27. Did Moses write the Books of Moses?

Most Christians have been taught in Sunday school that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. These books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, are often referred to as the Pentateuch or Torah. However, outside of the more conservative seminaries and churches, it is commonly held that Moses did not write these books, that they are a compilation of works by numerous writers over an extended period of time. 

All quotes in this post are from Don Closson in, Did Moses Write the Pentateuch?

So, in short, the answer you would get to the question, Who wrote the Books of Moses, would depend on whom you ask.  There are five basic answers:  

1. The first, of course, is that Moses wrote the books that are attributed to him, even by Christ and other biblical authors.  The other four answers have letter designations: 
2. J; (based on the word, Jahweh), holds that the books were written about 950 BCE, about 450 years after Moses's death.
3. E; (based on the word, Elohist), holds that the books were written about 750 BCE.
4. D; called this because of the contents of Deuteronomy, written about 650 BCE.
5. P; is The Priestly document, holds that the Pentateuch was written after the Jewish exile in 586 BCE.

As I have said earlier, I am basically a literalist, and if the Bible says something I tend to take it at face value.  Yet, at the same time, common sense must prevail, and an honest person must be willing to look at counter-arguments.

As a literalist one can point out Bible verses such as:

Exodus 34:27, "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.'" 

In Matthew 19:8 Jesus refers to laws regarding marriage in Deuteronomy and credits Moses with writing them. 

In John 7:19 Jesus says, "If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me." 

In Romans 10:5 Paul states that Moses wrote the law.

So with these Bible references in mind, it seems like a valid conclusion that Moses wrote the Torah.  However, there are a few arguments against that conclusion.

1. In Exodus 34:27 when the LORD said to Moses, Write down these words, the Lord was speaking of the moral rules and religious instructions which He had given Moses on Mt. Sinai.
2. This same thought also holds in Romans 10:5, For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law.  Note, that even though Moses recorded the laws for the Israelites, he did not write down the ten commandments.  And when He (Jehovah) had made an end of speaking with him (Moses) on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. Ex. 31:18 the Ten Commandments; ... He (Jehovah) wrote them on two tablets of stone. Deut. 4:13.
3. Moses recorded the precepts he received on Mount Sinai but that did not necessarily include all the history and activity, which are recorded in the Torah, which were going on among the Israelites at that time.  So these verses, and others like it, do not tell us that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible; they say only that he recorded the law. 

Don Closson continues, It would be hard not to attribute either deception or error to Christ and the apostles if Moses did not write the Pentateuch.   The Jews held that the Torah was written by Moses, and when Christ referred to those writings, as being by Moses, He simply could have used the common idiom, without even implying a factual statement.  

Other arguments against the idea that Moses wrote all of the Torah are:

1. If he was the only writer of the Torah, why would he have recorded the creation story twice, with different facts?

2. Most of the Book of Numbers is written in the third person.  If Moses was the writer, why would he write, The Lord spoke to Moses.? Num. 20:23. 

Or, in another example, The writer states, Then they journeyed. Num. 21:4.  As though the writer was not part of the group.  This could even have been written hundreds of years after the events happened.

3. If Moses wrote all of Deuteronomy, why would he, while he was on Mount Pisgah, looking at the promised land, just before his death, write the following And the Lord showed him (Moses) all the land of Gilead. Deut. 34:1.

• The writer speaks of Moses as him (third person).  So the writer was not Moses.
• The writer says that Moses saw as far as Dan, and the names of the places of some other tribes, but the tribes were still all East of Jordan. It certainly sounds as if Deuteronomy 34 was written after the tribes had settled in Canaan, and therefore, could not have been written by Moses.

4. If Moses wrote all five books of the Torah, how could he record his own death in Deuteronomy 34?

A belief among many Jewish Rabbis is that Jehovah inspired the first four books of the Pentateuch and that Moses wrote the book of Deuteronomy on his own.  This idea, though, does not explain any of the four points mentioned above.

Those who accept the "J" theory argue that the content of these books should be seen as a mixture of credible historical events and religious poetry sparked by man's religious imagination.  

Holders of this view reject the notion of supernatural revelation.  If we reject supernatural revelation for the Books of Moses, we are certainly free to reject supernatural revelation for any, or all, of the Bible.

Even though the Bible claims divine inspiration for itself, is it not quite feasible that the fundamentalist churches have, by far, exaggerated the meaning of that teaching.

There was a situation in which there was a Bible lying on a coffee table and someone was about to put another book on top of the Bible.  The attending grandmother was aghast that anyone would be brazen enough to put anything on top of the Holy Book.  

In that story, it sounds as if the Bible has taken the place that belongs to Jehovah only.  We must be careful not to worship the printed word.  At best, it is a guide book only; it does not deserve our worship.