How do people know Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible?

Answer 1

There were four main sources for the Book Genesis, now known as the Yahwist ('J' Source), Elohist ('E' Source), Deuteronomist ('D' Source) and Priestly Source ('P' Source). The term 'Source' is used here, rather than 'author', because Genesis was not a collaborative effort by a team of authors, but includes a collection of older works compiled by the Deuteronomist, added to by the Priestly Source and finally edited by the Redactor ('R' Source).

Some of the clues for this are in the style and language.

The Yahwist represented the traditions of the southern kingdom of Judah and the Aaronid priesthood, and used an earlier form of the Hebrew language. The Elohist represented the traditions of the northern kingdom of Israel, had a moderately eloquent style and and also used an earlier form of the Hebrew language. Julius Wellhausen assigned these authors to the nature and fertility stage of religion. After the fall of Israel to the Assyrians, refugees from Israel are thought to have brought 'E' to Judah. In the interests of assimilating the new arrivals into the general population, an unknown scribe combined the 'J' text with 'E' to produce 'JE'. It is thought that the creator of 'JE' thought it necessary to retain as much as possible of both 'J' and 'E', to preclude readers and listeners complaining that a text was missing or different, and thus create a schism.

In line with the needs of a strong monarchy, the Deuteronomist emphasised centralisation of worship and governance in Jerusalem. Based on the alleged discovery of the Book of Law in the Temple, it seems that Deuteronomy can not have been written much earlier than 622 BCE, and the majority opinion is that it was probably not much later. D used a more modern form of Hebrew. In the view of Wellhausen, the Deuteronomist represented the spiritual and ethical stage of religion.

The Priestly source drew on his predecessors, changing details to suit the priestly point of view. 'P' had a low level of literary style and focussed on the formal relations between God and society. Like 'D', he used a more modern form of the Hebrew language, but with a different literary style. The Priestly source represented the priestly and legal stage of religion. This source was keen to justify Judah's claim to the ancient kingdom of Israel.

Some of the clues are in the names used for God and in the author's understanding of his God.

The Yahwist always used YHWH ('Yahweh') as the name for an anthropomorphic God with human characteristics. It was the Yahwist's God who walked in the Garden of Eden and talked face to face with Adam. The Yahwist's God made promises and covenants with his chosen people.

The Elohist source always used 'Elohim' as the name for a more transcendent God who required obedience and was feared by his people. People could never look at the Elohist's God, so he typically came in dreams or visions, but sometimes in the form of a cloud or a flame.

The Priestly Source used the names Elohim and El Shaddai to describe a remote and unmerciful God.

Some of the clues are the presence of 'doublets' in Genesis, examples of which follow.

The creation stories in Genesis are so different that they could not have been from the same source. The first creation story, Genesis 1:1 to 2:4a (the first sentence of verse 2:4) is attributed to the Priestly Source and resembles creation stories found in Babylonia. The second creation story, Genesis 2:4b-2:25 is attributed to the Yahwist.

The story of Noah's Flood contains contradictory details. In one case, he is told to take two of every animal onto the Ark, while in another case he is told to take two of every unclean animal, but seven of every clean animal. In one case, the flood lasts forty days, but in another passage it lasts a whole year. The difference arises from the differences in two different accounts of the same story, that have been intertwined to the point that can seem to be just the one account, but for the internal contradictions. The verses attributed to the Priestly author are: Genesis 6:9-22, 7:6, 7:8-9, 7:11, 7:13-16a, 7:18-21, 7:24, 8:1-2a, 8:3b-5, 8:7, 8:13a, 8:14-19, 9:1-17. The verses attributed to the Yahwist are: Genesis 6:5-8, 7:1-5, 7:7, 7:10, 7:12, 7:16b-17, 7:22-23, 8:2b-3a, 8:6, 8:8-12, 8:13b, 8:20-22.

In two almost identical passages, Abraham tried to pass off his wife as his sister, first to the pharoah, then to the king of Gerar. In each case, Abraham believed that the king would kill him in order to have sex with Sarah, but only if she was his wife - as his sister, they were both safe. For exactly the same reason, Isaac also tried to pass off his wife as his sister, to the king of Gerar.

Answer 2

A:It is too strong a term to say that people "know" that Moses wrote the first five books of The Bible. It is true that many believe he did, and they believe they have cause to believe this. Exodus 17:14 obliquely refers to God telling Moses to write about the war with the Amelek. Similarly, Exodus 24:4 says that Moses wrote the words of God. Several later books of the Bible refer to Moses as the author.

These references must be treated with caution. The statements in the Book of Exodus prove nothing, because they could have as easily have been written by the real author (assuming this was not Moses) in order to convince his readers that the book was of great antiquity and reliability. Any textual evidence must be evidence that another author would not have intended to have inserted. Such evidence is found, for example, in Deuteronomy 34:7, which describes the death of Moses, which Moses could not have written. Those who wish to believe that Moses was the author have several answers, one of which is that Moses wrote Deuteronomy, but Joshua added the last few verses after his death. This falls over badly in the text that follows (Deuteronomy 34:10): "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses ..." This can only have been written long after the nation of Israel came into existence. By his carelessness on this one passage, the real author lets us know that Moses did not write Deuteronomy.

Scholars say that Moses was not the author of the first five books of the Bible. In fact, over 90 per cent of scholars say that there was no Exodus from Egypt as described in the Bible. Without the Exodus, there was no biblical Moses. People will continue to believe that Moses wrote these books, the Pentateuch or Torah, but the overwhelming evidence is otherwise.

Answer 3

Traditional belief attributes authorship of the first five books of the Bible (known as the Pentateuch) to Moses because of references in the text suggesting his authorship, such as in Deuteronomy 31:9 where Moses writes down the law. However, modern scholars hold different views and propose that the books were likely composed by multiple authors over several centuries.

Answer 4

The Torah explicity says that Moses wrote the entire scroll of the Torah (Deuteronomy 31:24).