WHO WROTE THE PENTATEUCH

SQ: 4

Can the Pentateuch be both Mosaic in origin and sixth century?

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are sometimes referred to as:

• the “Five Books of Moses,” because the writings themselves identify the author as Moses, or

• the “Pentateuch,” a Greek term meaning “pente (5) teuchos (volumes),” or

• the “Pentateuch,” a Greek term meaning “pente (5) teuchos (volumes),” or

• the “Torah” (a Hebrew word meaning “instruction“) 

What does the Bible itself say about authorship of the Pentateuch?There are about two dozen verses in the Hebrew Scriptures and one dozen in the Christian Scriptures which state or strongly imply that Moses was the author. Consider the following passages from the New Living Translation (NLT): Passages in the Pentateuch itself:

• Exodus 17:14 “Then the Lord instructed Moses, ‘Write this down as a permanent record…‘”
• Exodus 24:4 “Then Moses carefully wrote down all the Lord’s instructions
• Exodus 34:27 “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write down all these instructions, for they represents the terms of my covenant with you and with Israel.‘”
• Leviticus 1:1 “The Lord called to Moses from the Tabernacle and said to him, ‘Give the following instructions to the Israelites…‘”
• Leviticus 6:8 “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Give Aaron and his sons the following instructions…‘”
• Deuteronomy 31:9 “So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests.”
• Deuteronomy 31:24-26 “When Moses had finished writing down this entire body of law in a book…“

But nowhere in the Bible is it specifically stated that Moses wrote the entire Pentateuch. Even if one believes in the inerrancy of the Bible, a case can be made that he authored only parts of the Torah, and that other writers added sections of their own and/or edited the resultant text.Ancient Jewish and Christian writers, such as Ecclesiasticus, Josephus, Philo, and Origen were essentially in full agreement that the Pentateuch was written solely by Moses. The Mishnah and the Talmud also confirm this. Tradition during the first millennium of Christian history agrees with this belief.Many present-day Fundamentalists and other Evangelical Christians continue to believe that Moses wrote the entire Pentateuch: P.N. Benware states that “Moses was the human author of Genesis and the other books of the Pentateuch …These five ‘books of the law’ were written by Moses alone, with the exception of Deuteronomy 34, which records the death of Moses… The Pentateuch, therefore, is an inspired, inerrant, authoritative document written by the man Moses.“Since conservative Christians believe in the inerrancy (freedom from error) of the Bible, the matter of authorship is settled and is not open to debate. Moses wrote at least the vast majority of the Pentateuch. Some suggest that he authored all five books, and that the account of his death and burial was a prophecy by Moses. However, some Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Christians have deviated from traditional Christian teachings. They believe that selected passages were written by persons other than Moses. Some of these writings are referred to as “post-Mosaica” (material that was added after Moses’ death). Others are called “a-Mosaica” (material that could have been written at the time of Moses but which could not reasonably be attributed to him).

Fundamentalists and other Evangelical Christians generally believe that Moses wrote all or most of the five books after the Israelite’s exodus from Egypt, but before they entered Canaan. This would date the writing to the 40 year period when the Israelites were wandering through the desert, circa 1450 BCE.

The Old Testament was written originally in Hebrew language and it was translated into Greek, known as the Septuagint. Pentateuch is a title in general use among Biblical Scholars for the five books of Moses. Most Biblical critics hold that these books are compiled from previously written documents dating from 9^th to 5^th century B.C., though the recent search has tended to concern itself with the oral traditions before they assumed written form.

Since Moses is the author of the Pentateuch, we can be able to say that it is Mosaic in origin. And since the documents are dated from 9^th to 5^th century, we can be able also to say that, Pentateuch is written during the 6^th century.

Inspiration and Authority of The Scripture

SQ 3:

What is the relation between inspiration and authority of the Scripture? What authority does society attribute to the Bible today, and what has led to this position?

     Inspiration is concerned with the method of receiving, interpreting, and recording the truth revealed by God. Since inspiration is the activity of man in response to God’s revelation, the writtings are authoritative and trustworthy. The authority of the Scripture depends upon its inspiration. The comtemporary denial of the authority of the Bible has resulted from a scepticism concerning its inspiration.

The Scripture teaches us that the writtings were inspired as stated in II Timothy 3:16. Scripture also is of divine origin, scripture is the work of human writers moved by the Holy Spirit of God. The New Testament books were in the process of being written and were recognized later as inspired. The fact that the New Testament came to be recognized as the inspired, authoritative word of God is establishes the inspiration of the Old Testament. Jesus considered the Old Testament to be inspired and authoritative word of God. Jesus view of inspiration did not make all of the Old Testament binding for all ages. Although Jesus regarded the Old Testament as inspired and authoritative, He indecated that the parts of it were no longer to be followed as authoritative. Jesus stated that He did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets but He intended to give a deeper meaning and correct interpretation to them, He frequently used the Old Testament to support his arguments and gave no evidence of doubting its authority.

The authority of the Bible is based on the fact that is the word of God. The degree of authority attributed to the Bible depends on ones view of revelation and inspiration. The early churches used languages ascribing high authority of the Old and New Testament. Since they believed that the Holy Spirit prompted the authors to write and directed their minds to write as they did, the early Christians spoke of the Bible as the “divine scriptures”, the Bible was cherished as possessing an authority which was divine.

Every area of Jesus activity added to the impact of His unusual power and authority. Jesus had acted and spoken with the authority of God. His teachings were recognized at an early date as having the authority, the written Gospels were authoritative because they contained the teaching and activities of Jesus. The Gospels which were related to apostolic authorship were looked upon as authoritative.

The Holy Bible is written by men divinely inspired and is the record’s of God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is the perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error for its matter. The scripture was looked upon, however, as the Word of God, but the church reserved the authority to interpret the meaning of the Scripture.

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