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Several lines of evidence should lead us to reject the documentary hypothesis as a fabrication of unbelievers. [3] Ken Ham and Bodie Hodge, How Do We . In John 5:23, Jesus says, Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. The Father and the Son are revealed in Scripture as such a unity that if you dishonor one, you dishonor the other. So, to attack the Mosaic authorship of the first five books of the Old Testament then is to attack the truthfulness of the rest of the biblical writers and Jesus Himself. A witness gives firsthand evidence. These are stellar confirmations by Jesus that Moses is the true and only writer of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The skeptics erroneously assumed, without any other ancient Hebrew literature to compare with the biblical text, that they could, with scientific reliability, establish the date of the composition of each book of the Bible. First, we can analyze extra-biblical texts such as the works of the historian Josephus. We are told that he was trained in all the wisdom and knowledge of Egypt. The theme of the entire Bible is Christ. A primary particle; properly, assigning a reason. No. In the same way, this was where the Lord judged his enemies through Abraham. To answer this question, we need to go to 2 Timothy 3:16. John 1:45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Of course, there are several ways Moses could have obtained this information: divine revelation, previously written texts passed down through the generations, and/or oral tradition from his ancestors.7 Regardless, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:2021), the books of Moses would be completely true and without error. (Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy . For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Your newsletter signup did not work out. Listen to the way John uses the word. However, that said, a number of passages in the Pentateuch mention that Moses wrote things down. (3) He wrote or compiled Genesis by using earlier written documents. How would he know about the events of Genesis and other events that happened hundreds (even thousands) of years before his time? [2] Ken Ham and Bodie Hodge, How Do We Know the Bible is True: Volume 1 (Master Books, 2011), p.90-93. Heres the assumption behind these three implications, which are very controversial in a pluralistic, relativistic, religious world like ours. 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 . Does It Really Matter If Moses Wrote Genesis? . http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_tradition_bailey.html, http://science.jrank.org/pages/10523/Oral-Traditions-Oral-Traditions-Source-Method-Historical-Construction.html, Noahs Flood: a Historical, Global Catastrophe, Adam by direct divine revelation, so not connected with Adam's name. And these references are just a sample of a number of other passages that could be cited (see also Exodus 24:12; 34:28; Deuteronomy 27:3, 8; 31:19). For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me. 2 Peter 1:16) or as a result of research by the author (e.g., Luke 1:14). Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. The letters stand for: Then around 400 BC some redactors (i.e., editors) supposedly combined these four independently written texts to form the Pentateuch as it was known in the time of Jesus and modern times. These divisions represent either oral tradition or written texts passed down by the Genesis patriarchs to their descendants,15 which Moses then used to put Genesis into its final form under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 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. 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. 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. Early man was very intelligent: Cain built a city (Genesis 4:17), six generations later people were making musical instruments and had figured out how to mine ores and make metals (Genesis 4:2122), Noah built a huge boat for his family and thousands of animals to survive a year-long flood, etc.16, Table 2. 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. To date, no manuscript evidence of the J-document, E-document, P-document, D-document, or any of the other supposed fragments have ever been discovered. Only evolutionary thinking would lead us to conclude that Adam and his descendants could not write. Terms of Service apply. There he was trained in "all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds" (Acts 7:22). He believed Moses was the author of the Pentateuch, but he unlocked the door for the skepticism of later scholars. Not only is there abundant biblical witness that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, Moses was fully qualified to write the Pentateuch. This oral version of Genesis goes all the way back to roughly 2000 BC in Mesopotamia. And the LORD said to Moses, 'Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book." (Exodus 32:30-33) In order that Israel might be saved from the wrath of God, Moses stood ready to offer his own lifeto take the punishment of the people's sins on himself if God could find no other way to forgive them. (Only David. Right from the start it is important to note that the Pentateuch is anonymous. In 1802, Johann Vater insisted that Genesis was made from at least 39 fragments. Moses began writing about JESUS in Genesis 1:1. Demonstrative Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Singular. ., 2 Chronicles 25:4Yet he did not put their children to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded . See Kenneth E. Bailey, "Informal Controlled Oral Tradition and the Synoptic Gospels,". I, the first-person pronoun. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:1112). The Bible says that Jesus, God the Son, has been with the Father for all eternity. 1. Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural. In. And we know this chapter wasn't written after Jesus ' sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection. Seminary courses, theology books, introductions to the Pentateuch in Bibles, and the secular media have promoted the man-made idea that Moses did not write the Pentateuch (also known as the Law or Torah). Jesus said in Matthew 5:1718, Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. So did God create the world in a literal six days or a symbolic six days? Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips . You may unsubscribe from these email communications at any time. For more on this topic, see Henry Morris, The record of Esau's descendants contains a. The story is of a spiritual Eden where Adam existed (and then Eve) in eternity past before creation. In other words, Gentiles who believe in Jesus the Messiah are included in the blessing of Abraham. For example, John 7:22 and Acts 15:1 refer to Moses giving the doctrine of circumcision. Any claim by a Jewish person or a Muslim or a Hindu or a Buddhist or a spiritualist or an animist or a Christianany claim to know God or honor God or love God while not receiving Christ as the Son of God and the crucified risen Savior is a false claim. Jesus Himself confirmed the fact that He is in the Old Testament. Verse Concepts. And besides all these explicit quotes from Scripture, Johns Gospel is strewn with indirect allusions to Scripture. John wrote, No one has ever seen God. They assumed that the Bible is not a supernatural revelation from God and then manipulated the biblical text to arrive at that conclusion. These additions may only be the most obvious examples of textual material added after the time of Moses and we cannot determine precisely what was authored by Moses or added by later inspired editors. The traditional Jewish and Christian view that Moses wrote Genesis wasn't seriously challenged until the 1800s. Please follow the instructions we emailed you in order to finish subscribing. It is the enemies of the truth of God that are failing to think carefully and face the facts honestly. From ekei; that one (neuter) thing); often intensified by the article prefixed. Various sections of the Pentateuch are assigned to various authors who are identified by the letters J, E, D, and P. Hence, it is called the documentary hypothesis (or the JEDP model3). 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. In this case, the name associated with the toledoth is either the author or custodian of that section (see for example, Table 2 below). 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. The Bible begins with these famous words in Genesis 1, laying the foundation for the rest of the Bible. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus claimed to be interpreting God's Torah according to its original intent, as God handed it to Moses. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. There are other examples in Scripture that lend some credibility to the idea that Moses saw his coming death and wrote about the circumstances. This is simply astonishing. These are the Yahwist (J), Elohist (E), and Priestly (P) sources which in turn reflect older oral traditions . 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. So a witness is ordinarily one who has seen something and can witness to what he has seen. Joshua 1:7-8aBe strong and very courageous. Moses was a Hebrew. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. It means hearing it, understanding it, and above all, being impacted by it. To move the account from Abraham to Moses would require only four more generations. These postmosaica establish a principle that later inspired editors/redactors can contribute to the writing of the Pentateuch. 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. Then Jesus said to them, "You foolish people! Their culture worked quite differently than ours. Even though a great many scholars and much of the public have accepted this view, is it really true? There cannot have been a historical liberator from a captivity that never happened. First, it could be argued that creation happened, and the account was passed down by oral tradition through the centuries, being slowly changed over time, until the Egyptians recorded their version. The Israelites were proud of their history and made sure to spend meticulous efforts on getting every detail right. Jesus said, "He who hears My word, and . 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. These books are named for their intended recipientswhether groups or individuals: Romans, 1 and 2 . This specific place (Dan) was known to Abraham as one of the springs of Jordan. Hope Bolingeris an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, and the author 21+ books. So it is perfectly reasonable to think that Moses wrote Genesis from pre-existing, well-preserved oral tradition and/or written documents from the . Enhance your schools traditional and online education programs by easily integrating online courses developed from the scholars and textbooks you trust. It is possible that Rachel was already aware of that name (Dan), as it meant "judge," and used it for the son of her handmaiden (Genesis 30:6). But secondly, it could also be a comment added by a later editor working under divine inspiration. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured . Initially, in his 1780 Introduction to the Old Testament, Eichhorn said that Moses copied previous texts. This means we have verses in the Bible that attribute the authorship to him such as Numbers 33:1-2. Please refresh the page and try again. . We can, with a high percentage of certainty say that John wrote the Gospel of John and that Joshua wrote the Book of Joshua. Not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 17:12=Psalm 109:8). For Instructors and School Administrators. The editorial comment would in no way deny the Mosaic authorship of the book of Genesis. Dictation was one means employed, very often in the prophetic books (e.g., the prophet says, "The Word of the Lord came to me saying"). From there, we have the well-known story of the Great Flood, and the birth of the Israelite nation through Abraham. John 3:32 says, "He bears witness to what he has seen and heard.". For many, the answer to this question is a matter of orthodoxy, and debates quickly become passionate. . The measure of all true knowing God, honoring God, and loving God is knowing, honoring, and loving Jesus for who he really is. . Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the . Jesus was the "I AM" who spoke to Moses. . Yet John also reveals that this came earlierin Genesis, with Abraham. It's not far-fetched to think Moses wrote the account of his own death and burial, particularly since God revealed his word and works to Moses (Ps. The Jews therefore object, and persecute him for it. How Daniels Prophecy of 70 Weeks Connects to the End Times. One of the major attacks on the Bible in the past 300 years has been directed against Moses and his authorship of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. 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. Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. The One who appeared and spoke to people as God during Old Testament times was the One who became Jesus Christ. Such a claim is without warrant. Now back to John 5:39: You search the Scriptures, Jesus says, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me. So Jesus is saying that the Old Testament, the Jewish Scriptures, our Scriptures, taken as a whole, witness to Jesus. (John 1:1, 14). They were the heroes of old Get expert commentary on biblical languages, fresh explorations in theology, hand-picked book excerpts, author videos, and info on limited-time sales. Facts, however, say otherwise. Matthew 16:21 indicates that Jesus knew . Or Moses, or Mouses of Hebrew origin; Moseus, Moses, or Mouses, the Hebrew lawgiver. So we have indirect allusions, direct quotes to show specific fulfillments, and we have statements, like in chapter 12, that show the whole Old Testament revelation of God is a revelation of Jesus. According to the Bible, Moses was the prophet who led Israel out of slavery in Egypt and brought them to the edge of the promised land. If you see God at work, you see Jesus at work. Check out her books at hopebolinger.comfor clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Christians who believe Moses wrote the Pentateuch do not need to feel intellectually intimidated. Nothing is said about the authorship of the mass of literature of which this was a part. Others disagreed, pointing to other statements by Ibn Ezra that contradicted Spinoza's conclusion. In addition, when the heavens . .. Exodus 24:3-4When Moses went and told the people all the Lords words and laws, they responded with one voice, Everything the Lord has said we will do.Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. You will have already known him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Listen to the audio version of this content. There also appears to be evidence (Genesis 5:1) that Moses had used other documents to compile his book, such as the genealogies. As noted before, my position is that "law of Moses" is an appropriate designation for the Torah/Pentateuch despite sound evidence that Moses did not write all or even most of it (see here).This position is akin to the phrase "Psalm of David" (le-dawid) very . - New American Standard Version (1995) For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me. In the past few hundred years, the Bible has been under severe attack by scientific and philosophical skeptics of all sorts. Not necessarily. Such attacks on these foundational books of the rest of the Bible come both from non-Christians as well as professing Christians. Proof that Moses wrote the Torah: (Gen - Deut) 1. A final reason for rejecting the documentary hypothesis and accepting the biblical testimony to the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch is the erroneous assumptions and reasoning of the liberal scholars and other skeptics. Listen to the way John uses the word. The Genesis course, taught by Tremper Longman III, illuminates the book of Genesis in light of the Bibles grand story. And then in John 5:46, 47 Jesus says, "For if you believed Moses you would believe me, for he wrote of me. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Lord, it is good that we are here. It is too obviously the product of more than one author, writing at different times and places. They are also called the Torah (Hebrew, "instruction," "law") and the Pentateuch (from . Moses wrote Genesis 4 and 5 to show them that they needed to follow the line of Seth, not the line of Cain. 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. All of them. John 10:35 is one of the most important references to the Scriptures in Johns Gospel because after referring to Psalm 82:6, Jesus says, Scripture cannot be broken. This is one of the strongest claims for the infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible in all of Scripture. . The five books of Moses are liberally sprinkled with symbolic references to Jesus. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? We are still an immigrant people journeying somewhere better. On the other extreme are those who say that Moses wrote none of the Pentateuch, but rather the Pentateuch was composed much later than the time the Bible purported that he lived (if, in the minds of some, he lived at all). Long-age geology, big bang cosmology, secular archaeology, liberal theology, and philosophical attacks on miracles in the Bible have deceived many people to believe that the Bible is not true and therefore cannot be trusted. There are many reasons to reject this skeptical attack on the Bible. Table 1. Since writings cant see, I take it to mean that Scriptures is shorthand for God-who-inspired-the-Scriptures. God said things and did things in the Scriptures which, if we had understood them, would have given us a glimpse of Jesus and would have prepared us to recognize him and receive him when he came. It will all be fulfilled. Exodus 17:14Then the Lord said to Moses, Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it . Seeking the Gospel in Malachi, the Last Book of the Old Testament. Test yourself and test others who claim to know God. For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me; for he wrote of me. "He . Who wrote Genesis? we also have other Scripture supporting these events as true and literal. But he was, and that too pointed to his truth. There is a literary invention of Moses 700 years after he supposedly lived. jesus said moses wrote genesis. No. In other words, where did Moses get information on the patriarchs? Genesis 3:15: Matthew 1:20 Galatians 4:4: 2: Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. 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. Of course, this question in itself can raise a number of disputes because people have not reached an agreement as to when Moses lived on earth. But most scholars place the compilation of the book somewhere between 1445 BC or 1290 BC. Following Eichhorn, other ideas were advanced in denial of the Mosaic authorship of the first five books on the Old Testament. Liberal Bible scholars allegedly based their theories on evidence from the Biblical text and yet they evaded the Biblical evidence that refutes their theories. Some scholars rearrange these letters as JEPD, based on the order they believe the sections were written. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, . In the New Testament, when quoting the Pentateuch, people often spoke of Moses being the author. At most Jesus admits that through Moses came this com-mandment. Certainly the passages that speak of Moses writing things down do not claim that Moses wrote the entirety of the Pentateuch, but they do imply that Moses wrote material that was incorporated into the Pentateuch. Share This Verse: In the minds of the Jewish people, "Scepter" was . But to say that the composition, even the origins, of the Pentateuch is to be associated with Moses certainly does not mean he wrote every word. But, perhaps the most convincing passage of all is found in John 5:46-47 where Jesus said: "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. Furthermore, we have testimony from Jesus himself that Moses wrote these books. Salem Media Group. Modern source criticism, because of its late dating of the Genesis sources abandoned this traditional view. But much of the Bible was written from the eyewitness experience of the authors (e.g. If you claim to honor God today but reject Jesus as the divine Son of God and crucified and risen Savior and Messiah, your claim is false, and you do not honor God. Specifically, he thought that Genesis 1:12:3 was one creation account and Genesis 2:424 was a different creation account. (Luke 24:25-27, NLT). Genesis has sparked a great deal of debate among scientists and scholars, ranging from the literal vs. figurative days of creation to the genealogical lines. Because in them you come to know God for who he really is, and that means coming to know Jesus. If you are Christs, then you are Abrahams offspring, heirs according to promise (Galatians 3:7, 29). 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. Because Genesis is technically an anonymous work, many readers wonder who wrote it. JESUS: THE GOD WHOM MOSES WROTE ABOUT. What Does Genesis 12:13 Mean, Why Does It Matter. Books and articles that equip you for deeply biblical thinking and ministry. They assumed that Israel's religion was simply the invention of man, a product of evolution, as all other religions are. God promised Abram in Genesis 12:23, I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you . Moses wrote Genesis after 1440 B.C." Promises in Genesis. Please check errors and resubmit. . The introduction to the Old Testament in another Bible translation says that the J document was written by someone much later than Moses in the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the E document was written by someone in the Northern Kingdom of Israel.2 Let's evaluate the arguments put forth in defense of this hypothesis. They were implicitly Deistic or atheistic in their thinking. Hence, we have the Elohim and Jehovah sections (or E and J documents).8 Thus, the first assumption of the documentary hypothesis became established: the use of different divine names means different authors of the text. Several other books of the Pentateuch include passages that mention Moses recording events and writing down what God says. A similar obituary of Joshua was added by an inspired editor to the end of Joshua's book (Joshua 24:2933). Get updates from Zondervan Academic directly in your inbox. The author of the book of Jasher and the time period of which it was originally written is a mystery, but it is validated as authoritative in several references in the Bible: II Samuel 1:18, Joshua 9, and Joshua 10:13. Nothing is said about Moses in the Hebrew title to Genesis. Most of the authorship of Scripture goes uncontested. That was Jesus view. For example, the disciples, referring to Deuteronomy 24:14, questioned Jesus, Why then, they asked, did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away? (Matthew 19:7). He was the youngest of three children, with a sister named Miriam and a brother named Aaron. Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth., Genesis 1:27 So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them., Genesis 1:31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. These are the last few verses of the book. This question means the date of the manuscript, not of when the events inside the book took place. Copyright 2020 HarperCollins Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.". (2) He received the information by direct revelation. He says, I know it happened, I saw it. 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. Abraham was promised by God that his seed would bless all nations. In John 1:34, John the Baptist says, I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. In John 3:11, Jesus says, We speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen. John 3:32 says, He bears witness to what he has seen and heard. And John 19:35 says, He who saw it has borne witness.. From here, the door flew open to profess that other portions of the Law were not written by Moses. 41 I do not receive glory from people. Second, as mentioned in the Biblical Science Institute article, we can also find archaeological evidence that confirms the events that happen in the Pentateuch, such as the walls of Jericho. He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.". Second, as mentioned in the Answers in Genesis article, not only does the Pentateuch confirm Moses authorship, but the rest of the Bible, including the New Testament does as well. In John 1:34, John the Baptist says, "I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.". Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. This means that the way the Old Testament gets people ready to know Jesus is not merely by specific prophecies that have specific fulfillments in Jesus (like being born in Bethlehem), but far more profoundly, the point is: If you meet God, and know God, and admire God, and trust God, and are shaped by God as he truly reveals himself and his ways in the whole of the Old Testament, then when Jesus comes, you will know him. 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. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Besides using the verses noted by Ibn Ezra, Spinoza offered a few other brief arguments against Mosaic authorship which were easily answered by Christian writers in the following few decades.6.