Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il>]

"Lee R. Martin" wrote:

>  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.

[JSafren] An interesting suggestion. Interpreting the following passage 
(Deut. 31:9-11) in
this way, it would mean that the "Teavhing" (Heb. Torah) mentioned was 
perhaps the Book of
Deuteronomy, or the Covenant of Moab contained in it (Chs. 12-26).

9Moses wrote down this Teaching and gave it to the priests, sons of Levi, who 
carried the
Ark of the Lord‘s Covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.
10And Moses instructed them as follows: Every seventh year, the year set for 
remission, at
the Feast of Booths, 11when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your 
God in the
place that He will choose, you shall read this Teaching aloud in the presence 
of all
Israel.
Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication 
Society) 1985.

The Rabbis of the abcient Baraitha of B.T. Baba Bathra 14b-15a wrestled with 
this problem.

The above verses led to the possibility that Moses had not written the whole 
Torah. But
this view was rejected, on the grounds that the "Teaching" of 31:9 could only 
refer to the
whole of the Torah, and therefore Moses wrote the succeeding material in 
prophecy.

[Lee Martin]  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?

[JSafren] The Torah, the Law of Moses, as used in synagogues, is only one 
scroll.
So that's no problem. The problem is that Joshua WROTE the Shechem Covenant 
into the
Torah, according to Josh, 24.

Sincerely,
--
Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College
44905 Beit Berl Post Office
Israel