9/8/01
Old Testament Survey - Overview of the Pentateuch
The Pentateuch (Greek) means - 5 Rolls = Law of Moses
The Torah (Hebrew) means - Law = Law of Moses
The Pentateuch consist of 5 books:
Genesis - The book of the Origin of Man / Patriarchs / Beginning of Israel
Exodus - The way out of Bondage
Leviticus - Worship under a Levitical order
Numbers - the 2 census & Organization of Israel’s wilderness wonderings
Deuteronomy - 2nd Giving of the Law
Genesis - Creation – Death of Joseph, 4004 BC – 1689 BC, 2315yrs
Exodus - From Joseph’s death –Tabernacle, 1706 –1490 BC, 216 yrs
Leviticus - Less than 1 year at Mt Sinai – 1490BC
Numbers - Mt Sinai – Plains of Moab, 1490 – 1451 BC, 39 yrs wilderness
Deuteronomy - 2 months at the Plains of Moab, 1451 BC
Authorship of Law Ascribed to Moses:
The bible bears witness of Moses being the credited author of the Pentateuch.
1 Kings 2:1-4
2:1 when the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son.
2 “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, show yourself a man, 3 and observe what the LORD your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go,
Luke 2:21-24
21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. 22 When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”
Mark 12:26-27
26 Now about the dead rising-have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
JEDP Theory – Multiple manuscripts
(In spite of the bible & Jesus himself giving credit to Moses as the author of the Pentateuch) some critics still suggest that the Pentateuch was not written by one author ( Moses) but is a composite of 4 different manuscripts edited together.
JEDP Theory – says that different authors wrote 4 different manuscripts over 500 years. From the 9-5 century. Then where edited together about 400 BC into one manuscript.
J – manuscript, Alleged to have been written about 850 BC. It was named for the author’s use of the divine word of Yahweh or Jehovah.
E - Manuscript, Alleged to have been written about 750 BC, 100 years later. Named for the author’s use of referring to God as Elohim.
D – Manuscript, Consist of the major part of Deuteronomy. Believed to have been written about 621 BC (130 years later)
P – Manuscript, Believed to be the work of a priest. This manuscript makes up the majority of the Pentateuch. Believed to have been written about 500-450 BC.
The above assumptions are strictly based on the dictation and style of the manuscripts. The major arguments are based that the different portions of text often refer to God in different names and reflections of personalities.
Example: Gen. 1 & 2 are supposed to have been written by different authors because of the context of the way God is referred to.
Genesis 1: refers to God as Elohim and Genesis 2: refers to God as Yahweh. So Genesis 1 is referred to as a P- Manuscript and Genesis 2 Is referred to as a J- Manuscript
The Scriptures and the quotes of Jesus himself in the New Testament referring to the Pentateuch as the writings of Moses – offers enough authenticity and credibility to Moses and his writings. Moses is the accepted author of the whole Law.
Moses would have easily had the past documents of the Hebrew history from the days of Jacob when he came to Egypt. (Gen 46:). He could have pulled the information for the genealogies to write part of the Book of Genesis from the information from the 10 Generation of Genesis.
Gen 2:4 – Generations of Heaven and earth Gen 11:27 – Generations of Terah
Gen 5:1 – Generations of Adam Gen 25:12 – Generations of Ishmael
Gen 6:9 – Generations of Noah Gen 25:19 – Generations of Isaac
Gen 10:1 – Generations of the sons of Noah Gen 36:1 - Generations of Esau
Gen 11:10 – Generations of Shem Gen 37:2 – Generations of Jacob