by jimwalton » Sat Jun 17, 2023 9:30 pm
There are several pieces to this. First of all, it's safe to assume Moses would have been literate, having been raised in Pharaoh's household. It has also been proved by archaeologists that alphabets and writing existed during his era. so there's no reason on those accounts to disqualify Moses as possibly the person who wrote them down.
Second, the first five books say over and over hundreds of times, "And the Lord said to Moses...". From that evidence, it's reasonable to claim that the books were written by Moses over the course of his 40 years with Israel, and that God was the source of them. He didn't write them all down in 40 days (that was probably only the book of the covenant, Exodus 21-24).
Third, we know that the form of the books we have now were not from Moses. Hebrew as a language didn't exist in the era of Moses; Hebrew did not evolve as a language until around the time of David, roughly 400 years later. From that evidence, it's reasonable to claim that Moses wrote in a different language, and sometime long after his death his writings were assembled and translated and put into somewhat of the form we now see.
Fourth, we know that the books have been edited since they were first written down. There are some terms and expressions that give evidence of having been written later. From that evidence, it's reasonable to see Moses as the authority behind the books but not the author of every word that is there.
Fifth, there are a few times in the first five books where it mentions a written book, and there are certainly references in Joshua about a book that Moses wrote. The writers of the Bible were of the perspective that Moses wrote down what God told him to write. Paul tells us (2 Tim. 3.16) that all Scripture is God-breathed, and Peter tells us that the Holy Spirit was behind the writings, so we have theological reason to believe that what he wrote down was from God.
In conclusion (and I know I have just been brief here), we can perceive God as the source of the writings, Moses as the authority behind them, a compiler and translator centuries later, and later edits through the centuries, all superintended by God so that these writings are considered to be God-breathed.
I left a lot to talk about, so let's talk more.
There are several pieces to this. First of all, it's safe to assume Moses would have been literate, having been raised in Pharaoh's household. It has also been proved by archaeologists that alphabets and writing existed during his era. so there's no reason on those accounts to disqualify Moses as possibly the person who wrote them down.
Second, the first five books say over and over hundreds of times, "And the Lord said to Moses...". From that evidence, it's reasonable to claim that the books were written by Moses over the course of his 40 years with Israel, and that God was the source of them. He didn't write them all down in 40 days (that was probably only the book of the covenant, Exodus 21-24).
Third, we know that the form of the books we have now were not from Moses. Hebrew as a language didn't exist in the era of Moses; Hebrew did not evolve as a language until around the time of David, roughly 400 years later. From that evidence, it's reasonable to claim that Moses wrote in a different language, and sometime long after his death his writings were assembled and translated and put into somewhat of the form we now see.
Fourth, we know that the books have been edited since they were first written down. There are some terms and expressions that give evidence of having been written later. From that evidence, it's reasonable to see Moses as the authority behind the books but not the author of every word that is there.
Fifth, there are a few times in the first five books where it mentions a written book, and there are certainly references in Joshua about a book that Moses wrote. The writers of the Bible were of the perspective that Moses wrote down what God told him to write. Paul tells us (2 Tim. 3.16) that all Scripture is God-breathed, and Peter tells us that the Holy Spirit was behind the writings, so we have theological reason to believe that what he wrote down was from God.
In conclusion (and I know I have just been brief here), we can perceive God as the source of the writings, Moses as the authority behind them, a compiler and translator centuries later, and later edits through the centuries, all superintended by God so that these writings are considered to be God-breathed.
I left a lot to talk about, so let's talk more.