The theme of the entire Bible is Christ. 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). Jesus was the "I AM" who spoke to Moses. Take note of some the references back to Moses' work. Jesus Himself clearly said this, and the people who heard Him knew that was exactly what He meant. 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. But this does bring forth the question: how would Moses know all of these things? When Moses came on the scene, God revealed to him what really happened, and this is what Moses wrote down. Genesis is the first book of the Bible, and one of the five books of the Pentateuch. 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. ., 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., Numbers 33:2At the Lords command Moses recorded [wrote down] the stages in their journey., Deuteronomy 31:24After Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end . Were on a mission to change that. But what about the first book of the Bible? Theirs was a "pick and choose" approach to studying the Bible, which is hardly honest scholarship in pursuit of truth. The Gospel states Moses wrote about Jesus: . If You Believed Moses, You Would Believe Me, for He Wrote of Me, If You Believed Moses, You Would Believe Me, for He Wrote of Me (Excerpt), John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. These books are named for their intended recipientswhether groups or individuals: Romans, 1 and 2 . But most scholars place the compilation of the book somewhere between 1445 BC or 1290 BC. However, that said, a number of passages in the Pentateuch mention that Moses wrote things down. Joshua 1:7-8aBe strong and very courageous. So the argument is that an author after Moses had to have written this statement to know that the Canaanites were removed in the days of Joshua who began judging the Canaanites for their sin after Moses died. . How would he know about the events of Genesis and other events that happened hundreds (even thousands) of years before his time? Their subjective bias led them to illegitimately assume that any biblical statement was unreliable until proven reliable (though they would not do this with any other ancient or modern text) and when they found any disagreement between the Bible and ancient pagan literature, the latter was automatically given preference and trusted as a historical witness. First, Moses was qualified to write the books. But he was, and that too pointed to his truth. 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. . The Lord Jesus says in Matthew 19:8, "Moses, for the hardness of your heart, suffered you to put away your wives.". To move the account from Abraham to Moses would require only four more generations. 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. 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. This is a good place for this focus because twice in this passage Jesus says that the Old Testament Scriptures are written about him. .. Let's look at eight things about Moses - who he was in the Bible and some details regarding his life. contested questions in biblical scholarship. So Paul says, Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. We can now see more clearly the special way in which God inspired . II. In other words, this book talks about the beginning of the world, the beginning of God's nation . Privacy Policy and These postmosaica establish a principle that later inspired editors/redactors can contribute to the writing of the Pentateuch. Who wrote Genesis? 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 Old Testament is a lesson book for the nations that keeps shedding light on the work of Christ. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots (John 19:24=Psalm 22:18). He will have so shaped your mind and heart that when he comes in the flesh, there will be no discord, no dissonance, no contradiction between the God you know from the Old Testament and the appearance of God in Jesus. They are also called the Torah (Hebrew, "instruction," "law") and the Pentateuch (from . 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). What Does Genesis 12:13 Mean, Why Does It Matter. The internal evidence from Genesis is that it derives from oral traditions that predate Moses. 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. For all of them witness to him and speak of him. Selected passages confirming Mosaic authorship. JESUS the WORD is also in the BEGINNING, and the WORD says, "In the BEGINNING GOD [JESUS] created the Heaven and the earth." . It is the enemies of the truth of God that are failing to think carefully and face the facts honestly. 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. This was essentially a divine research project and history book. Right from the start it is important to note that the Pentateuch is anonymous. Jesus shows up often in the Old Testamentnot by that name, and not in the same form as we see Him in the New Testament, but He is there nonetheless. 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. 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. 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. Genesis comprises narratives of historical events that occurred before Moses was born. And we know this chapter wasn't written after Jesus ' sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. As this hypothesis was developed by a number of Jewish and theologically liberal Christian scholars in the late seventeenth to the late nineteenth centuries, there were a number of different proposals of who wrote what and when. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. For more on this topic, see Henry Morris, The record of Esau's descendants contains a. 35:02 - 4 - Moses wrote of Christ in types and prefigures. He says, I know it happened, I saw it. He is author of. First, consider what the Bible itself says about the authorship of the Pentateuch. 2 Thus, there exists abundant witness to the authorship of Moses. Nevertheless, it is credited to Moses because it was recorded in his writings. Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular. And besides all these explicit quotes from Scripture, Johns Gospel is strewn with indirect allusions to Scripture. 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. "You've heard it said, . 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. He also consistently demonstrated an outsider's view of Canaan (from the perspective of Egypt or Sinai).12 And as a prophet of God he was the appropriate recipient of the written records or oral traditions of the patriarchs from Adam to his own day, which the Holy Spirit could use to guide Moses to write the inerrant text of Genesis. God saw Jesus and knew Jesus long before Jesus was on the earth. Dr. Tremper Longman III, How to Read the Gospel of Mark in the Context of Second Temple Judaism. of Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, . Other New Testament speakers/writers said the same thing, e.g. 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. By submitting your email address, you understand that you will receive email communications from HarperCollins Christian Publishing (501 Nelson Place, Nashville, TN 37214 USA) providing information about products and services of HCCP and its affiliates. All rights reserved. (2) We see in the prophecy that "Scepter" is a "symbol of kingly authority" and will remain in Judah's hand until "Shiloh comes.". First, Moses could have easily written this without knowing that the Canaanites would be removed after his death, because due to warring kingdoms or other factors, people groups did get removed from territories. In. 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). Consider the following: 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 . . "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'? 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. Both Old Testament and New Testament. A primary particle of conditionality; if, whether, that, etc. In John 5:46 He explained to some religious leaders who had challenged Him that . Jesus himself, quoting the fifth commandment (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16) and a case law (Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9), said, For Moses said, Honor your father and mother, and Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death (Mark 7:10). 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. 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. Just as "son of" in Hebrew doesn't always mean a literal father-son relationship, so the Hebrew word translated here as "brother" doesn't always mean a literal brother, but can refer more generally to a familial or tribal relative. Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it . Genesis 1:12:4a is the fir Genesis 6:4 reads: The Nephilim were on the earth in those daysand also afterwardwhen the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. 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. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? Ye build the tombs of the prophets, wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that ye are children of them that killed the prophets. The majority of biblical scholars have attributed the authorship of Genesis to Moses, but this has not gone without contest, especially from documentary hypothesis theorists . Also, Moses himself prophesied in Deuteronomy 17:1420 that Israel would have kings. Our English Bibles translate toledoth variously as "this is the account" or "these are the generations" of Adam, Noah, Shem, etc. How Can We Stand on Scripture in an Evolution-Pushing Culture? 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. 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. Most people in the world have no experience of lasting joy in their lives. From here, the door flew open to profess that other portions of the Law were not written by Moses. Four of them are Greek words, and one of them, Numbers, is a Latin word. St. Peter in Acts of the Apostles quotes from Deuteronomy 18:15 with the introduction, "Moses said" (Acts 3:22). 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 (GenesisDeuteronomy). 41 I do not receive glory from people. All of our resources exist to guide you toward everlasting joy in Jesus Christ. Not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 17:12=Psalm 109:8). 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. There is, however, a large amount of evidence that the author or compiler of the Book of Genesis was Moses. He claims that Methuselah was an ancient historian of his day . 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. So we Christians dont reject the Old Testament just because we have the New Testament. The Tablet Model is based on the Hebrew word toledoth, which appears eleven times in Genesis (Genesis 2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12; 25:19; 36:1; 36:9; 37:2) and helps to tie the whole book together as a single history. Some scholars rearrange these letters as JEPD, based on the order they believe the sections were written. 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. Yet John also reveals that this came earlierin Genesis, with Abraham. 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. All Rights Reserved. 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. The New Testament attributes all the books from Genesis through Deuteronomy as being the writings of Moses. While Abraham is Israel's ancestor, Moses is often considered its founder, for his role in establishing Israel as a . Passages in these five books bear witness to the facts that the Christ would suffer, that the Christ would rise from the dead, that the Christ would enter into His glory, and that repentance for . While it seems simple (the author is Moses or not), scholars dont necessarily treat it as a yes or no questionthey also have to consider that Moses may have written part of Genesis. 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. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. 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. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. He was there. Terms of Service apply. . . Jesus Christ was greater than Moses. Such a claim is without warrant. Genesis 12:2-3 In fact, we have several accounts listed in Genesis. He was the youngest of three children, with a sister named Miriam and a brother named Aaron. Moses was the adopted son of the daughter of Pharaoh. Getting a story is about more than merely enjoying it. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. It will all be fulfilled. We think it very likely that Moses was working with written documents because the second toledoth (Genesis 5:1) reads "this is the book of the generations of Adam" where "book" is a translation of the normal Hebrew word meaning a written document. Nothing more sweeping could be said about the way the Old Testament witnesses to Jesus. They were implicitly Deistic or atheistic in their thinking. Or Moses, or Mouses of Hebrew origin; Moseus, Moses, or Mouses, the Hebrew lawgiver. Spinoza's arguments included these: 1), All people need to know where they came from, where their place in history is, or they will be very confused people. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips . These two ways of dividing Genesis are not the same at all. So, Who wrote Genesis? Well likely never know with absolute certainty.