Is Moses the Author of the Torah?
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
In fundamentalist traditions of
faith it is taken for granted that Moses was the author of the Torah. The
Rambam even declared that Moses was the sole author of the Torah who wrote it
down as directly dictated to him letter for letter by God. This bold assertion
by the Rambam doesn't hold up to scrutiny though and previous to the Rambam the
Talmud declared that the authorship of Moses doesn't apply to the last eight
verses of Deuteronomy which describe in detail the death of Moses (b. Baba
Batra 15a). Later, Rabbis would also exclude other verses from being
penned by Moses such as Ibn Ezra (1089-1164) who wrote in regard to
Genesis 12:6:
“and the
Canaanites were then in the land,” “It would seem that the Canaanites took
the land of Canaan from a different group, but if this is not correct, then
there is a secret here, and the wise will remain silent.”… “If you
understand the secret of the twelve—as well as ‘and Moses wrote’ (Deut. 31:22),
‘and the Canaanites were then in the land’ (Gen. 12:6), ‘on the mountain God
will appear’ (Gen. 22:14), ‘here is his iron bed’ (Deut. 3:11) – you will
recognize the truth.”
The Tzafenat Pa’aneach—a
commentary on Ibn Ezra by R. Joseph ben Eliezer Bonfils (14th cent.),
explains the Ibn Ezra’s secret:
“…the meaning is
this: How could [the Torah] use the word “then” in this context, which implies
that [the Canaanites were there] then but that they are not there now. But
didn’t Moses write the Torah and in his time the Canaanites ruled the land? It
makes no sense for Moses to write “then.” Reason dictates that the word “then”
could only have been written at a time when the Canaanites were not occupying
the land, and we know that the Canaanites were not removed from the land until
after Moses’ death during the conquest of Joshua. According to this, Moses did
not write this word here, rather Joshua or one of the later prophets wrote it…”
So what is going on here? The
commentary is stating that the word "then" in the Torah verse (Gen.
12:6) does not seem like a grammatical style being used by a present witness
(Moses) experiencing a present reality (Caananites in the Land), rather the
verse it apparently a later author writing about a past experience which would
undoubtedly make Moses not the author of this verse.
Other Rabbis, such as Radak (1160-1235), Hizkuni (13th cent.), and R. Judah the Pious (1140-1217) also interpreted many other verses in the Torah as not being penned by Moses and they attributed most of the verses to the editing Scribes of the Great Assembly.
The Torah never actually states
that it was written by Moses. There are a few verses sporadically taken out of
context which state that Moses wrote down some words of the Law and also read
these words to the community of Israel. For example, “And Moses wrote all
the words of YHVH” (Exodus 24:4). “And he took the book of the covenant,
and read in the audience of the people” (Exodus 24:7). “And YHVH said to
Moses, ‘Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a
covenant with you and with Israel’” (Exodus 34:27). In light of these
verses it would seem rather bizarre to assert that these early readings of a
Law in Exodus should represent a reading and writing of the whole Torah through
to Deuteronomy. Some Rabbis assert that this is exactly what is being implied
and they point out that Moses accomplished this feat via prophecy. Therefore,
according to those who want to maintain a fundamentalist view of Mosaic
authorship for the entire Torah, we have to have faith that Moses wrote the whole
Torah on Sinai by dictation from God who gave Moses prophetic insight into
every detail which was impossible for him to know. Is this a rational position
to affirm or should we consider that Moses did not receive the whole Torah on
Sinai nor did the words he write or the Laws he read in Exodus represent an
exhaustive and complete rendition of the Torah as we have it today? The Torah
is rather a progressive revelation and process of writing that transpired over
time.
Other assertions used to support
Mosaic authorship is the argument that throughout the Tanakh the Torah is
referred to as the "Books of Moses," indicating that Mosaic
authorship has always been a given. However the term "Books of
Moses," and/or "Torah of Moses," no more demonstrates authorship
than the title "Book of Job" indicates authorship by Job; nor does
the "Book of Kings" indicate that this work was written by Kings. The
"Books of Moses" indicate a collection of books wherein Moses is
depicted as a primary character in the narrative.
Further, we must consider that
the Torah's accounts of Moses are not written as a first person account as we
would expect rather Moses is referred to in the third-person from start to
finish. Even the great speck of Moses to the Israelites in the opening of Deuteronomy
is recorded as: "These are the words that Moses addressed to all the
people of Israel." The wording of the previous verses we
refered to: Exodus 24:4, "And Moses wrote…" and the wording in Exodus
24:7, "And he took…" are written as a story about Moses in the
third-person. Someone is writing about Moses- Moses is not writing about
himself.
We have to also consider that
there are persons, places and things mentioned in the Torah that Moses could
not have known anything about. For example, the Edomite Kings listed in Genesis
36 didn't exist until after the death of Moses. There are things written about
the Land of Israel and Moses never entered the Land of Israel to obtain
first-hand information. The Torah talks about Philistines but the Philistines didn't
exist during the time of Moses rather they appeared on the coasts of Canaan
around 1200 BCE.
Other anomalies that point to a
later composition of the Torah (specifically Deuteronomy) is the apparent
statement in Deuteronomy 34 where the writer states:
"There
never arose another prophet in Israel like Moses."
How could Moses or any other
contemporaneous author write that no other prophet arose in Israel like Moses
when the author is supposed to be writing at a time before they were ever in
Israel?
One final observation must also
be considered from Numbers 12:3:
“Now Moses was
a very humble man, more so than any other man on earth…”
If Moses is writing about himself
in the third-person testifying to his own humility then Moses wasn't very
humble at all! This verse solidifies that obvious- the Torah is
"about" Moses it is not "by" Moses.
It is imperative that the Torah
be read in its correct context and not in an imaginative setting of fantastic
impossibility. Nothing of value can be drawn from a text when the interpreter
is ignorant of the basic origin and composition of the text.
These texts are valuable and can teach us many things. I often wonder why some people believe religious texts would be stripped of their value because of who wrote them or if they are written fact or allegory.
Thank you