Did moses write the pentateuch or the book of moses in the. Five books the jews call the first five books of the bible are called the torah. Pentateuch 1 pentateuch reading guide and assignments there is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern booksif the average student wants to find out something about platonism, the very last thing he thinks of doing. A final reason that one must defend the mosaic authorship of the pentateuch, instead of sitting by idly and claiming that it doesnt really matter who wrote it, is because jesus himself acknowledged that the law came from moses. Pentateuch, it is imperative that we briefly consider this very popular theory. A critical assessment of the grafwellhausen documentary. More recent models include the supplementary hypothesis and the fragmentary hypothesis. In his famous treatise, conjectures concerning the original memoranda which it appears moses used to compose the book of genesis.
The same man whose scholarship literally unlocked the key to the scriptures was reportedly described by voltaire as, miser, debauche, and possessed with the devil. Yhwh and elohim generic god as the key to genesis composition. The jedp theory found its roots in jean astruc 16841766, who speculated that moses used existing written or oral sources in constructing genesis. This word originally meant to shoot, but it eventually came to mean direction. Eichhorn was followed by karl david ilgen 17681834 who in 1798 came to believe that the divine names were insufficient criteria for doing critical analysis. It comprises about half of genesis and small parts. Introduction to the hebrew bible, third edition the torah. Tractatus theologicopoliticus that the pentateuch and the following books, down to kings, were compiled by ezra after the babylonian exile.
In 1753, french physician jean astruc drew attention to some of these differences and proposed that moses used written sources in composing the pentateuch. Then came the french physician, jean astruc, who published a work in 1753 entitled conjectures about the original memoranda it appears which moses used to compose the book of genesis. Jean astruc wikipedia bahasa indonesia, ensiklopedia bebas. J, the yahwistic source, uses the divine name the lord yahweh. The distinguishing of the pentateuchal sources stated with jean astruc in 1753, he imagined that moses might have to do plagiarism by using other sources for the compilation of the pentateuch, and to distinguish the sources moses used, he had to introduce the divine names elohim and jehovah in the book of. Jean astruc was neither a theologian nor an archaeologist of the scripture, but a french medical doctor who lived within the period of 1684 to 1766. The first theory began with the speculations of jean astruc 16841766, who maintained that moses, the traditional writer of the pentateuch, must have used existing written or oral sources in constructing genesis. 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. Even though the books of the pentateuch themselves do not clearly identify the author, there are many passages that attribute them to moses or as being his words exodus 17. While various suggestions were made as to who wrote what parts of the pentateuch, it was jean astruc, a french physician who, in a 1753 work entitled conjectures, proposed that genesis and other places in the old testament can be divided based on the name for god used.
Then in 1823 eichhorn denied the mosaic authorship editorship of the pentateuch. Astruc s immediate predecessors were le clerc clericus, richard simon, fleury, and francois. By analyzing a the use of different names of god, b stylistic differences, and c patterns, astruc saw clues of a composite or editorial structure. Jan 26, 2014 the death of the documentary hypothesis. Still, the covenant with abraham is foundational to our understanding of gods relationship to. Astruc claimed that the deity was known by two different names, yahve yahweh and elohim. Genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, and deuteronomy. Development of the documentary hypothesis c arls td.
Anderson and terry giles society of biblical literature. Jean astruc sauve, france, 19 march 1684 paris, 5 may 1766 was a professor of medicine at montpellier and paris, who wrote the first great treatise on syphilis and venereal diseases, and also, with a small anonymously published book, played a fundamental part in the origins of critical textual analysis of works of the bible. Uz v staroveku bolo mojzisovo autorstvo sporne, takisto v stredoveku najma u zidovskeho ucenca menom abraham ben meir ibn esra, az napokon v case osvietenstva doslo k popieraniu mojzisovho autorstva hennig bernhard witter, jean astruc, j. Supposedly, the prophetic teachings concerning monotheism led. The pentateuch mark vincent menucha bible school, 2008. Lecture 1 pentateuch overview s headhearthand blog. Jean astruc 16841766 expressed the view that two separate sources appear in the book of genesis, one that used elohim god and the other the divine. Others followed, notably eichhorn who in 1780 added other criteria for separating sources determining which parts of the pentateuch came from which sources and. Astruc was the first to offer an explanation of the character and mutual relations of these documents. The samaritan pentateuch an introduction to its origin, history, and significance for biblical studies by robert t. Jean astruc, one of the learned men of france in the 18th century, shared scholarship and interest in the humanities with almost every segment of the medical sciences. French professor of medicine and court physician of louis xv. In the past few hundred years, the bible has been under severe attack by scientific and philosophical skeptics of all sorts. As the title shows, astruc s proposal was not very radical, as he did not deny mosaic authorship to genesis.
Motioning against the position of simon, astruc argued that it was moses who had compiled the pentateuch from these two sources, along with ten additional fragments. He noted that the first chapter of genesis refers to god as elohim, while the second chapter uses mostly jehovah or yahweh. I have been discussing the sources of the pentateuch, the first five books of the hebrew bibleold testament genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, deuteronomy, sometimes also called the torah or the law of moses. Yahweh passages, elohim passages, doublets, nonisraelite material. The pentateuch is the first five books of the bible that conservative bible scholars believe were mostly written by moses. To the jew the word became a technical name meaning the law.
He was born at sauve in languedoc shortly after his father, a protestant minister, accepted catholicism. Spinoza allowed, however, that ezra made use of older sources. Perhaps the portion of the bible which best demonstrates the results of the historicalliterary approach is the pentateuch. Jean astruc project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Another scholar, jean astruc 16841766 supported this when he elaborated on how god was addressed in the pentateuch. Genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, and deuteronomy, are often referred to as the pentateuch or torah. Keeping in mind the first audience of the pentateuch, the focal expression of this covenant is the sinaitic covenant which grows out of the promises made to abraham. Jean astruc 16841766 expressed the view that two separate sources appear in the book of genesis, one. Pentateuch were written at a late date as an attempt to bring support to this viewpoint, not because it was there all along. This theory originated with jean astruc, a french physician, who, by the way, did not deny the mosaic authorship of the pentateuch.
The term is used interchangeably with torah which refers either to the five books of moses or pentateuch or to the entirety of judaisms founding legal and ethical religious texts. Introduction in the field of old testament studies, one of the areas of concern for all scholars whether they be conservative or liberal is the matter of higher criticism. But, in either case, the quest for anonymous authors created tension with the traditional teaching that the torah was written by moses and thus contained one unified message. In fact, one of the key fathers of source criticism referenced by berman, the french physician jean astruc 16841786, believed it was moses who combined the two. Karl heinrich graf and abraham kuenen establish a chronological order. A major advance in the study of the pentateuch is credited to jean astruc, a convert to catholicism who became private physician to king louis xv. Jean astruc observes multiple names for the divinity in the pentateuch. Jean astruc, who in 1753 published a book entitled conjectures concerning the original memoranda which it appears moses used to compose the book of genesis. Introduction most christians have been taught in sunday school that moses wrote the first five books of the bible. Pentateuch oxford research encyclopedia of religion. I spent time talking about the french physician jean astruc and the lutheran pastor bernhard witter who were among some of the earliest writers on the documentary hypothesis of the pentateuch.
Professor of oriental and old testament literature in princeton theological seminary 1895 edition published by charles scribners sons. Jean astruc 16841766, a medical doctor from paris and father of source criticism, first postulated two sources behind the mosaic work of genesis on the basis of 1 the shift in divine names yahweh and elohim and 2 duplicate accounts. As the title shows, astrucs proposal was not very radical, as he did not deny mosaic authorship to genesis. The higher criticism of the pentateuch gordon college. Apologetics press mosaic authorship of the pentateuch. More recently, it has been thought that many of the constitutions or laws contained in the pentateuch had parallels outside the bible going back much further than the dates ascribed to the documents themselves and that many of the stories of the pentateuch presupposed a background that was different fromand older thanthe one from. He did divide the book into two main sources and ten small documents, however.
Alert to the differences in the uses of the names for god in the torah, elohim and jehovah, astruc suggested that moses wrote genesis and exodus in 4 columns, 2 of which were distinguished by using different names for god. Jean astruc sauve, france, 19 march 1684 paris, 5 may 1766 was a professor of medicine at montpellier and paris, who wrote the first great treatise on syphilis and venereal diseases, and also, with a small anonymously published book, played a. In 1753, a french physician named jean astruc began the modern study of source or literary analysis by writing a commentary on the book of genesis. Jeanfrancois champollion deciphers egyptian hieroglyphics for the first time. Eichhorn accepted astruc s imagination on the pentateuch in 178183.
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