THE PENTATEUCH FIVE BOOKS

Def: comes from the Greek “he pentateuchos” meaning the five volumes. The Greek term became Pentateuchus in Latin. According to Werner H. Schmidt, Old Testament: Intro p.43, Pentateuchus means (the book) “Kept in five containers” The books were written on scrolls and kept in containers to make it easy to contain and to lift p43.

In Hebrew, it is called the Torah. Torah can accurately be translated as instruction W.S p 43. The idea of law came later. Instruction given by the priest. The whole Pentateuch looks forward to the possession of the Promised Land.

BOOKS 1. Genesis – Bere’shith – in the beginning 2. Exodus – Going out/exodus 3. Leviticus – Laws of the priests of the House of Levi 4. Numbers – Census (chp 1-4) 5. Deuteronomy – the second Law

AUTHORSHIP THEORIES The writer was Moses. REASONS 1. JUDEO – CHRISTIAN TRADITION The writer was Moses. REASONS 1. OT itself says so Ex 24:4, 34:27f, Deut 31:9, 22ff, Ezra 3:2. 2. Historians Philo, the Jewish philosopher of Alexandria and Josephus, a historian accepted the Mosaic authorship. 3. The NT uses Moses to site the Pentateuch. 4. The whole book of Deuteronomy says that it is the law of Moses (Dt 1:1).

DISAGREEMENTS Criticism started in the 17th C by Richard Simon and Baruch Spinoza who argued that the books were full of repetitions and contradictions. Jean Astruc pointed out that in the 2 creation stories, God’s names are different. Gen 1 uses Elohim (God) Gen 2 uses Yahweh Elohim (Lord God). P 93. The style of the first was “dry and list-like but the second was anthropomorphic and earthly”. Deut 34:5-12 records Moses’ death.

SCHOLARLY AGREEMENT The Pentateuch had no single author. Moses was not one of the many authors. The Four Sources (J, P, D, and E) wrote the Pentateuch. The above sources were different traditions from which the redactors got their material and theology.