament Introduction. Whenever a passage doesn’t align with the JEDP theory, a “redactor” or “interpolator” is theorized to keep the theory afloat. This makes the theory unfalsifiable.
For example, the author of Genesis focuses on Shechem, while a post- exilic author would surely focus on Jerusalem. When evidence like this doesn’t fit the JEDP theory, the critics usually claim, “This must be the result of a later redactor changing the text, but it still must have been post- exilic.”. A later author would not have these influences. Remarkably, this is exactly what we do find, when we read through the Pentateuch! Egyptian Names: The name Pithom (“the house of Atum”), Potiphera (“the gift of Ra”), Asenath (“the favorite of Neith”), and Joseph’s title Zaphenath- pa’neah (Gen.
Nourisher of the land of the living one”) are all Egyptian in origin. Egyptian –not Hebrew. The words basket, bulrush, pitch, reed, river and (river) banks all have Egyptian cognates.
This factor strongly reflects the Egyptian setting and origin of the biblical story.”. Egyptian means . The flora and fauna are Egyptian –not Palestinian. He mentions the acacia tree, tahash skins (Ex. Deut. 1. 4: 5), and the rock badger (Lev. The author has to tell his audience that Shechem is a city in the land of Canaan, which is an absurd detail to add if the Jews had been in Canaan for centuries. Why would the author use Egyptian details to describe Palestine, unless he actually grew up in Egypt –not Palestine –as the Pentateuch claims?
Egyptian Culture: Joseph lives for 1. Egyptian –symbolic for wisdom or blessing. Hoffmeier writes, “More than thirty references are known from Egyptian texts in which a 1. It was a symbolic figure for a distinguished sagely man. One such example is Ptahhotep, who left to posterity a wisdom text from c. Another individual was Amenhotep, son of Hapu, who served Pharaoh Amenhotep III (1. BC). Often references to 1.
Moses). Archaeological Evidence. There is a sizeable amount of archaeological evidence that further supports early, Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch: 1. The term for “covenant” (Hebrew berith) is used throughout the second millennium BC –not the first.
Joseph was sold for the correct price of a slave in the first half of the second millennium BC (~2,0. BC). Deuteronomy uses a recognizable Suzerainty treaty, which was only used in second millennium BC –not the first. The laws of the Pentateuch were given largely to a desert people, which would not make sense to a post- exilic audience (Lev. The city of Ur was thought to be mythical, until it was discovered in southern Sumeria. It enjoyed an advanced civilization until roughly 2,0. BC (exactly the time of Abraham).
The name Abraham has been found as early as the 1. BC. Archaeologists found a Stela of King Merneptah which dates to the 1,2. BC and specifically mentions the nation of “Israel,” as well as the Hittites, Canaan, Ashkelon, Gezer, and Yanoam.
The laws of Deuteronomy and Leviticus cannot belong to a late dated “P” source, because these closely parallel the Code of Hammurabi –an ancient Babylonian legal code. Abraham’s practice of having the adopted son Eliezer being “son of his house” (Gen. Nuzi texts). It was also customary to set this aside in light of a biological son (as Abraham did, when Isaac was born). The Nuzi documents support the practice of selling your birthright, as seen in Esau and Jacob (Gen.
The Nuzi record shows that possessing the family teraphim (or idols) was a legal action at the time (Gen. Why would a later author use the term Raamses and Pithom for these store cities? After the exile, the capital of Egypt was Tanis. In fact, Tanis was the capital all throughout the time of the monarchy. A later author would surely use the later name –not the ancient one.
The actions of the patriarchs are greatly opposed to the Law. Abraham marries his half- sister (Lev. Jacob marries his sister in law (Lev. If this was all written later, then why would they write the story this way?
It would contradict the legal system that they were trying to set up. This would be a political nightmare. Critics used to deny that Moses could have written in the 2nd millennium BC, because it was thought that humans couldn’t even write at that time. They also believed that the Hittites, the Horites, Ur, Haran, Sodom, Gomorrah, and Belshazzar were mythical creations of the author –not real, historical cities, people, and places. These fallacious assumptions have all been overturned by modern archaeological discovery. Then in 1. 90. 6, the Hittite library was discovered in Turkey. The Hittite capital was discovered, along with more than 1.
Hittite’s law system. These cities were said to be destroyed by fire, according to the Bible. The Four Kingdoms of Genesis 1.
It makes more sense that the Pentateuch had been ingrained into the Hebrew culture for centuries, and the prophets referred to this history as obvious and well- known. For instance, the prophets mention the Garden of Eden (Is.
Jacob buying land (Josh. Exodus (Hos. 2. 0: 5- 7; Amos 2: 1. Israel’s history (Ps.
Egypt (Amos 4: 1. Ark (1 Chron. 1. 5: 1. Pentateuch’s history. These are just throwaway, casual allusions to the Pentateuch, as though the authors took these events for granted. Arguments Against Mosaic Authorship Refuted. Let’s consider a number of objections to Mosaic authorship held by JEDP theorists: OBJECTION #1: Why are there multiple names for God, if a single author composed the Pentateuch?
CLAIM: JEDP theorists note multiple names for God in the Hebrew text. For instance, in Genesis 1: 1- 2: 3, the author uses the term “Elohim” for God, while Genesis 2: 4 introduces the term “Yahweh.” Critics argue that a later author/editor came across two creation stories, and he spliced them together. One is from the Elohist (or “E”) source, and the other is from the Yahwist (or “J”) source. RESPONSE: The term Elohim refers to God as Creator, while Yahweh refers to him as Covenant- Maker (see this usage in Ex.
Some interpreters see Genesis 1 as referring to physical creation, while Genesis 2 focuses on spiritual creation. Others regard Genesis 1 as the big picture of the cosmos, and Genesis 2 as a “zoom in” on the human race –the center of God’s creation. When dealing with the cosmos, God has one name, but when dealing with humans, he has another. These are not contradictory accounts; they are complimentary accounts. In the same way, the NT authors call Jesus both “Savior” and “Lord.” But, few would see these titles as evidence of dual authorship!
This claim assumes that one author cannot use two different words to describe God. And yet, we would never place this arbitrary criterion on any other kind of literature.