Furthermore, we have testimony from Jesus himself that Moses wrote these books. They were implicitly Deistic or atheistic in their thinking. . From ekei; that one (neuter) thing); often intensified by the article prefixed. There is abundant biblical and extra-biblical evidence that Moses wrote the Pentateuch during the wilderness wanderings after the Jews left their slavery in Egypt and before they entered the Promised Land (about 14451405 BC). In either case, we know the book is about 3,000 plus years old. (3) He wrote or compiled Genesis by using earlier written documents. He claims that Methuselah was an ancient historian of his day . There are three possible ways to determine how God directed Moses in the composition of the book of Genesis: (1) Moses wrote and compiled the information that was passed on by oral tradition. Nothing is said about Moses in the Hebrew title to Genesis. But what about Genesis? So a witness is ordinarily one who has seen something and can witness to what he has seen. Second, we also have evidence throughout Scripture, writes Don Stewart, of tradition being passed down from specific prayers of Abraham to the bones of Joseph. He refers to Isaiah 54:13, It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. So the prophets point to how people will come to the Messiah, Jesus. Listen to the audio version of this content. Test yourself and test others who claim to know God. Jesus said in John 5:4243, But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. Modern source criticism, because of its late dating of the Genesis sources abandoned this traditional view. After all, we dont want to dive into the New Earth vs. Old Earth debate. Some of the most famous are the sacrifice of Isaac ( Gen. 22 ), the Passover Lamb ( Exodus 12 ), the Bread from Heaven ( Exodus 16) the Smitten Rock ( Exodus 17:1-7 and Numbers 20:1-12 ), the Bronze Snake ( Numbers 21:4-9) But perhaps the clearest is from Deut . Like other literature, past and present, it is not uncommon for an obituary to be added at the end of someone's work after he dies, especially if he died very soon after writing the book. If you are Christs, then you are Abrahams offspring, heirs according to promise (Galatians 3:7, 29). The death of Moses is recorded in Deuteronomy 34:512. This oral version of Genesis goes all the way back to roughly 2000 BC in Mesopotamia. (Only David. It means hearing it, understanding it, and above all, being impacted by it. In the case of Deuteronomy, the author of the obituary of Moses was probably Joshua, a close associate of Moses who was chosen by God to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land (for Moses was not allowed to because of his disobedience), and who was inspired by God to write the next book in the Old Testament. But again, even if "near Dan, for that is the name of the other spring of Jordan" was added by a later inspired editor, this would not mean that it was inaccurate to say the Moses wrote Genesis.21. In John 3:11, Jesus says, "We speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen.". But in later editions he apparently conceded the view of others that the J-E division could be applied to the whole of the Pentateuch which was written after Moses.9. Christians should believe God, rather than the fallible, sinful skeptics inside and outside the church who, in their intellectual arrogance, are consciously or unconsciously trying to undermine the Word so that they can justify in their own minds (but not before God) their rebellion against God. Ibid., p. 6364. Or Moses, or Mouses of Hebrew origin; Moseus, Moses, or Mouses, the Hebrew lawgiver. We call it the Old Testament, or Old Covenant, because we believe that the Jewish Messiah has comenamely, Jesusand by his death and resurrection has inaugurated a New Testament, that is, a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8:13; 12:24; 13:20). [2] Ken Ham and Bodie Hodge, How Do We Know the Bible is True: Volume 1 (Master Books, 2011), p.90-93. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips . He knew that Genesis says Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day of creation. Following Eichhorn, other ideas were advanced in denial of the Mosaic authorship of the first five books on the Old Testament. First, Moses was qualified to write the books. Jesus said (to fulfill the Scripture), I thirst (John 19:28=Psalm 69:21). .'" we also have other Scripture supporting these events as true and literal. For Instructors and School Administrators. . And studies of non-literate people groups have shown that they have much better memories for maintaining the accuracy of their oral traditions than people groups that rely primarily on written communication to learn and pass on information. Jesus said "If you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 2 Peter 1:16) or as a result of research by the author (e.g., Luke 1:14). In John 7:38, Jesus compares the Holy Spirit to living water that will flow out of those who believe on him and says that this has all been said in the Scriptures: Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Perhaps hes referring to Isaiah 58:11You shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not failand to passages that compare the Holy Spirit to water (e.g., Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 36:2526). They assumed that the Bible is not a supernatural revelation from God and then manipulated the biblical text to arrive at that conclusion. Specifically, he thought that Genesis 1:12:3 was one creation account and Genesis 2:424 was a different creation account. But because we have extra-biblical support for the authorship of Genesis and because various authors throughout the Bible do attribute the Pentateuch to Moses, we can assume Moses wrote Genesis. There is also the fact that since the Israelites were never enslaved in Egypt and there was no Exodus, then there is no historical place for a Moses. Does It Really Matter If Moses Wrote Genesis? See Kenneth E. Bailey, "Informal Controlled Oral Tradition and the Synoptic Gospels,". For many, the answer to this question is a matter of orthodoxy, and debates quickly become passionate. From the base of peran; properly, through, i.e. This is confirmed by the singular Jewish testimony (until the last few centuries) that these books are the writings of Moses. We can answer this question in a number of ways. Also, the account of the Flood after the third toledoth (Genesis 6:9) reads like a ship's log. Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Heres a quick survey to give you a sense of how important the witness of Scripture is for John. Breakdown of the toledoth sections from Genesis 111. Not one of his bones will be broken (John 19:36=Psalm 34:20). I, the first-person pronoun. And if they did not, that would have taken a great deal of divine intervention. Jesus calls Genesis "the book of Moses": a. Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural. In other words, where did Moses get information on the patriarchs? And verse 46 says it again a little differently: If you believed Moses [the author of the first five books of the Old Testament] you would believe me; for he wrote of me. So verse 46 says that Moses wrote about Jesus, and verse 39 says that the Scriptures witness about Jesus. So when John says about the Scriptures in 5:39, It is they that bear witness about me, he means that God knew Jesus perfectly and fullyas it were face to faceand that he inspired these Scriptures, and through the Scriptures revealed Jesus. Matthew 16:21 indicates that Jesus knew . He believed Moses was the author of the Pentateuch, but he unlocked the door for the skepticism of later scholars. In this final post on the issue of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, I want to examine a couple items in the New Testament. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 15:43 - 1 - Moses wrote of the need for Christ. [3] Ken Ham and Bodie Hodge, How Do We . Please follow the instructions we emailed you in order to finish subscribing. Jesus on the Sabbath day cures him who was diseased thirty-eight years. Jewish historian Josephus, just after the time of Christ, says: "When Abram heard of their calamity, he was at once afraid for Lot his kinsman, and pitied the Sodomites, his friends and neighbours; and thinking it proper to afford them assistance, he did not delay it, but marched hastily, and the fifth night attacked the Assyrians, near Dan, for that is the name of the other spring of Jordan; and before they could arm themselves, he slew some as they were in their beds, before they could suspect any harm; and others, who were not yet gone to sleep, but were so drunk they could not fight, ran away."20. Whats Wrong with the Framework Hypothesis? Reared by his faithful parents in his earliest days, Moses was eventually brought to the court of Pharaoh. All of our resources exist to guide you toward everlasting joy in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 11 sums it up well when talking specifically about Abraham, Sarah, and their offspring: "All these people were still living by faith when they died. Not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 17:12=Psalm 109:8). Astruc basically questioned, as others had before him, how Moses knew what happened prior to his own life, (i.e., the history recorded in Genesis). 16. While he believed in the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, he noticed that a few verses (e.g., Genesis 12:6, Genesis 22:14) had some phrases that seemed mysteriously out of place.4 But he never pursued these mysteries to resolve them.5, About 500 years later, the famous Jewish philosopher Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza (16321677) picked up on what Ibn Ezra had stated and asserted that Ibn Ezra did not believe Moses wrote the Pentateuch. And we know this chapter wasn't written after Jesus ' sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection. If you have any questions, please review our. So the entire Old Testament is precious to Christians, because all Christians are counted by God as true Jewsbeneficiaries of all the promises made to the covenant people. There cannot have been a historical liberator from a captivity that never happened. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Not the smallest teaching of Scripture will fall the ground. In Genesis 14:14 the narrator reports that Abram chased the four ancient Near Eastern kings who kidnapped Lot as far as Dan. This reference to the city of Dan is a postmosaica because this city, earlier called Laish, was not named Dan until the time of the Judges (see Judges 18), and of course the name derived from the tribe of Dan, named after Jacobs son Dan, Abrahams great grandson. In 1805, Wilhelm De Wette contended that none of the Pentateuch was written before King David and that Deuteronomy was written at the time of King Josiah. And there was evening, and there was morning the sixth day., Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.. The Genesis course, taught by Tremper Longman III, illuminates the book of Genesis in light of the Bibles grand story. Taking seriously the indications within the Pentateuch itself, along with the post-pentateuchal references to the Book/Law of Moses, one might conclude that the Pentateuch finds its origins in Moses, who used other sources particularly in the writing of Genesis. Thank you for signing up to receive email newsletters from Answers in Genesis. So it is perfectly reasonable to think that Moses wrote Genesis from pre-existing, well-preserved oral tradition and/or written documents from the patriarchs. (2) We see in the prophecy that "Scepter" is a "symbol of kingly authority" and will remain in Judah's hand until "Shiloh comes.". (Luke 24:25-27, NLT). It is interesting that Moses is never mentioned in the book even as the person writing things down. Several sources, or literary traditions, that the final redactor used in his composition are discernable. Nevertheless, we can know that the book is God-breathed, and like many concepts in Scripture, although we may not fully understand all of it, we know enough about the book to see how it fits into Gods greater plan for humanity and salvation. . All the manuscript evidence we have is for the first five books of the Bible just as we have them today. Traditional approaches to this question acknowledge that Moses did not write the entirety of the Pentateuch when they point to a so-called postmosaica. They assumed that Israel's religion was simply the invention of man, a product of evolution, as all other religions are. When Moses came on the scene, God revealed to him what really happened, and this is what Moses wrote down. So knowing that kings were coming was already common knowledge to Moses. And because he saw, he could witness. A witness gives firsthand evidence. But the other objections are just as flawed in terms of logic and a failure to pay careful attention to the biblical text. This question means the date of the manuscript, not of when the events inside the book took place. Facts, however, say otherwise. (John 1:1, 14). He says, The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed (Galatians 3:8). The Old Testament is precious to Christians because its a book about Gods work with Israel in preparation for the Messiah who would come not only to save Israel but to save the world from the power and punishment of sin. "But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? There is, however, a large amount of evidence that the author or compiler of the Book of Genesis was Moses. 5:50. Postmosaica are passages that had to be written after the death of Moses, and of course, the most obvious postmosaica is the account of his death in Deuteronomy 34. Nevertheless, further attacks on the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch began taking hold in France through Jean Astruc, whose book Conjectures about the original memoirs which it appeared that Moses used in composing the Book of Genesis with certain remarks which help clarify these conjectures was published in 1753. But this does bring forth the question: how would Moses know all of these things? Right from the start it is important to note that the Pentateuch is anonymous. There are many reasons to reject this skeptical attack on the Bible. In John 1:34, John the Baptist says, "I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.". We follow Abrahams generations through Joseph and how Israel ended up in Egypt due to a massive famine. Jesus taught this when he said, I tell you, many will come from east and west [meaning Gentiles] and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In John 5:46 He explained to some religious leaders who had challenged Him that . Only evolutionary thinking would lead us to conclude that Adam and his descendants could not write. We are still an immigrant people journeying somewhere better. On the contrary, we embrace it as the word of God in preparation for Messiah Jesus, and as the word of God in the ongoing illumination of the meaning of Jesus and his work. Instead, we encounter a formula that appears eleven times in the book (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1, 9; 37:2). We can, with a high percentage of certainty say that John wrote the Gospel of John and that Joshua wrote the Book of Joshua. First, we cannot discount supernatural revelation. The New Testament attributes all the books from Genesis through Deuteronomy as being the writings of Moses. For example, John 7:22 and Acts 15:1 refer to Moses giving the doctrine of circumcision. So Paul says, Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And Jews who dont believe in Jesus are excluded from the blessings of Abraham. Not only is there abundant biblical witness that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, Moses was fully qualified to write the Pentateuch. They arbitrarily assumed that the Hebrew authors were different from all other writers in history that the Hebrews were incapable of using more than one name for God, or more than one writing style regardless of the subject matter, or more than one of several possible synonyms for a single idea. How do we know that Moses, and not a series of authors as proposed in the JEDP theory linked above, wrote this book? Notice this in John 8:57-58. Others disagreed, pointing to other statements by Ibn Ezra that contradicted Spinoza's conclusion. God promised Abram in Genesis 12:23, I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you . Listen to the way John uses the word. However, Dan in this context is not the region of Dan, that Israelite tribe's inheritance given when the Jews took the Promised Land, but a specific ancient town of Dan, north of the Sea of Galilee that was in existence long before the Israelites entered the land. The Documentary Hypothesis is a source-critical approach that assumes . A primary particle of conditionality; if, whether, that, etc. Renowned Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman III tackles this question in his video series on the book of Genesis. The German scholar Johann Eichhorn took the next step by applying Astruc's idea to the whole of Genesis. The following post is adapted from his series. Also, Moses himself prophesied in Deuteronomy 17:1420 that Israel would have kings. 103:7). . For all of them witness to him and speak of him. The Bible says that Jesus, God the Son, has been with the Father for all eternity. After all, the book takes up 50 whole chapters in the Bible, so well briefly summarize some of the major events that take place in the book. Unlike those who affirm Mosaic authorship of Genesis and divide the text by the toledoths, JEDP adherents divide the text on the basis of the names of God that were used and say that, at best, Moses simply wove these texts together, often in contradictory ways. Genesis comprises narratives of historical events that occurred before Moses was born. They may point out the faultiness of oral tradition or try to assert that multiple authors compiled the manuscript over centuries, borrowing from mythology of other religions. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. but I say unto you"Jesus settled whatever disputes existed between Torah and its application. To answer this question, we need to go to 2 Timothy 3:16. He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me (John 13:18=Psalm 41:9). Instead, it is claimed that at least four different authors (or groups of authors) wrote various portions of these books over many centuries and then one or more redactors (editors) over many years combined and interwove everything together into its present form. With this in mind, we turn now to references to the book of the law of Moses or the book of Moses (with variants) found in biblical books that follow the Pentateuch. Terms of Service apply. We could devote entire books to these questions, but after perusing this article from Apologetics.com, which I highly suggest reading, I would love to once again mention that Jesus did assert the authority found in Genesis. Were on a mission to change that. The Gospel states Moses wrote about Jesus: . Nevertheless, it is credited to Moses because it was recorded in his writings. John 5:46. What Does It Mean That There Is No One Holy Like God? From pistis; to have faith, i.e. The attack on the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch is nothing less than an attack on the veracity, reliability, and authority of the Word of Almighty God. Here Jesus tacitly disapproves of an act of Moses, but he utters no positive teaching as to the authorship of the Penta-teuch." For Moses said, honor thy father and mother." Mark 7 :10o. Moses is traditionally considered the author of Genesis. . Genesis, or otherwise known as Bereshith, means in the beginning. In other words, this book talks about the beginning of the world, the beginning of Gods nation of Israel, and the beginning of the story of salvation for all mankind. They hated me without a cause (John 15:25=Psalm 35:19). He saw him as his Son in heaven eternally (John 1:13), and he saw what his Son would be in history when he came. .1. Jimmy Akin 1/1/2013. Genesis 1:27 "So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created . Moses couldn't have written about his own death, which shows that he didn't write Deuteronomy. He received an Egyptian royal education (Acts 7:22) and was an eyewitness to the events recorded in Exodus to Deuteronomy, which contain many references or allusions to Egyptian names of places, people, and gods, as well as Egyptian words, idioms, and cultural factors. Nowhere in the Pentateuch is an author named, not Moses or any other person. Jesus said, "He who hears My word, and . So the real question is: did Moses write Genesis, or not? It is therefore most unreasonable to think that the Genesis patriarchs would not record and pass on the history they had to the next generation. And note that, in this case, we're using the terms "letters" and "books" interchangeably.) 22 Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from . Since writings cant see, I take it to mean that Scriptures is shorthand for God-who-inspired-the-Scriptures. There he was trained in "all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds" (Acts 7:22). For some, orthodoxy simply suggests that Moses wrote the whole Pentateuch, perhaps with the exception of postmosaica passages such as Genesis 11:28 and 14:14 and amosaica passage such as Numbers 12:4. Earlier this year, we released another volume in the landmark The Story of God Bible Commentary series, written by none other than venerable Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman III. It is too obviously the product of more than one author, writing at different times and places.