Moses' Authorship & Editors

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Introduction

Jews and Christians have long believed that Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Jews call these books the Torah (H8451, "Law" or "Instruction") and Christians call them the Pentateuch (Greek for "Five Scrolls"). Conservative scholars study these books using the historical-grammatical method, focusing on their internal evidence to understand their meaning as the original authors intended.

Some modern scholars challenge this view. They argue that four authors—Yahwist (J), Elohist (E), Deuteronomist (D), and Priestly (P)—composed the Pentateuch, a theory known as the Documentary Hypothesis. These scholars use the historical-critical method, comparing the Bible with external evidence such as archaeology and cultural history to support their conclusions. This article examines both approaches while defending the traditional belief that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, even if later editors added notes or clarifications.

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Biblical Evidence of Moses' Authorship

They point out that the Pentateuch contains several verses stating that Moses wrote it under God's authority (Exod. 17:14, 24:3–4, 7, 32:7–10, 30–34, 34:27; Lev. 26:46, 27:34; Deut. 31:9, 24–25). After these books, the Old Testament consistently affirms that Moses authored the Torah (Josh. 8:31–32; 1 Kings 2:3; Jer. 7:22; Ezra 6:18; Neh. 8:1; Mal. 4:4).

The historical books from Joshua to Ezra consistently refer to the Torah as the "Book of the Law of Moses." Some skeptics challenge this to question its authenticity. However, these texts repeatedly show that the Israelites knew and observed the Law of Moses. They celebrated Passover during the times of Joshua, Hezekiah, Josiah, and Zerubbabel (Josh. 4:19, 5:10; 2 Chron. 30; 2 Kings 23; 2 Chron. 35; Ezra 6:19–22). The Old Testament also mentions Passover (Hebrew: Pesach, H6453), the Feast of Tabernalces (Hebrew: Sukkot, H5521), and other Jewish feasts (1 Kings 9:25, 2 Kings 23:22, and 2 Chron. 8:13, 35:18). The phrase "Law of Moses" appears in numerous texts throughout the historical books (1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 14:6; 2 Chron. 23:18, 25:4, 34:14; Ezra 3:2, 7:6; and Dan. 9:11, 13). Moses likely wrote most of the Pentateuch during Israel's forty-year desert journey, around 1446–1406 BC.

The New Testament writers affirmed that Moses wrote the Torah (Matt. 22:24; Acts 15:21). Jesus himself referenced Moses' authorship throughout his teaching (Matt. 5:17–18, 19:8, 22:31–32, 23:2; Mark 10:9, 12:26; Luke 16:31, 20:37, 24:26–27, 44; John 3:14, 5:45–47, 6:32, 49, 7:19, 22). His very identity as the Messiah of God and Israel depended on the divine authority of the Law given through Moses: "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him" (Deut. 18:15; cf. Acts 3:22). Nearly all New Testament authors were Jewish, except Luke, and they understood themselves as part of Israel's continuing story.

Mick Haupt

Biblical Evidence of Later Editors

There is no contradiction between recognizing Moses as the author of the Pentateuch and accepting that later editors added notes or clarifications. For example, Genesis 36:31 states:

These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned." Israel did not have a king until the elders approached the prophet Samuel and said, "You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have" (1 Sam. 8:5).

God appointed Saul around 1050 BC (1 Sam. 10:1). Since Moses died before the Israelites entered the Promised Land around 1406 BC, roughly 326 years passed between his death and Saul's birth in 1080 BC. Moses, however, foresaw that Israel would eventually appoint a king (Deut. 17:14–20), even including the elders' words: "Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us" (Deut. 17:14). This may show either God inspiring harmony in Scripture or a historical coincidence. At the same time, an editor likely added the note, ". . . before any Israelite king reigned" (1 Chron. 1:43). Scholars base their chronological calculations on passages such as 1 Kings 6:1, which records, "In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the LORD." The clearest example of a later editor at work appears in the passage about Moses' death:

And Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day, no one knows where his grave is. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone (Deut. 34:5–7).

The grammar shows that Moses could not have written these verses that anticipate his own death. Still, the editor honored Moses' authorship of the Torah and his leadership over Israel.

Taylor Flowe

Documentary Hypothesis

Defenders of the Documentary Hypothesis believe the Pentateuch once included four separate and fully edited documents:

J—Jahwist identified God as Yahweh (H3068, H3069) before the formation of Israel (e.g., Exod. 6:3). Scholars place J in the southern Kingdom of Judah during Solomon's reign, around 950 BC. Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918), who developed the JEDP hypothesis, used the German form Jahwe for the divine name.

E—Elohist identified God primarily as Elohim (H430) until God revealed his personal name, Yahweh, to Moses (Exod. 3:13–15). Scholars date E to around 850 BC and associate it with the northern Kingdom of Israel.

D—Deuteronomist focused on the covenant, laws, and moral commands in Deuteronomy. Scholars generally date D to the reign of King Josiah, around 620 BC, when religious reforms emphasized loyalty to Yahweh alone.

P—Priestly source emphasized ritual law, genealogy, and the sanctity of the priesthood. Like E, P used Elohim before God revealed the divine name Yahweh (Exod. 6:3). Scholars usually date P to the Babylonian exile in the sixth century BC or shortly after, in the early fifth century BC.

* This is a simple explanation of the Documentary Hypothesis. As a ministry, First Century Christian Faith does not endorse it, but we weigh some of the data explored by textual critics.

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Conclusion

For more than two hundred years, ever since the rise of the Documentary Hypothesis, scholars and theologians have debated whether JEDP or Moses wrote the Pentateuch. Both liberal and conservative camps, however, often ignore the Bible's own historical context and impose modern assumptions onto the ancient text. Liberal scholars argue that the Pentateuch was redacted by JEDP essentially because Renaissance conservatives (1401–1527) made similar claims about other ancient works, such as The Iliad, The Odyssey, and the Textus Receptus (Latin for "Received Text"). In the nineteenth century, European critics attempted to "correct" those earlier assumptions but repeated the same methodological error. In biblical scholarship, as in life, two wrongs do not make a right.

A Christian can believe that God inspired Moses to write the Pentateuch while also acknowledging that He guided later editors in preserving and organizing it. We already accept this principle for the New Testament, which early church leaders canonized after the apostolic era. This understanding does not imply that JEDP or other editors altered the Pentateuch's message. Instead, they were Israelite and Jewish scholars who served under kings such as David, Solomon, and Josiah—much as modern Christian scholars work with academic publishers today. Liberal scholars often overemphasize differences in handwriting or style, ignoring that any writer's tone changes over time and between audiences. Even today, people write differently in emails, business reports, and personal letters. Conversely, conservative interpreters sometimes neglect the historical, cultural, and socioeconomic contexts behind Scripture. To read the Bible historically is, in the truest sense, to read it literally.

The Documentary Hypothesis has lost favor even among liberal biblical scholars because archaeological evidence does not support it. Its proponents relied on an exaggerated and politicized form of literary criticism while ignoring evidence from ancient Near Eastern civilizations. For instance, Egyptian texts reference Yahweh twice: once around 1400 BC during the reign of Amenhotep III (r. 1390–1353 BC) and again around 1300 BC during the reign of Seti I (r. c. 1290–c. 1279 BC). A hieroglyphic inscription also mentions an Edomite region called the "Land of the Shasu of Yahweh." Some scholars deliberately overlook such evidence when it contradicts their theories. Yet these findings—Yahweh's name appearing a century after Moses, outside Israel in polytheistic Egypt—undermine the claim that a later editor, a millennium afterward, first called God "Yahweh."

In conclusion, Moses used Elohim and Yahweh to express God's transcendence and immanence. When he described creation, Moses called God Elohim, highlighting both the plural form and God's monotheistic nature (see "Trinity: Jewish & Gentile Views"). Later, when Moses asked for God's name, he learned that God engages with humanity personally and continuously, declaring, "I AM WHO I AM" (Exod. 3:14).

Ben White

Prayer

Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of heaven and earth! You sent Moses to lead your people and write down your commandments. Please help us learn from his obedience and trust in your guidance. Give us hearts that listen to your Word and follow your way of life each day. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.​

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Bibliography

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