Featured Jesus and the Books of Moses

The Documentary Hypothesis (the JEDP theory) does not require disbelief in the authorship of Moses or the authority of the Pentateuch.

 

Would you agree though that there were not 4 separate editors, centuries apart, as liberals have claimed?

 

It totally discredits the doctrine of divine inspiration!

 

I don't know how many editors there were, or at what times the text was edited. We do know that the text(s) stabilized at some point before or during the Babylonian Exile. There seems to be internal evidence that there were multiple writers/editors who put things together carefully. They also seems they didn't try to change things up (as some assume would have to be the case) since they left sections of the text with parallel stories explaining things in different ways - for instance, the creation accounts of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. They did not have the post-Enlightenment obsession with precision that tends to get laid onto ancient texts by some modern interpreters.

 

Not at all. God was working within a covenant community and count easily help editors working under Moses and later leaders to put things together in an appropriate way for the people of God.

 

Except that view is made because they refused to accept that God inspired scriptures to us....

 

Would say that they were written down by Moses pretty much intact at the first time, with minor editing/adjustments until final book.

 

I don't understand your point. Moreover, I don't understand why you are obsessing about what you think "liberals" think instead of the nature of the scriptures.

 

Those who advocating that Documentary viewpoint are usually very suspect in their theology, as regards to things such authorship, inspiration etc!

 

You seem to want me to make a definitive statement about something that is unknown.

Exactly how the Pentateuch came together is unknown to us. We don't know how much was personally written by Moses and what was written by contemporaneous or later persons. Remember, much of the experience of the patriarchs and the exodus and wilderness journey was part of the experience of a vast number of people. Moses may not have personally written many of the materials found in Genesis, but simply ensured that they were preserved and organized.

I suspect that there were a number of compilers, translators and editors over the years, as well as several primary writers during the course of the ministry of Moses.

 

Your prejudices are showing. I have known plenty of people who accept the Documentary Hypothesis who are not suspect in their theology at all. Fundamentalism has largely rejected the Documentary Hypothesis, for a few decent reasons and more than a few poor reasons.

I have no great love for the Documentary Hypothesis, but it does draw out the reality that the Pentateuch has plenty of textual evidence for multiple authors and editors. People can take that idea and run away with it to create all kinds of poor theology, or they can take that and come up with good theology. As far as I'm concerned, we have received the texts in a certain way and they bear the internal and experiential hallmarks of being inspired by God. While careful review of the texts and acknowledgement of the realities that may not be apparent to English readers of the scripture can be helpful, they do not change the fundamental realities of the theology that can be learned.

 

Three observations to make here:

(1) I think that Moses did write (or dictate to a scribe) significant portions of the Pentateuch -- especially parts of the exodus experience where there were no other humans present. It would only make sense.

(2) I think a case can be made that Jesus was simply referencing the Pentateuch as the commonly understood writings of Moses. The point had nothing to do with Mosaic authorship, but that Jesus was written about in the foundational story of the world and the Hebrew experience.

(3) It has never been completely clear to me (or a number of commentators and professors over the years) what passages Jesus might have been pointing toward. Obviously, we know that Jesus created the universe (John 1), so that could be a reference, but Jesus seemed to be pointing to one or more specific things. My best answer is Genesis 3:15 with Jesus being the One Who crushes the serpent's head. (I would be interested in hearing other interpretations - sounds like a good idea for its own thread.)

 

Particularly in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is presented as the New Moses.
The writing of the Pentateuch are important because of the authority God vested in his prophet, Moses to communicate His word.
Any modifications made along the way were done with the authority of the original writings of Moses intact

In pointing to Moses and the Law, Jesus revealed himself as the One Who Fulfills and the One Who Completes the Law.

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.
Deuteronomy 18:15 CSB​

Rob

 

The Documentary theory though presupposes that the historical accounts were compiled together at different times, by different persons, and there is really no evidence to support other than the majority, if not all of the first 5 books, were done by Moses directly, and that there was some editing done to compile it all together, but not to have done any real adding to or revising of the texts!

 

Why is it then the truth that many who support that view also get into stuff such as a non literal understanding of genesis, of the OT especially not being fully inspired, nor accurate, as many of them seem to see it on par with other historical records of the ancient times?
A;most as if they see israel as having "propaganda" being written down at different times to support Kings and other events. but not really inspired by God?

 

Have you noticed that I haven't been a strong supporter of the classic Documentary Hypothesis?

You realize that people can have many different shades of understanding regarding how the texts came together, right?

 

As I mentioned in the text you quoted, that people can create bad theology from the same evidence. Even if someone believed that Moses typed up every word of the Pentateuch on a primitive typewriter, they could still create terrible theology.

Moreover, there is ample reason FROM THE TEXTS THEMSELVES not to always go with a literal reading of every passage. We live in an extremely literal age and culture, and too often we impose that improperly upon the biblical texts. We must be careful about interpreting the scriptures according to our presuppositions.

 

I am not arguing against any editorial process/editing, but not as severe as that theory held!

 

Jesus saw the scriptures as without errors and mistakes, as the very word of God unto us.