Keeping in mind the first audience of the pentateuch, the focal expression of this covenant is the sinaitic covenant which grows out of the promises made to abraham. Theology and reading southwestern baptist theological. Apologetics press mosaic authorship of the pentateuch. The mosaic authorship of the pentateuch is supported by the following, among other weighty considerations. Pentateuch the catholic encyclopedia religionfacts. The documentary hypothesisdefending moses authorship of. The presence of post mosaic additions does not deny the mosaic authorship of the pentateuch. Robert baral pentateuch moses author of the torah9252006 adpage 6 of religion the church is finally to appeal unto them 5 and so if doubt arisesas to if moses is the author of the pentateuch, the westminster confession holds that we are to seek confirmation from within the bible itself.
Historical evidence of postmosaic authorship higher criticism has shown that the pentateuch contains a number of references to events, locations, and comments that point to nonmosaic authorship. The postmosaic additions and modifications allowed by the biblical commission in the pentateuch. Introduction most christians have been taught in sunday school that moses wrote the first five books of the bible. The rest of the pentateuch is claimed to be written by moses, as well ex. The written torah assumes the role of the mosaic mediation of the law so that only. Full text of the mosaic authorship of the pentateuch. Mosaic authorship is the traditional belief that the torah, the first five books of the hebrew bibleold testament, were dictated to moses by god.
The use of ancient near eastern comparative materials to serve as checks and balances for proper methods of ot research. Theres nothing wrong with this sentence its a tight, concise definition of the subject. Biblical inspiration refers to the final product rather than to the manner of writing. The covenant idea itself, first mentioned in genesis 6 during the days of noah, is intricately woven into the fabric of the biblical account all the way through to revelation 11 where the ark of his covenant reappears in the temple. The letters jedp are a designation used by scholars to identify the component parts or sources that they understand were used to compile the first five books of the old testament. Theology and reading the message of the pentateuch joshua e. The term pentateuch is composed of the two greek words, pente, five, and teuchos, which in later alexandrine usage signified book. Many of the additions were explanatory notes of the passage authored by moses. In the final analysis, based on both the internal and external evidence, we can absolute confidence that moses was the author of the pentateuch. The books do not name any author, as authorship was not considered important by the society that produced them, and it was only after jews came into intense contact with authorcentric hellenistic culture in the late second temple period that the rabbis began. The view is, in fact, remark bly similar to that of jer 31. Full text of the mosaic authorship of the pentateuch defended against the views and arguments of voltaire, paine, colenso, reuss, graf, keunen and wellhausen see other formats. Konrad schmid is professor of hebrew bibleold testament at the university of zurich. Another accusation against mosaic authorship concerns the way moses is portrayed in the pentateuch.
There have been various opinions as to whether these sources were written or oral traditions, and whether each. Just as jeremiah looked back at the failure of the sinai covenant and the mosaic law which the israelites had failed. Instead, the pentateuch was judged to be an anthology with competing views of theology, worship, and social life. In addition to these recognitions of the laws of the pentateuch isaiah makes allusions. Pentateuch as the only way to say what the pentateuch has to say. Pentateuch 1 pentateuch reading guide and assignments there is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern booksif the average student wants to find out something about platonism, the very last thing he thinks of doing. The post mosaic additions and modifications allowed by the biblical commission in the pentateuch without removing it from the range of substantial integrity and mosaic authenticity are variously interpreted by catholic scholars. In our inquiries respecting the authorship of the pentateuch, we begin with the undisputed fact that it existed in its present form in the days of christ and. More serious were a few passages which implied an author long after the time of moses, such.
As my statement, it is affected by the questions, concerns, and values of my con. Variants in the samaritan pentateuch of the hebrew bible. The composition of the pentateuch in recent research. Robert baral pentateuch moses author of the torah9252006 adpage 6 of religion the church is finally to appeal unto them 5 and so if doubt arisesas to if moses is the author of the pentateuch, the westminster confession holds that we are to seek. There are portions of the pentateuch that speak of moses in the third person. Still, the covenant with abraham is foundational to our understanding of gods relationship to. Historical evidence of postmosaic origin the pentateuch contains a number of references to events that postdate it. The lord reveal ed himselfto moses at the burning bush ex. Southwestern journal of theology volume 52 number 1 fall 2009. In spite of differences among the five books which could be partly due to the fat that each existed and was transmitted as a separate scroll, and hence probably was copied by different scribes at the same time, the pentateuch is more uniform in orthographic character than any other part of the. The integration of preexisting literary material in the pentateuch and the impact upon its final shape. Moses the author of the pentateuch, 31 importance of the pentateuch, 31. The pentateuch mark vincent menucha bible school, 2008. The higher criticism of the pentateuch gordon college faculty.
It can most specifically mean the first five books pentateuch or five books of moses of the 24 books of the hebrew bible. The theme of the pentateuch is the partial fulfilment which implies also the partial nonfulfilment of the promise to or blessings of the patriarchs. A critical assessment of the grafwellhausen documentary. In the law, moses is always referred to in the third person. In addition to this, he postulated that the book of the law discovered during the reign of josiah was the book of deuteronomy, and that. Branching mosaic and prophetic discourses on the exile. A final reason that one must defend the mosaic authorship of the pentateuch, instead of sitting by idly and claiming that it doesnt really matter who wrote it, is because jesus himself acknowledged that the law came from moses. Wenham is lecturer in old testament at trinity college, bristol. Schrader, kayser dillmann and kayser, in addition, xii. He is a recognized expert on the pentateuch and has written commentaries on genesis, leviticus and numbers in addition to numerous studies in the old testament. While there is broad agreement among many scholars about the theme of the pentateuch as sketched above, there are very deep differences of opinion about its composition.
It denotes, therefore, the collection of five books. But since other old testament authors affirm mosaic authorship, as do numerous new testament writers and the early church fathers, the veracity of the bible as a whole begins to crumble if moses is not the author of the pentateuch. The minor additions of joshua, who was himself an inspired writer, as well as the handful of updates in the text to make it clearer to the thencurrent reader does no harm to the inspired message that. Postpriestly additions in the pentateuch a survey of scholarship. Why do some people reject the idea that moses wrote the. Catholic encyclopedia 19pentateuch wikisource, the. Furthermore these additions do not upset the doctrine of biblical inspiration. Genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, deuteronomy claims to be written by moses. The name of the first five books of the old testament. Torah assumes the role of the mosaic mediation of the law so that only law that can be reckoned. Genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, and deuteronomy, are often referred to as the pentateuch or torah. The word itself occurs in 27 of 39 ot books and in 11 of 27 nt boo ks.
The reasons for questioning the tradition of mosaic authorship. Pentateuch oxford research encyclopedia of religion. Neither mosaic authorship, nor even the mosaic period play a role in his interpretation of the pentateuch, nor is the literature unified in theme or composed by a single author. Current views on the formation of the pentateuch tend to abandon the major premises of the documentary hypothesis. A lack of consensus in the last 30 years of scholarship b. Mosaic authorship is the traditional belief that the torah, the first five books of the hebrew.
By it we do not mean that moses wrote all the pentateuch with his own hand, or that there were no editorial additions made after his death. This question of order and date rested on the interpretation given to the legal and ritual matter in the pentateuch rather than on the narratives like the literary analysis. It is argued that moses could not be the author of these books because he would not write about himself in the third person. Mosaic authorship is the traditional ascription to moses of the authorship of the five books of the torah or pentateuch genesis, exodus, numbers, leviticus and deuteronomy. In my last several posts on this topic, i have tried to demonstrate via the data of the text of the hebrew bible why it is reasonable to argue from the text that moses did not write all or perhaps even most of the pentateuch torah. He was formerly professor of old testament at the university of gloucestershire. Certainly moses was not able to write about his own death at the end of deuteronomy deut 34. Variants in the samaritan pentateuch of the hebrew bible as compared to the masoretic text abstract not long after the destruction of the jerusalem temple in 70 ce began the eventual end of a long history of textual competition between variations of the pentateuch. The mosaic era was a literary epoch in the worlds history when such codes were common. This is a natural conclusion to draw from a straightforward reading of genesis to deuteronomy. These inconsistencies can be categorized into two groups.