There are other examples in Scripture that lend some credibility to the idea that Moses saw his coming death and wrote about the circumstances. We can answer this question in a number of ways. It means hearing it, understanding it, and above all, being impacted by it. 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. "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into 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. 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. "Philip found Nathana-el, and said to him, 'We have . A second answer comes from the writings of the first century Jewish historian, Josephus. These two ways of dividing Genesis are not the same at all. 36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. It could be today. Earlier this year, we released another volume in the landmark The Story of God Bible Commentary series, written by none other than venerable Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman III. They assumed that Israel's religion was simply the invention of man, a product of evolution, as all other religions are. Astruc basically questioned, as others had before him, how Moses knew what happened prior to his own life, (i.e., the history recorded in Genesis). 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. Second, as mentioned in the Biblical Science Institute article, we can also find archaeological evidence that confirms the events that happen in the Pentateuch, such as the walls of Jericho. Answer (1 of 8): Ok so we have seen that Moses could have written Exodus through Deuteronomy based upon his own eyewitness testimony. Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of . Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. But let's assume for moment that it was referring to the region Dan, where Israelites, who were from the tribe of Dan settled. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. Proud member Table 1. 43 I have come in my Fathers name, and you do not receive me. Jesus said, "He who hears My word, and . This oral version of Genesis goes all the way back to roughly 2000 BC in Mesopotamia. Moses wrote Genesis 4 and 5 to show them that they needed to follow the line of Seth, not the line of Cain. Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet, Vetus Testamentum in Novo patet. Several other books of the Pentateuch include passages that mention Moses recording events and writing down what God says. As Paul says in Romans 3:4,"Let God be true and every man a liar.". First, we cannot discount supernatural revelation. 1. In this post I will cite the texts where it is clearly stated that Jesus is the One whom Moses, as well as the rest of the prophets, spoke and wrote of. Moses wrote the first five books of scripture [Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy] and Psalm 90. We are told that he was trained in all the wisdom and knowledge of Egypt. Our English Bibles translate toledoth variously as "this is the account" or "these are the generations" of Adam, Noah, Shem, etc. Jesus said "If you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. These are the three implications. Nowhere in the Pentateuch is an author named, not Moses or any other person. Copyright 2020 HarperCollins Publishers. 3. We can, with a high percentage of certainty say that John wrote the Gospel of John and that Joshua wrote the Book of Joshua. Verse Concepts. In this final post on the issue of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, I want to examine a couple items in the New Testament. Genesis 14:1415"Now when Abram heard that his brother19 was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. In John 1:34, John the Baptist says, I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. In John 3:11, Jesus says, We speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen. John 3:32 says, He bears witness to what he has seen and heard. And John 19:35 says, He who saw it has borne witness.. ., 2 Chronicles 25:4Yet he did not put their children to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded . St. There are many reasons to reject this skeptical attack on the Bible. Moses the great leader of Israel, the man of God, was a type of Jesus. 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. . They still do not necessarily mean that Moses wrote every word, but they do imply a belief that Moses had an integral connection with the composition of the Pentateuch. God blessed the descendants of Abraham, and all peoples on earth have been blessed through them . 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. Jesus Christ was greater than Moses. Wellhausen put dates to the alleged four sources and none were earlier than around 900 BC.10 As noted Old Testament scholar, Gleason Archer remarks, "Although Wellhausen contributed no innovations to speak of, he restated the documentary theory with great skill and persuasiveness, supporting the JEDP sequence upon an evolutionary basis."11. Yet John also reveals that this came earlierin Genesis, with Abraham. Moses was a Hebrew. 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. Share This Verse: ., Nehemiah 13:1On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people . On the other extreme are those who say that Moses wrote none of the Pentateuch, but rather the Pentateuch was composed much later than the time the Bible purported that he lived (if, in the minds of some, he lived at all). Along with other documentation mentioned in the book, such as the account of Terah, the account of Noah, etc. Most of the authorship of Scripture goes uncontested. And there was evening, and there was morning the sixth day., Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.. He says, The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed (Galatians 3:8). It is interesting that Moses is never mentioned in the book even as the person writing things down. Ibn Ezra was a very influential Jewish rabbi in the twelfth century AD. The Old Testament mentions him 767 times, making him one of the most prominent people in the Old Testament. Heres a quick survey to give you a sense of how important the witness of Scripture is for John. Jesus Was Greater than Moses One final point needs to be emphasized. Specifically, he thought that Genesis 1:12:3 was one creation account and Genesis 2:424 was a different creation account. In John 7:42, the enemies of Jesus draw attention to the fact that the Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem, referring to Micah 5:2, because they didnt think thats where Jesus was born. Isaiah states that the Messiah would be "cut off from the land of the living" (Isaiah 53:8), that his death would be a sacrifice for our sins (Isaiah 53:5, 10-12) and afterward he would "prolong his days" (Isaiah 53:10). Second, as mentioned in the Answers in Genesis article, not only does the Pentateuch confirm Moses authorship, but the rest of the Bible, including the New Testament does as well. The Israelites were proud of their history and made sure to spend meticulous efforts on getting every detail right. Isaiah is witnessing to the glory of Jesus because when he saw the glory of God revealed from heaven, he was seeing the glory of Jesus. In this case, Lot was Abraham's brother's son, i.e., Abraham's nephew. but I say unto you"Jesus settled whatever disputes existed between Torah and its application. 41:49 - What does Jesus mean, "Moses wrote of me". Genesis 14:14 mentions Dan. (2) He received the information by direct revelation. From the base of peran; properly, through, i.e. Postmosaica are passages that had to be written after the death of Moses, and of course, the most obvious postmosaica is the account of his death in Deuteronomy 34. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA, and the Google Renowned Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman III tackles this question in his video series on the book of Genesis. Four of them are Greek words, and one of them, Numbers, is a Latin word. That was Jesus view. Genesis 1:27 "So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created . 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. - American Standard Version (1901) . 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. Jesus said that Moses wrote about Him: If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. From here, the door flew open to profess that other portions of the Law were not written by Moses. In fact, Jesus insisted this has always been the truth behind the Torah. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:1112). . Favorite Verses in Genesis. 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. And note that, in this case, we're using the terms "letters" and "books" interchangeably.) For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. Answer (1 of 13): There is no doubt that early Jewish and Christian tradition, is virtually unanimous in ascribing Genesis through Deuteronomy to Moses. Seminary courses, theology books, introductions to the Pentateuch in Bibles, and the secular media have promoted the man-made idea that Moses did not write the Pentateuch (also known as the Law or Torah). So a witness is ordinarily one who has seen something and can witness to what he has seen. The postmosaica indicate that there were also editorial additions. Genesis has sparked a great deal of debate among scientists and scholars, ranging from the literal vs. figurative days of creation to the genealogical lines. In other words, Gentiles who believe in Jesus the Messiah are included in the blessing of Abraham. 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). Did Moses have little or nothing to do with the writing of the book of Genesis or the rest of the Pentateuch? Who wrote Genesis? In other words, this book talks about the beginning of the world, the beginning of God's nation . What about the cases where Genesis appears to be borrowing from Ancient world mythology? And there are no ancient Jewish commentaries that mention any of these imaginary documents or their alleged unnamed authors. The Book of Genesis (from Greek , Gnesis; Hebrew: Bret, "In [the] beginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. The verse states that all Scripture is God-breathed, and this includes earlier sections of Genesis. Considering he wrote these books thousands of years after the events, this bolsters the support for the veracity of Genesis. . Instructor: A witness gives firsthand evidence. Not only is there abundant biblical witness that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, Moses was fully qualified to write the Pentateuch. So what does it mean when John calls the Old Testament Scriptures a witness to Jesus? But he was, and that too pointed to his truth. In Genesis 14:14 the narrator reports that Abram chased the four ancient Near Eastern kings who kidnapped Lot as far as Dan. This reference to the city of Dan is a postmosaica because this city, earlier called Laish, was not named Dan until the time of the Judges (see Judges 18), and of course the name derived from the tribe of Dan, named after Jacobs son Dan, Abrahams great grandson. You know neither me nor my Father.. 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. Were on a mission to change that. Take note of some the references back to Moses' work. jesus said moses wrote genesis. 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. So the entire Old Testament is precious to Christians, because all Christians are counted by God as true Jewsbeneficiaries of all the promises made to the covenant people. With this in mind, we turn now to references to the book of the law of Moses or the book of Moses (with variants) found in biblical books that follow the Pentateuch. Help us share the truth of Gods Word and the gospel! Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural. During their captivity in Babylon, the Hebrews . The New Testament attributes all the books from Genesis through Deuteronomy as being the writings of Moses. of Because of the strong oral tradition and duty of the Jewish people to preserve their roots, not much could have changed in the accounts throughout that time. Jesus taught this when he said, I tell you, many will come from east and west [meaning Gentiles] and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. read more. Various sections of the Pentateuch are assigned to various authors who are identified by the letters J, E, D, and P. Hence, it is called the documentary hypothesis (or the JEDP model3). From there, and after hundreds of years of slavery, we pick up the story in Exodus. These are stellar confirmations by Jesus that Moses is the true and only writer of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These postmosaica establish a principle that later inspired editors/redactors can contribute to the writing of the Pentateuch. Verse Concepts. Lets close by looking at three of these. In the following discussion, whatever we say about the Pentateuch pertains to the book of Genesis, though we will also on occasion refer specifically to the book of Genesis. So knowing that kings were coming was already common knowledge to Moses. Moses wrote Genesis from conversations he had with God, so the author is technically God. While Abraham is Israel's ancestor, Moses is often considered its founder, for his role in establishing Israel as a . Would this be a problem for Moses? Such a claim is without warrant. Genesis, or otherwise known as Bereshith, means "in the beginning.". 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 . This will refute any attempt of claiming that Muhammad was the prophet that Moses predicted. Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular. He was there. Several lines of evidence should lead us to reject the documentary hypothesis as a fabrication of unbelievers. No. There are passages in Genesis that Moses could not have written, because they describe events that happened after his death, known as postmosaica passages. 5:50. Christians who believe Moses wrote the Pentateuch do not need to feel intellectually intimidated. First, we can analyze extra-biblical texts such as the works of the historian Josephus. The Old Testament is precious to Christians because its a book about Gods work with Israel in preparation for the Messiah who would come not only to save Israel but to save the world from the power and punishment of sin. A final reason for rejecting the documentary hypothesis and accepting the biblical testimony to the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch is the erroneous assumptions and reasoning of the liberal scholars and other skeptics. 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. In this case, the name associated with the toledoth is either the author or custodian of that section (see for example, Table 2 below). When we come to the New Testament, however, these references are more likely to refer to the final form of the Pentateuch. In either case, we know the book is about 3,000 plus years old. At most Jesus admits that through Moses came this com-mandment. While some people believe that Moses wrote everything in the Pentateuch except a handful of postmosaica, the postmosaica may only be the tip of the iceberg. A "Hebrew" is anyone who is descended from "Eber" (Ever in Hebrew), an ancestor of Abraham and Moses (See Genesis 10:24). John 7:21-22 - 21 Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel. The authors of the New Testamentand even Jesus himselfappear to credit Moses as the author of Genesis. For he wrote of me.--See the marginal references; but the thought is not to be confined to these passages. Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. In the New Testament, Jesus and the Apostles make the same claim that Moses wrote the stories of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (Matthew 19:8; Mark 12:26; Acts 3:22; Romans . This was essentially a divine research project and history book. Scholars disagree about whether each toledoth follows or precedes the text with which it is associated, though we are inclined to agree with those scholars who conclude the former. My thoughts were: And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. ., 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 . The five books of Moses are liberally sprinkled with symbolic references to Jesus. This means thousands of years of Jewish tradition would have upheld this position. . These divisions represent either oral tradition or written texts passed down by the Genesis patriarchs to their descendants,15 which Moses then used to put Genesis into its final form under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Even though a great many scholars and much of the public have accepted this view, is it really true? A similar obituary of Joshua was added by an inspired editor to the end of Joshua's book (Joshua 24:2933). The author of the book of Jasher and the time period of which it was originally written is a mystery, but it is validated as authoritative in several references in the Bible: II Samuel 1:18, Joshua 9, and Joshua 10:13. Only evolutionary thinking would lead us to conclude that Adam and his descendants could not write. Second, we also have evidence throughout Scripture, writes Don Stewart, of tradition being passed down from specific prayers of Abraham to the bones of Joseph. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Get updates from Zondervan Academic directly in your inbox. To date, no manuscript evidence of the J-document, E-document, P-document, D-document, or any of the other supposed fragments have ever been discovered. You will have already known him. More than 1400 of her works have been featured in various publications. . For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. You're almost done! Your newsletter signup did not work out. In the minds of the Jewish people, "Scepter" was . From ekei; that one (neuter) thing); often intensified by the article prefixed. The Genesis course, taught by Tremper Longman III, illuminates the book of Genesis in light of the Bibles grand story. Theirs was a "pick and choose" approach to studying the Bible, which is hardly honest scholarship in pursuit of truth. John shows us this three times. The theme of the entire Bible is Christ. So when John says about the Scriptures in 5:39, It is they that bear witness about me, he means that God knew Jesus perfectly and fullyas it were face to faceand that he inspired these Scriptures, and through the Scriptures revealed Jesus. Genesis 12:2-3 For more on this topic, see Henry Morris, The record of Esau's descendants contains a. As noted before, my position is that "law of Moses" is an appropriate designation for the Torah/Pentateuch despite sound evidence that Moses did not write all or even most of it (see here).This position is akin to the phrase "Psalm of David" (le-dawid) very . 1.He Was Qualified. Jesus said (to fulfill the Scripture), I thirst (John 19:28=Psalm 69:21). It refers to the beginning of creation as recorded in Genesis 1. The apostles also give testimony to the authorship of Moses. Most people in the world have no experience of lasting joy in their lives. Jesus said in John 5:4243, But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. After all, the book takes up 50 whole chapters in the Bible, so well briefly summarize some of the major events that take place in the book. Salem Media Group. - New American Standard Version (1995) For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me. It is too obviously the product of more than one author, writing at different times and places. . is mentioned more.). He knew that Genesis says Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day of creation. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured . It will all be fulfilled. They were implicitly Deistic or atheistic in their thinking. For all of them witness to him and speak of him. In the past few hundred years, the Bible has been under severe attack by scientific and philosophical skeptics of all sorts. The Bible also records a life-changing decision . Moses wrote Genesis after 1440 B.C." Promises in Genesis. 18:43 - 2 - Moses wrote of prophesies that were to be fulfilled by Christ. 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. Two things can be said in response. To move the account from Abraham to Moses would require only four more generations. Those writings were endorsed by Jesus and the New Testament apostles, who based their teaching and the truth of the gospel on the truths revealed in the books of Moses, including the truths about a literal six-day creation about 6000 years ago, the Curse on the whole creation when Adam sinned, and the judgment of the global, catastrophic Flood at the time of Noah. He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.". One complaint about the Genesis account of creation is that the first five books of the Bible, known collectively as the Pentateuch ("five-volumed book"), could not possibly have been written by Moses. . InJohn 2:17 Jesus drives out the money changers in the Temple, and John quotes Psalm 69:9 and says, His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house will consume me.. But this does bring forth the question: how would Moses know all of these things? Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. We call it the Old Testament, or Old Covenant, because we believe that the Jewish Messiah has comenamely, Jesusand by his death and resurrection has inaugurated a New Testament, that is, a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8:13; 12:24; 13:20). Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it . Galatians 2:19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. In Genesis, the narrative speaks of events that take place long before the birth of Moses. Or Moses, or Mouses of Hebrew origin; Moseus, Moses, or Mouses, the Hebrew lawgiver. . Hebrews 11 sums it up well when talking specifically about Abraham, Sarah, and their offspring: "All these people were still living by faith when they died. By David P. Diaz, Ed.D. For some, orthodoxy simply suggests that Moses wrote the whole Pentateuch, perhaps with the exception of postmosaica passages such as Genesis 11:28 and 14:14 and amosaica passage such as Numbers 12:4. These references to the Book or Law of Moses are not necessarily, and until the postexilic period are unlikely, indicating the Pentateuch in its final form as we know it, but still they attest to some body of writing that was connected to the figure of Moses.
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