Pentateuch

JOHN SILVANUS
 Classification of the Old Testament

1.Torah (Law)
2.Nebi’im (Prophets)
3.Kethubim (Writings)

• The nomination “law” is somewhat misleading

–“Although the Pentateuch contains many laws, it is
essentially narrative with episodes of law-giving, but in
the broader sense of torah all the Pentateuch can be
seen as instruction, for it teaches as much through the
history it records as by the law it gives.” (Wenham, 30)
 Importance of the Pentateuch

• “. . . for both Christians and Jews, Scripture

begins with the Torah.” (Levinson)
• “For the Jew, the Pentateuch contained an
authority that the rest of the Old Testament–
the prophets and the writings–did not seem to
match, just as the importance of Moses
exceeded that of any other Old Testament
figure.
 Importance of the Pentateuch

• When the Jews were driven from their

homeland to take up residence in exile, it was
the books of Moses that were read most
frequently in the synagogues. It was common
to read through the Pentateuch every three
years, whereas other books were covered
less systematically.” (Wolf, 19)
• “The law of Moses was intended as a guide
both to the nation and to individuals within
the nation, so it is little wonder that
subsequent writers wrote under the shadow
of the Pentateuch.” (Wolf, 20-21)
Pentateuch’s impact on the Historical
Books

• “Three chapters [of Joshua] in particular

emphasize the book of the law given by
Moses (Josh. 1, 8, 23), for Joshua was to urge
the people to obey the teachings of his great
predecessor.
• If they responded, God would bless the
nation abundantly, but if they rebelled, the
curses of the law would afflict them (Josh.
8:34; 23:6-13).” (Wolf, 21)
Pentateuch’s impact on the Historical
Books

• “Judges and part of Samuel recount how these

curses did in fact fall upon the nation, but the rule
of King David brought a return to godliness and
blessing.” (Wolf, 21)
• “David’s final words to Solomon stressed the
commands and requirements written in the law of
Moses (1 Kings 2:3).” (Wolf, 21)
• A good king was the one who followed
the law of Moses: Hezekiah (2 Kgs 18:6);
Josiah (2 Kgs 23:25). (Wolf, 21)
• “References to the Mosaic requirements
and especially ‘the Book of Moses’ are
more frequent in 1 and 2 Chronicles (see
1 Chron. 5:15; 22:13; 2 Chron. 8:13; 25:4;
35:12).” (Wolf, 21)
• Book of Ezra (3:1; 7:6, 10, 25)
• Book of Nehemiah (8:1-3, 13-18; 10:29
Pentateuch’s impact on the Prophetic
Books

• “A sizable number of the curses found in Leviticus 26

and Deuteronomy 28-29 are cited in the prophetic
books . . .” (Wolf, 22)
• Blight and mildew: Deut. 28:22; cf. Amos 4:9;
Haggai 2:17 (see Wolf, 22)
• Droughts and locusts/worms destroying the
produce of the land: Deut. 28:22-24, 38-39; cf.
Amos 4:9; Haggai 1:10-11; Joel 1:4 (see Wolf, 22)
• The prophets were, in essence, covenant enforcers.
Pentateuch’s impact on the
Poetic Books
• “The influence of the Pentateuch is not as
pervasive in the poetic books, where even the
word torah can mean ‘teaching’ or ‘instruction’
rather than the ‘Law’ of Moses (cf. Prov.
1:8).” (Wolf, 22)
• Psalms 1:2; 19; 119
Terminology

• Two Greek words

• –penta = five
• –teuchos = “a case [container/vessel] for
carrying papyrus rolls but in later usage the
scroll itself” (Wolf, 18)
 Content of the Pentateuch
• "The OT Pentateuch, or Torah, combines
narratives and legal materials with occasional
poetic sections.”
• “The narrative material tells the story of human history
from Adam to Abraham,
• then recounts the fate of Abraham and his
descendants (primarily the ancestors of Israel) until
the period just before the conquest of the territory
west of the Jordan River.”
• “The legal material primarily appears as two large
blocks:
• the revelations given while the people are
encamped at Mt. Sinai (Ex 19-40; Lev; Num
1.1-10.10) and
• Moses' proclamation of the laws in Moab just
before the conquest (Num 22-36 and Deut).
• At other places, laws, commands, and legal
ordinances appear (see Gen 1.28-29; 9.1-7;
17.9-15 and throughout the journeys recorded in
Num 10.10-21.35).”
The Five as One
• The plot begins in Genesis and flows logically through to the
end of Deuteronomy.
• Threads, e.g.
• 1.land promise in Gen is carried through as an agenda for
fulfilment in Exod-Deut;
• 2.Deliverance in the first half of Exod and the subsequent journey
toward Canaan in Exod-Num, with the journey's end in Deut in
Moab.
• Adjacent books are “normally linked closely together”, e.g.
• 1.Joseph's bones (Gen 50.25) and fulfilment (Exod 13.19)
• 2.Priests set apart in Exod 29 are appointed in Lev 9
• 3.Num 20.12 anticipates the death of Moses in Deut 34
 •“These five books of the Torah share a unity of
history, plot, and theme that draws them
together, as does their traditional ascription to a
single author–Moses (. . .).” (Longman and Dillard,
38)
Structure of the Pentateuch
• “The fivefold arrangement highlights Leviticus as
the central panel of the Pentateuch, containing
as it does the prescriptions identifying the
reconstituted Israel . . . as a holy community
distinct from the nations of the
world." (Blenkinsopp).
Outline of the Pentateuch
• The primeval history Gen 1-11
• The patriarchal history Gen 12-50
• The liberation from Egypt Exod 1-18
• The revelation at Mt. Sinai Exod 19-40; Lev
• The sojourn in the wilderness Num
• The farewell address of Moses Deut
(Adapted from John J. Collins, Introduction to the
Hebrew Bible, 47)
 Authorship
• 1. Anonymous?
• “The view long traditional in both Judaism and Christianity
is that Moses authored the entire Pentateuch.
• Here and there in the Pentateuch Moses is said to have
written certain things,
• including laws (Ex 24:4) and
• the vow to extirpate the Amalekites (Ex 17:14),
• but nowhere is it affirmed that the Pentateuch was
authored by Moses, or indeed by anyone else.
• One would therefore think that what calls for an
explanation is not why most people stopped believing in
the dogma of Mosaic authorship,
• but rather why anyone believed it in the first place.”
2. Mosaic Authorship?
• Judaism & Christianity accepted Mosaic authorship without
question for centuries: Ben-Sira, Philo, Josephus, the Mishnah,
Talmud, etc.
OT:
• the book of the law of Moses (Neh 8.1);
• the book of Moses (Neh 13.1; 2 Chr 25.4, 35.12);
• the law of Moses the servant of God (Dan 9.11; cf. Mal 4.4);
• the book of the law of Moses (Josh 8.31, 23.6; 2 Kgs 14.6),
etc.
NT:
• the book of Moses (Mk 12.26);
• the law of Moses (Lk 2.22; Jn 7.23), etc.
Pentateuch itself gives indications of Moses writing or
ordering to write:
• Historical facts (Exod 17:14; Num 33:2)
• Laws or sections of law codes (Exod 24:4; 34:27f;
Deut 31:24)
• Poem (Deut 31:19, 22)
(Adapted from La Sor, Hubbard and Bush, Old Testament Survey, 61)
The Point of Moses’ Authorship: (Childs)

• “Mosaic authorship was thought crucial in

supporting the historicity of Bible . . . .”
• “Moses’ writing activity is closely tied to his
mediatorial role in receiving the divine law at
Sinai.”
• “ laws attributed to Moses were deemed
authoritative, and conversely authoritative laws
were attributed to Moses.”
 Some key reasons for questioning the
authorship of Moses

1. The text of the Pentateuch suggests "a long history of

transmission and development."
• Passages indicating "an age later than that of
Moses" implying that the Israelites had already
occupied Canaan (Gen 12:6; 13:7; Exod 16:35)
• Gen 14:14 mentions Abram's pursuit of Lot's captors
as far as Dan; but the place was so named only after
the Danites captured it following the conquest (Josh
19:47; Judg 18:29)
• Gen 36:31 'before there were kings in Israel': the
statement could come only after Saul became king
2. Repetitions
• Duplication (e.g., Lev 11:1-47; Deut 14:3-21);
• Triplication (e.g., Exod 21:1-11; Lev 25:39-55; Deut
15:12-18)
• Also compare Gen 12 and 20 with 26:6-11
• Beersheba "well of the oath": Gen 21:22-31
(Abraham) with 26:26-33 (Isaac)
3 Use of variant names for the Divine
• Yahweh = LORD
• Elohim = God
4 Moses could not have written his own death
account (esp. Deut 34:5f)
• “Ancient literature was not written like most
modern Western literature. Rarely is an author
listed, and copyrights did not exist.
• Most of the earliest works are the product of oral
tradition and thus are the property of the
community that produced them, not of a
particular person.” (MM, 33)
• "Although it is unlikely that Moses wrote the
Pentateuch as it exists in its final form, the
connectedness and uniformity of the evidence
certainly affirms that he is the originator, instigator,
and most important figure in the stream of literary
activity that produced it."
(italics in the original; La Sor, Hubbard and Bush, 63)

• “The Pentateuch does undoubtedly claim to be

divine in origin, mediated through Moses. Thus Moses
should be looked to as the original human author. . .
But this need not mean that he wrote every word of
the present Pentateuch.” (Wenham, 35)
 Documentary Hypothesis
• •J and E Source based on the two divine names in
Genesis. (Astruc et al.)
• •Fragmentary Theory: "A Scottish Roman Catholic
priest, Alexander Geddes, pursued Astruc's
identification of several memoirs and developed
(between 1792 and 1800) the fragmentary theory
which holds that the Pentateuch was composed by
an unknown redactor from a number of fragments
which had originated in two different circles–one
Elohistic, the other Yahwistic."
• (D. A. Hubbard, The New Bible Dictionary, 959)
• Questioned the literary coherence of
Genesis through Deuteronomy, the
most notable was the
• philosopher Spinoza (1632–77). He was
soon followed by
• J. Astruc (1684–1766), a physician who
developed a simple criterion to
differentiate two sources, he believed
were used in the composition of
Genesis.
f J. H. Wellhausen’s
• The 1880s were a pivotal decade in the
development of the historical-critical
approach to the Pentateuch
• decade saw the publication of J. H.
Wellhausen’s monumental Prolegomena zur
Geschichte Israels (published in1883, English in
1885).
 Wellhausen argued,that the Pentateuch
was composed of four basic sources.
1. The use of different divine names, especially Yahweh (J) and Elohim (E).
2. The existence of doublets, that is, the same basic story that is repeated
more than once, though different characters may be involved. Doublets
could
be repeated accounts
3. Differences of style, including the use of two different names to designate
the same person, tribe, or place (Reuel/Jethro; Horeb/Sinai; Jacob/Israel;
Ishmaelites/Midianites).
4. Different theologies.
• For instance, J is commonly characterized as portraying God
anthropomorphically;
• D presents a form of retribution theology;
• P is replete with priestly concerns and tends to emphasize the
transcendence of
God.
J

• J. By the time of Wellhausen, J was universally

recognized as the earliest source.
• J usesanthropomorphisms to describe God; for
instance, God molds man from the clay of the
earth, and he walks with Adam in the Garden.
E

• E. While J is associated with God’s name, Yahweh,

E is identified by the use of the more generic
name, Elohim.
• This source is dated about a century later thanJ
(because it presumes the division of the kingdom,
cf. Soggin, IOT, 107) and is given a northern setting
D

• D. One of Wellhausen’s contributions was to

reverse the order of D and P (Rogerson 1985, 266).
• Thus the third narrative strand isolated by classical
source criticism is D (Deuteronomic),
P

• P is perhaps the most distinctive of the four strands

of the Pentateuch.
• Itsconcerns include chronology, genealogy, ritual,
worship, and law—areas easily associated with the
priesthood, and thus its name, Priestly source.
• •This was then applied to the whole Pentateuch.

• “the Pentateuch took shape in a series of stages

in which, during the space of several centuries,
four originally distinct books (‘documents’), each
written at a different time, were dovetailed
together by a series of ‘redactors’ to form a
single work.”

• Redactors: "Those responsible for the editing of the

sources are commonly referred to as redactors or
editors." (Dillard and Longman, 42)
Documentary Hypothesis (Hill and Walton, 79)
Documentary Hypothesis
• Yahwist (J): Begins at Gen 2:4b; Represented in Gen,
Exod, Numb, and Deut, but not in Lev
• Elohist (E): Begins in Gen 15
• Deuteronomist (D): Dominant in the book of Deut
• Priestly (P): Begins at Gen 1:1, but considered by
most as the latest source; Predominant in Exod and
Num, and is the only source of Exod 25-31; 35-40 and
of Leviticus.
 Recent Status of the Documentary
Hypothesis
• •“The cutting edge of scholarship is devoting less and
less energy (there are exceptions; . . .) to the question
of sources and more and more to the final composition
of the Pentateuch and the individual books within
it.” (Longman and Dillard, 47)
• •“. . . but the documentary hypothesis is shaky at best
and before long may have to be given up entirely by
the scholarly world.” (Wolf, 92)
• •“In any case, our concern is the final form of the text,
since that is what God has given the church as canon
for its edification.” (Longman and Dillard, 51)
Hexateuch (Gerhard von Rad)
• •The first 6 books of the OT viewed as a literary unity
• •Supposed similarity of sources behind Joshua and
the Pentateuch
• •The need for fulfilment of the promise of land to
Abraham in the conquest of Canaan

Tetrateuch (Martin Noth)

• •Deuteronomy originally composed as a theological
foreword to the "Deuteronomistic History"
• •Deuteronomistic History: Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel,
1-2 Kings
(Holman Illustrated Dictionary, 2003 ed.)
Concluding Remark
". . . The fact that Pentateuch represents a
structural unity is of far greater importance.
Whatever the process of transmission and
growth or the date at which it finally reached
its present form, whoever the writer or writers
who finally put it together as the grand
historical narrative that it is, surely far more
important is the final creation itself."
(La Sor, Hubbard and Bush, 65)