Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

> I think what some are missing is the simple fact that the books of the
> Hebrew Bible NEVER claim authorship by anyone!  Anywhere!  The
> superscriptions are centuries later.
>
> Jim
>
Jim, I think that depends what you mean when you say "wrote". I don't think
that such passages like "The vision of Isaiah..." (1:1) or "The vision of
Obadiah" etc., not to mention "These are the words that were spoken by
Moses" in Deut. 1:1. The are hardly "superscriptions" from "centuries later"
than the books' original composition. Now, it's true that most (or even all)
of these refer to speaking, but they do imply that those books are the words
said by the prophet, and, by implication, written either by him or by
someone at his request. And what about Solomon's three books. The authorship
is implied several times in each. And Esther 9:20 ff. implies that "this
Purim letter" was written by Esther and Mordechai.

Now, you can claim that these books are pseudoepigraphal, you can disbeleive
the claims, you can claim later editing and redaction. All of that is
legitimate and well-accepted scholarship. But you can't deny that some books
do CLAIM to have been either written or dictated by certain people.

Merry Christmas,

Yigal