Who wrote Genesis?
 |
| Moses with the tablets of the Ten Commandments, painting by Rembrandt (1659) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Author and Date of Writing: Moses, about 1406 B.C.
The book refers to Moses’ involvement in writing it (1:5; 31:9, 22, 24). Later Scripture refers to Mosaic authorship (1 Kings 2:3; 8:53; 2 Kings 14:6; 18:12). Both Jesus and Paul believed Moses wrote Deuteronomy (Mark 10:3–5; John 5:46–47; Rom. 10:19). The book’s formal prologue (1:1–5) and the epilogue about Moses’ death (chap. 34) were perhaps added by Joshua to round out the book.
Many modern critical scholars believe that Deuteronomy (or at least chaps. 12–26) first came into being as a pious fraud composed by scribes during the 600s B.C. at the time of King Josiah. These scribes subsequently “discovered” the book and claimed it came from the time of Moses (2 Kings 22–23). This belief became the keystone of the famous Documentary Hypothesis, sometimes called “JEDP.” Two centuries of modern critical study, however, have not proven that anything in the book could not have occurred from the time of Moses.
First Audience and Destination:The Israelite people on the plains of Moab
Of all the books of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy is the one that most clearly began as oral communication by a human speaker. Later he put it in written permanent form. The first audience was the new generation of Israelites listening to their beloved leader of forty years as they faced the prospect of entering Canaan without him. (Without doubt the religious reforms instituted during the time of King Josiah were an application of the teachings of Deuteronomy for a new audience in another situation.)
Occasion
Deuteronomy alone of the books of Moses states its precise occasion: “And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee” (31:24–26).
Easley, K. H. (2002). Holman QuickSource guide to understanding the Bible (38–40). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
