The Bible opens with a group of five books of outstanding importance. We know them as “the Pentateuch,” from a Greek term meaning “fivefold book.” Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy have from the very earliest times been recognized as the core of the Old Testament canon.
The Pentateuch is the first of the three major divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures. There it is known as the Torah, or law—a term which includes also the idea of “teaching, instruction, or guidance.”
The Bible itself describes the Torah (or portions of it) as “this book of the law” (Deut. 29:31; 30:10; 31:26; Josh. 1:8); “the book of this law” (Deut. 28:61); “the book of the law of Moses” (Josh. 8:21; 34:6; II Kings 14:6), which was equivalent simply to “the book of the law” (Josh. 8:34) or “the book of Moses” (II Chron. 25: 4).
“The book of the law of the Lord” (II Chron. 17:9) was used in Jehoshaphat's time to teach the people. The scroll discovered in the Temple by Hilkiah the priest is described as “the book of the law” (II Kings 22:8, 11), “the book of the covenant” (II Kings 23:2, 21; II Chron. 34:30), “the book of the law of the Lord by the hand of Moses” (II Chron. 34:14), and “the book of Moses” (II Chron. 35:12).
Ezra 6:18 speaks of “the book of Moses.” “The book of the law of Moses” and “the book of the law of God” are used in parallel passages in Neh. 8:1, 3, 8, 18; and 9:3. Neh. 13:1 identifies Deut. 23:3-5 as coming from “the book of Moses.” “The law of Moses” is mentioned in I Kings 2:3 and Dan. 9:13.
The New Testament likewise alludes to “the book of Moses” (Mark 12:26) and “the law of Moses” (I Cor. 9:9), and attributes authoritative commands and statements to Moses (Matt. 19:7; 22:24; Mark 7:10; 10:3; Acts 3:22; Rom. 9:15; 10:19). There are also numerous New Testament references to “the law” as a court of final appeal.
CONTENT AND FORM
The books of the Pentateuch contain a number of different kinds of material. There are history (Genesis), legislation (Exodus), ritual (Leviticus), government (Numbers), and rhetoric (Deuteronomy)—with many combinations and much overlapping of literary types. The historical record spans a tremendous period of time—from creation to the death of Moses, at least longer than the rest of the Bible history all together.
That the five books of the law were originally prepared as separate books would appear from the fact that each is a literary unit, and each is just about the maximum length that could be accommodated on an ancient scroll. The books are obviously related, however, in continuity of historical sequence and by their necessary order. After Genesis, each book presupposes the one or ones that precede it.
AUTHORSHIP
The problem of the authorship of the books of the Pentateuch is a complex one. Within their own text, these books are anonymous and contain nothing which would indicate the overall source of the whole. Ancient Jewish and Christian tradition credits them in their entirety to Moses. The books themselves attribute portions of Exodus and Numbers, and most of Deuteronomy, directly to the hand of Moses, and conservative scholarship finds no reason to question such statements (Exod. 24:4; 34:28; Num. 33:2; Deut. 1:1; 4:44; 5:1; 27:1; 29:1; 31:1, 9, 22, 30; 32:44; 33:1).
On the other hand, the text itself in the references just cited differentiates between what Moses wrote or spoke and what was written about him. There are also some non-Mosaic elements which a thoughtful reading makes apparent. Gen. 14:14 uses the name “Dan” for the place to which Abraham pursued the five kings who had raided Sodom. This name was not given until the time of the judges (Judg. 18:29), implying that this verse was written (or edited) after the time of Moses.
Gen. 36:31 speaks of the kings of Edom who reigned before “any king over the children of Israel,” words which would imply a time of writing after the coronation of Saul (I Sam. 8:5 ff.).
The description of the work of Moses in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers is in the third person, quite unlike the first-person account recorded in Moses' speeches in Deuteronomy. There are two well-deserved tributes to the great lawgiver which must have been written by someone else: Exod. 11:3, “Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt,” and Num. 12:3, “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.”
Exod. 16:35, “And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan,” could have been written only after the death of Moses and the crossing of the Jordan (Josh. 5:10-12), since the eating of manna is spoken of in the past tense.
Num. 21:14-15 quotes from “the book of the wars of the Lord.” This was apparently a book of poetry describing the acts of God in behalf of His people during the wilderness years. Nothing is known of it otherwise. It may have been one of the writings of Moses himself.
Num. 32:34-42 describes the cities built by the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh in the territory they were granted east of the Jordan. They did not possess this territory until after the conquest of Canaan, in which they assisted (Josh. 22:1-9).
Deut. 2:10-12, 20-23 are parenthetical passages added later to explain the meaning of terms and conditions no longer current. Deut. 34:1-12, the account of the death of Moses, was apparently written after the appearance of the prophets (v. 10) during the time of Samuel.
Citations elsewhere in the Bible to what Moses wrote can all be traced to the one Book of Deuteronomy, with the possible exception of Ezra 6:18, which locates passages from Numbers in “the book of Moses”; and Mark 12:26, which cites “the book of Moses” for the Exodus account of the call of Moses at the burning bush. In these references, it is at least possible that “the book of Moses” may mean “the book about Moses” or “the book based on Moses' authority.” I and II Samuel, for instance, are named after this great prophet although his death is recorded in I Sam. 25:1, many years before the events of II Samuel occurred.
Considerations such as these rather than the reconstructions of modern literary and historical criticism lead conservative scholars to the sound cautions expressed by Professor G. Ch. Aalders in his epoch-making work, A Short Introduction to the Pentateuch. What is important is the recognition of the authenticity and integrity of this most significant portion of God's Word.
The consensus of the biblical tradition would certainly establish the Mosaic authority of the Pentateuch. When this is clearly recognized, the question as to whose hand actually inscribed the books may safely be left where Origen left the problem of the authorship of the Book of Hebrews: “God only knows.”
Interested students will find the conservative position strongly stated in Professor Aalders' book mentioned above (Chicago: Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, n.d.); Oswald T. Allis, The Five Books of Moses (Philadelphia: The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1949); David A. Hubbard, “Pentateuch,” The New Bible Dictionary, edited by J. D. Douglas (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), pp. 957-64; as well as Aalders' brief treatment in “The Historical Literature of the Old Testament,” The New Bible Commentary, edited by Francis Davidson (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1956), pp. 31-34.
—W. T. PURKISER