Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lee R. Martin" <lmartin AT vol.com>]

Walter Mattfeld wrote:

>  If anyone turns up facts suggesting parts of the Pentateuch are later than
> Moses, no problem, he still wrote it, the bible says he did, --

Dear Walter,
You have revealed one of the most basic problems in the debate over 
authorship and
dating of the biblical texts.  It is assumed by many conservatives and
non-conservatives alike that the Bible teaches Mosaic authorship of the 
Torah.  I
would disagree with that assumption.  Certainly, the Bible speaks of the "law 
of
Moses," and states that Moses wrote some words (e.g. Exo 17:14), but those
attributions of Mosaic origin do not require that Moses wrote all of the 
material
found in the final form of the canonical books. Note also that Joshua refers 
to the
"book" (singular) of  the law of Moses.  Is it possible that the Joshua 
writer had
only one scroll?

I would caution against imposing modern standards of authorship upon ancient 
texts.
Compare, for example, the Psalms and Proverbs.  The book of Psalms is called 
the
Psalms of David, even though other authors are clearly named.  The book of 
Proverbs is
called the Proverbs of Solomon, even though other authors are named therein.  
The
pre-critical view of Scripture does seem to persist in some quarters, but I 
would not
want to argue over points that are not actually taught in Scripture.  .

Lee R. Martin
Pastor, Prospect Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee
Instructor in Hebrew and Old Testament
Church of God Theological Seminary
http://earth.vol.com/~lmartin/