Essay Sample on Pentateuch

Why Pentateuch is Attributed To Moses

Pentateuch refers to the first five books of the old testaments. These books comprised of, Genesis Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Pentateuch comes from the Greek word which means five. The book is so much inclined to have been written by Moses because the books generally explain the creation of the world and the life of Moses from the time he was called by God to spearhead the children of Israel to the time of his death. The books also centered so much on explaining the journey of the children of Israel towards the promised land of Canaan under the exceptional leadership of Moses.

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The books apart from teaching the creation and the start of human being on earth also describe the law that the Israelites was to abide by under the watch of Moses. The book of Deuteronomy most discussed the speeches of Moses which he spoke while addressing the children of Israelite on different scenarios. In Exodus chapter 24 verses 37 and Deuteronomy chapter 31 verses 24, it reveals that Moses wrote this Pentateuch. These verses describe that Moses wrote the law. Thus he is the one who formulates the words of this law. It is evident in Exodus chapter 20 and Deuteronomy 23 that Moses wrote the ten commandments on stones and the covenant code as portrayed in Exodus chapter 20- 23. Therefore these affirmed the fact that the books of Pentateuch were written by Moses ( Jessen, Tori K 2014: 212-220)

Moses was the only most educated Jew ever to exist on earth. He got his education in the Egyptian palace and believed to have also learned several languages while there. His ability to write due to his history of his education attest to the fact that he is a writer of the Pentateuch. For one to write he or she must be able to think and translate their thoughts into writings of which not anybody could do less of education. Moses instead could do that due to his training. The question which arises is whether Moses wrote every word in Pentateuch. In Exodus chapter 24 verses 4 'all scriptures were inspired by God.' This, therefore, means that God communicates to his people through Moses; hence Moses put it in writing. It is also believed that although the book of Genesis was written later, Moses was the only royally educated man who knew the history and the teaching of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was initially transmitted orally, but Moses later put it in writing. (Meyer, Esias E 2014: 502-519)

The Pentateuch books were generally written in reflection of Egyptian culture and language of which the author had to be familiar with the Egyptian traditions. The names like Pithom, Potiphera, and Asenath, all have the Egyptian origin.

Furthermore, the writer of the Pentateuch wrote about the Egyptians; this means he knew Egypt. For one to have written about all this, one had to have an origin from Egypt which Moses was. This also attests the fact that he was the writer of these books because he had a background in Egypt and he was well conversant with the culture of Egyptians (Bernstein, Moshe J. 2013 476-497)

Synopsis of the Tenets Documentary Hypotheses As Espoused By Julius Wellhausen

The tenets documentary hypotheses is a model which was used by theologians to explain the origin and the formation of the Torah, i.e., the first five books of the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). The documentary hypothesis was developed in the early 18th and 19th century by the early theologians. Concerning their views, Pentateuch was not written by Moses. They argue that it was a result of the later author or editor who actually merges different sources and put it together. These sources include; the German 'Yahweh; dated 950 to 850 BC, Elohist (the northern kingdom) dated 750 BC, Deuteronomist source (southern kingdom) dated 650 BC and priestly source dated 587 BC. Documentary hypotheses believed that there were four sources which from the point of origin each one stands on its own but later joins together at a various point in time by some editors.

Wellhausen describes the Bible as a good source for historians but cannot be taken just like that. He mentions four specific narratives which include, Jahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist and Priestly accounts. He also mentions Redactor who identified to have edited the four accounts into one text. He further describes each of the four accounts depicts differences in styles, 0e.g., the name used to refer to God, the grammar, the way the words have been used and the aim of the author. (Hong, Koog P 2013: 321-339.)

The 'J' Source - Gods name was presented as YHVH in this source. The scholars of Germany translated as Jahweh .in English it translated as Jehovah.

The 'E'source - Gods name was presented as Elohim. After the revelation of the name of God to Moses it later changed to be called YHVH.

The 'D' source- this is the source that contributes to the genesis of the book of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and kings

The 'P' source- it uses Elohim and El Shaddai as the name of GOD.

Wellhausen argued that from the look of each source one could tell the time it was written .the transition from one source to another shows the development of the Israelite religion from informal to formal relationship with God.

However, since the development of this documentary hypotheses, many theories have since developed that seek to dismiss the truth of this theory. Some have adopted this theory others still believed in the traditional theory

Conclusion

In my view, the traditional theory of the fact that Moses wrote Pentateuch is real and contains a lot of truth compared with Wellhausen documentary hypotheses. The Wellhausen theory contains a lot of fallacy the fact they assume the bible was not a revelation from God. This is against the truth that God inspired all the scriptures. They also thought that the religion of Israel was just like any other religion resulting from evolution. The theory also dismissed the fact that there was nobody as educated during the time of Moses. He is thus disregarding the training that Moses had undergone in Egypt. This is an open believe that open to falsehood believe of the Wellhausen theory. The traditional belief that Moses was the writer of the Pentateuch contains more truth. The fact that Moses had undergone training attest the fact that he could write. Moses also had experienced by himself the message contains especially from Exodus; thus he had full information about it. Exodus 17 verses 14 ' then the Lord said to Moses write this for future reference that I will initiate the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven' this text confirmed that Moses wrote the Pentateuch under the inspiration from God.

Bibliography

Bernstein, Moshe J. "20. What Has Happened to the Laws? The Treatment of Legal Material in 4QReworked Pentateuch." In Reading and Re-Reading Scripture at Qumran (2 vol. Set), pp. 476-497. BRILL, 2013.

Hong, Koog P. "Abraham, Genesis 20-22, and the Northern Elohist." Biblica (2013): 321-339.

Jessen, Tori K. "The Pentateuch and brass-bound gall: Huey P. Long and religious rhetoric." Ph.D. diss., (2014): 212-220

Meyer, Esias E. "Returning to an empty land: Revisiting my old argument about the Jubilee." Old Testament Essays 27, no. 2 (2014): 502-519.