Since ancient times, many people believed that Moses wrote
the Pentateuch. After all, the Bible claims it (e.g., Ex.24:2); Josephus, the
first-century Jewish historian, affirmed it (Ant. IV, 8:48) and the ancient
Rabbis supported it (BB 14b).
Yet, critics noticed a number of difficulties: The text
includes a number of doublets (e.g., two covenants with Abraham, Gen. 15 and
17) and contradictions (e.g., Gen I vs. Gen.2). It also contains some events
that could not have been known by Moses (e.g. references to kings in Israel, in
Gen. 36:31).
Throughout the centuries, various solutions have been
offered: Some argued that there is no chronological order to the Bible (e.g.,
Pes. 6b). Others maintained that the whole text was written by divine
inspiration. And there were others, like the medieval rabbinic scholar Ibn
Ezra, who suggested that there is a secret here and we need to keep quiet about
it.
Modern textual criticism began in the 18th century
with critics such as Richard Simon and Jean Astruct. However, the one
scholar who offered the first complete reconstruction was Julius Wellhausen in
1884. According to his theory, the Pentateuch is made up of four documents: J
(that uses the term YHVH for God) was composed in the southern kingdom of Judah
in the 9th cent. BCE; E (that uses Elohim for God) was composed in
the northern part of Israel in the 8th cent. BCE. These two were combined by a
redactor in the middle of the 7th cent. BCE. To this combined text, was
added a text called D (for Deuteronomy) in 621 BCE. Finally, the priests (P)
composed their own texts during and after the Babylonian exile and completed
the Pentateuch.
Many modern scholars have slightly amended this
reconstruction. Today, critics do not talk about “compositions” produced by
individuals but “schools of thought” that generated the texts throughout many
years. In fact, scholars like Herman Gunkel (1862-1932) argued that many texts
in the Pentateuch were orally transmitted for a long period before they were
written down. Around the mid-3rd cent. BCE, the Pentateuch was
translated into Greek (i.e., the Septuagint) by Jewish scholars of Alexandria,
Egypt.
To the Pentateuch, later on, were added two major
components, namely the prophetic books and Writings. According to the Jewish
tradition, the Rabbis finalized the entire canon in the city of Yavneh, in the
central district of modern Israel, after the destruction of the Second Temple
by the Romans in 70CE.
Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D
April, 2017
