![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bartehrman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Joshua-Schachterle-Bart-Ehrman-Author-1-1.png\" "\\"Joshua")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Written by Joshua Schachterle, Ph.D<\/a><\/p>\n Author | \u00a0Professor | Scholar<\/p>\n Author | \u00a0Professor | BE Contributor<\/p>\n Verified! \u00a0See our editorial guidelines<\/a><\/p>\n Verified! \u00a0See our guidelines<\/a><\/p>\n\nDate written: March 18th, 2026\n\nDate written: March 18th, 2026\n Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. – Dr. Bart D. Ehrman<\/p>\n As the opening book of both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, Genesis introduces foundational accounts of the creation of the cosmos, the origins of humanity, and the ancestral history of Israel<\/strong>. These stories have shaped theological reflection, ethical traditions, artistic expression, and even political discourse for millennia. Yet one fundamental historical question remains the subject of intense scholarly debate: when was Genesis written?<\/p>\n This debate has touched on fundamental questions about Scripture, history, and interpretation. In this article, we\u2019ll investigate both traditional claims and modern scholarly evidence to better understand how this ancient text came into being. Who was Genesis written to? We\u2019ll also briefly explore that question and the surrounding historical context.<\/p>\n While they may see cultural value in the knowledge, even some devout Jews and Christians have wondered whether the dating of Genesis<\/a> matters at all. If they accept that it explains divine truths about the origins of the universe and the Jewish people, what is so important about precisely pinning down when it was written?<\/p>\n Atheists, meanwhile, might say that while the book has a certain historical value, showing the ancient beliefs and practices of the Jewish people over time, nailing down an exact date isn\u2019t all that necessary. So, how old is the Book of Genesis, and why should it matter?<\/p>\n First of all, as John J. Collins writes in his Introduction to the Hebrew Bible<\/a>,<\/p>\n (Affiliate Disclaimer: We may earn commissions on products you purchase through this page at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our site!<\/em>)<\/p>\n In the last two hundred years\u2026 copious information about the ancient world has come to light through archaeological exploration and through the recovery of ancient literature. This information is often at variance with the [historical] account given in the Bible. Consequently, there is now something of a crisis in the interpretation of the Bible. This is a crisis of credibility: in brief, if the Bible is not the infallible, inerrant book it was once thought to be (and is still thought to be by some), in what way is it reliable, or even serviceable at all?<\/p>\n While this is certainly true of the entire Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), it is perhaps even more true of Genesis, which purports to describe the creation of the universe.\u00a0 Knowing when the Book of Genesis<\/a> was written can therefore point us to the authorship of the book and the intended scope of its author or authors. As Collins says,<\/p>\n In the modern world, there is often a tendency to equate truth with historical fact<\/strong>. This tendency may be naive and unsophisticated, but it is widespread and we cannot ignore it. If we are to arrive at a more sophisticated conception of biblical truth, we must first clarify the complex ways in which these books relate to history.<\/p>\n In addition, we are all aware of the vast influence the book has exerted over everything from theology to public policy. This may explain why interpretations of Genesis throughout history have varied so widely and been debated so fiercely. Knowing a bit about the sociohistorical context of the book\u2019s composition through accurate dating can help us to ground our interpretations in historical facts and thus to see the text more clearly.<\/p>\n Finally, in a world in which the Bible has often been interpreted as scientific fact, Peter Enns<\/a> writes<\/p>\n Having some insight into when the Pentateuch was written has helped readers today understand something of why it was written<\/strong>. That why question is important when the discussion turns to the relationship between Genesis and modern science\u2014be it cosmology, geology, or biology. The more we understand what Genesis was designed to do by its author, the better position we will be in to assess how Genesis is or is not compatible with modern science<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Of course, this doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that the Genesis narratives can merely be discounted, of course, but it does mean that more information about when and why it was written can help us to get more interpretive information from those narratives.<\/p>\n However, since the author or authors of Genesis never name themselves, let\u2019s look at theories that have been proposed about its authorship.<\/p>\n Tradition says that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible \u2014 known as the Torah in Hebrew and the Pentateuch in Greek (from pente “five” and teukhos \u201cvessel or tool”). The word \u201cTorah\u201d is usually translated into English as Law, and while this is technically correct, John J. Collins notes that the sense of the Hebrew word is also tied to the idea of traditional teachings passed down from generation to generation.<\/p>\n Where did the idea come from that Moses wrote these books? Mostly from other biblical books. For example, the last book of the Pentateuch<\/a>, Deuteronomy, begins by saying \u201cThese are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan.\u201d Thus, the rest of the book is attributed to him, prompting ancient interpreters to believe that all the books of the Pentateuch were written by Moses.<\/p>\n Moreover, Collins notes that<\/p>\n In the books of Joshua and Kings, “the torah of Moses” refers to the laws of Deuteronomy (Josh 8:31\u201332; 23:6; I Kgs 2:3; 14:6; 23:5), Later books of the Hebrew Bible, such as Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles, refer to the Torah of Moses, with reference to the laws in Deuteronomy and Leviticus (e.g., Neh 8:1, 13\u201318).<\/p>\n By the 1st century CE, the Gospel writers reported that Jesus had indirectly claimed that Moses wrote the Torah as well:<\/p>\n \u201cThese are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you\u2014that everything written about me in the law of Moses<\/strong>, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled\u201d (Luke 24:44).<\/p>\n Likewise, while debating with Jewish authorities in John 5:45\u201347, Jesus says<\/p>\n Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me<\/strong>, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?<\/p>\n While this doesn\u2019t prove that Moses wrote the books, it does prove, at the very least, that the Torah was widely attributed to Moses in Jesus\u2019 time.<\/p>\n However, cracks in the theory of Mosaic authorship started to form, first in the medieval period. A 12th-century rabbi and scholar named Abraham Ibn Ezra questioned the Mosaic authorship of the Torah, raising several logical questions that were impossible to ignore. For example,<\/p>\n – Although it says in Deut. 1\u20135 that Moses was \u201cbeyond the Jordan,\u201d the end of the book makes it clear God did not allow him to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land.- Why would Moses refer to himself in the third person? See Deut 31:9 (\u201cMoses wrote the law\u201d).<\/p>\n When did Moses write Genesis? Modern scholars have concluded that if Moses indeed wrote Genesis and the other four books of the Pentateuch, he could only have done so in the 13th or 14th centuries BCE, the period written about in Exodus. However, as Simon Oliver writes in his book Creation: A Guide for the Perplexed<\/a>, modern scholars have confirmed that Genesis\u2019 composition occurred much later (more on that below).<\/p>\n If Moses didn\u2019t write Deuteronomy, then his authorship of the rest of the Torah, including Genesis was also in doubt.<\/p>\n NOW AVAILABLE!<\/p>\n Finding Moses: What Scholars Know About The Exodus &\u00a0 The Jewish Law<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/u><\/b>Riveting and controversial, the “FINDING MOSES” lecture series takes you on a deep dive into the stories of Moses, the exodus, and a whole lot more…<\/p>\n __CONFIG_colors_palette__{“active_palette”:0,”config”:{“colors”:{“62516”:{“name”:”Main Accent”,”parent”:-1}},”gradients”:[]},”palettes”:[{“name”:”Default Palette”,”value”:{“colors”:{“62516”:{“val”:”rgb(255, 133, 34)”,”hsl”:{“h”:26,”s”:0.99,”l”:0.5667}}},”gradients”:[]}}]}__CONFIG_colors_palette__ LEARN MORE<\/strong> <\/a> While opinions about the authorship of Genesis and the rest of the Torah continued to proliferate, modern scholarly studies began, oddly enough, with the writing of a French professor of medicine Jean Astruc (1684\u20131766). Although not a biblical scholar, Astruc posed one simple question that Peter Enns says initiated a multitude of further studies: Why does God have two names in Genesis?<\/strong><\/p>\n The two names Astruc was referring to were Elohim, the name for God in Genesis 1, and Yahweh<\/a>, the name for God in Genesis 2 and 3. However, Astruc also noticed that the name change corresponded to two very different creation stories. Based on this, he decided that these two versions of creation were written by two different authors. Still clinging to the idea of Moses being involved in Genesis\u2019 composition, Astruc proposed that Moses, as an editor, had stitched the material from these two sources together into one book.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a 17th-century British scholar, Richard Simon, had gone even further than Astruc. In The Hebrew Bible Today: An Introduction to Critical Issues<\/a>, John Van Seters writes that Simon, a Catholic priest and scholar, believed that the Pentateuch was the result of multiple authors writing in different time periods. Although vague, this theory would be verified and supplemented with more detail by later scholars.<\/p>\n This would eventually result in the documentary hypothesis, an idea proposed by several 19th-century German biblical scholars, but most commonly associated with Julius Wellhausen. This hypothesis proposed that the Pentateuch was the result of four different sources: the Yahwist, or J source, the Elohist, or E source, the Deuteronomist, or D source, and the Priestly, or P source.<\/p>\n This was a profoundly influential theory, remaining the most prominent theory all the way through the 1970s. Based on it, scholars like Wellhausen determined that the final form of the Pentateuch as a compilation of all four sources was completed by the 6th or 5th centuries BCE. \u00a0However, in the 1980s, this theory was called into doubt and has since been discarded, or heavily amended, by many critical scholars.<\/p>\n Instead, the current scholarly consensus, known as the supplementary hypothesis, says that there were only three rather than four Pentateuchal sources. While J, D, and P remain the designations of these three sources, the Elohist source is now seen as revisions of the J source.<\/p>\n Some scholars have differing views when exploring what year was Genesis written and how it fits into broader history. Simon Oliver writes that since the beginning of the 21st century, the majority of scholars have agreed that the book of Genesis was written after the Babylonian Captivity and exile<\/strong>, the conquest of Jerusalem in which many prominent Jews were forcibly taken to Babylon in 597 BCE. There is, however, some variation in this opinion.<\/p>\n For instance, in his book How Old Is the Hebrew Bible?: A Linguistic, Textual, and Historical Study<\/a>, Ronald Hendel says that based on the type of Hebrew used in Genesis, the book was written around 550 BCE. However, a general date of composition in the 5th century BCE is the virtually unanimous scholarly consensus, although most acknowledge that its narratives were based on earlier oral traditions that may go back much further. While it would be nice to know what precise year the book of Genesis was written, nailing down the exact year of such an ancient text is all but impossible without more information.<\/p>\n Many people curious about this text\u2019s place in history also wonder to whom was Genesis written. As I noted, the current consensus of a date of composition in the 5th century BCE rules out Mosaic authorship. This makes it more likely that the book of Genesis was written by and for post-exilic Jews struggling to maintain \u2014 and perhaps even refashion \u2014 their collective identity<\/strong> after a long exile and widespread Jewish assimilation to the Babylonian way of life.<\/p>\n In Hebrew, the name of the book of Genesis is B\u0259r\u0113\u02be\u0161\u012b\u1e6f (pronounced behr\u2013eh\u2013SHEET), the word meaning \u201cbeginning\u201d or \u201cin the beginning.\u201d This indicates not only how the book starts but that it is concerned with how the world came to be as it is. But in which historical period? When was Genesis written?<\/p>\n The oldest traditions, both Jewish and Christian, said that Moses wrote the book, along with Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Various ancient sources, including other books of the Hebrew Bible and even the Gospels, verify that this theory of authorship was long held to be true. In fact, many Jews and Christians still adhere to this belief.<\/p>\n However, beginning in the 17th century, scholars began to seriously question this assumption. They noticed, for instance, that God was given two different names aligned to the two very different creation stories in Genesis. This led eventually to the widespread notion that Genesis was written by multiple authors (or authorial traditions). While the theory has been adjusted over time \u2014 the original theory of 4 sources has been whittled down to 3 \u2014 this general idea has remained dominant.<\/p>\n Beyond its authorship, is the question of when was the book of Genesis written. Modern critical scholars studying the matter are confident that the final form was finished sometime in the 5th century BCE. While this is much later than tradition claims, it makes better sense of the historical and archeological information available to us now.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested in learning more about the Hebrew Bible, check out Bart Ehrman\u2019s course In the Beginning: History, Legend, and Myth in Genesis<\/a> and his virtual conference Insights into the Hebrew Bible<\/a>.<\/p>\n NOW AVAILABLE!<\/p>\n Finding Moses: What Scholars Know About The Exodus &\u00a0 The Jewish Law<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/u><\/b>Riveting and controversial, the “FINDING MOSES” lecture series takes you on a deep dive into the stories of Moses, the exodus, and a whole lot more…<\/p>\n __CONFIG_colors_palette__{“active_palette”:0,”config”:{“colors”:{“62516”:{“name”:”Main Accent”,”parent”:-1}},”gradients”:[]},”palettes”:[{“name”:”Default Palette”,”value”:{“colors”:{“62516”:{“val”:”rgb(255, 133, 34)”,”hsl”:{“h”:26,”s”:0.99,”l”:0.5667}}},”gradients”:[]}}]}__CONFIG_colors_palette__ LEARN MORE<\/strong> <\/a> When Was Genesis Written? (Debates and Evidence) Written by Joshua Schachterle, Ph.D Author | \u00a0Professor | Scholar Author | \u00a0Professor | BE Contributor Verified! \u00a0See our editorial guidelines Verified! \u00a0See our guidelines Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. – Dr. Bart […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":24198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":" Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. - Dr. Bart D. Ehrman<\/p><\/div> As the opening book of both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, Genesis introduces foundational accounts of the creation of the cosmos, the origins of humanity, and the ancestral history of Israel<\/strong>. These stories have shaped theological reflection, ethical traditions, artistic expression, and even political discourse for millennia. Yet one fundamental historical question remains the subject of intense scholarly debate: when was Genesis written?<\/p> This debate has touched on fundamental questions about Scripture, history, and interpretation. In this article, we\u2019ll investigate both traditional claims and modern scholarly evidence to better understand how this ancient text came into being. Who was Genesis written to? We\u2019ll also briefly explore that question and the surrounding historical context.<\/p><\/div> While they may see cultural value in the knowledge, even some devout Jews and Christians have wondered whether the dating of Genesis<\/a> matters at all. If they accept that it explains divine truths about the origins of the universe and the Jewish people, what is so important about precisely pinning down when it was written?<\/p> Atheists, meanwhile, might say that while the book has a certain historical value, showing the ancient beliefs and practices of the Jewish people over time, nailing down an exact date isn\u2019t all that necessary. So, how old is the Book of Genesis, and why should it matter?<\/p> First of all, as John J. Collins writes in his Introduction to the Hebrew Bible<\/a>,<\/p><\/div> (Affiliate Disclaimer: We may earn commissions on products you purchase through this page at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our site!<\/em>)<\/p><\/div> In the last two hundred years\u2026 copious information about the ancient world has come to light through archaeological exploration and through the recovery of ancient literature. This information is often at variance with the [historical] account given in the Bible. Consequently, there is now something of a crisis in the interpretation of the Bible. This is a crisis of credibility: in brief, if the Bible is not the infallible, inerrant book it was once thought to be (and is still thought to be by some), in what way is it reliable, or even serviceable at all?<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div> While this is certainly true of the entire Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), it is perhaps even more true of Genesis, which purports to describe the creation of the universe. Knowing when the Book of Genesis<\/a> was written can therefore point us to the authorship of the book and the intended scope of its author or authors. As Collins says,<\/p><\/div> In the modern world, there is often a tendency to equate truth with historical fact<\/strong>. This tendency may be naive and unsophisticated, but it is widespread and we cannot ignore it. If we are to arrive at a more sophisticated conception of biblical truth, we must first clarify the complex ways in which these books relate to history.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div> In addition, we are all aware of the vast influence the book has exerted over everything from theology to public policy. This may explain why interpretations of Genesis throughout history have varied so widely and been debated so fiercely. Knowing a bit about the sociohistorical context of the book\u2019s composition through accurate dating can help us to ground our interpretations in historical facts and thus to see the text more clearly.<\/p> Finally, in a world in which the Bible has often been interpreted as scientific fact, Peter Enns<\/a> writes<\/p><\/div> Having some insight into when the Pentateuch was written has helped readers today understand something of why it was written<\/strong>. That why question is important when the discussion turns to the relationship between Genesis and modern science\u2014be it cosmology, geology, or biology. The more we understand what Genesis was designed to do by its author, the better position we will be in to assess how Genesis is or is not compatible with modern science<\/strong>.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div> Of course, this doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that the Genesis narratives can merely be discounted, of course, but it does mean that more information about when and why it was written can help us to get more interpretive information from those narratives.<\/p> However, since the author or authors of Genesis never name themselves, let\u2019s look at theories that have been proposed about its authorship.<\/p><\/div> Tradition says that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible \u2014 known as the Torah in Hebrew and the Pentateuch in Greek (from pente \"five\" and teukhos \u201cvessel or tool\"). The word \u201cTorah\u201d is usually translated into English as Law, and while this is technically correct, John J. Collins notes that the sense of the Hebrew word is also tied to the idea of traditional teachings passed down from generation to generation.<\/p> Where did the idea come from that Moses wrote these books? Mostly from other biblical books. For example, the last book of the Pentateuch<\/a>, Deuteronomy, begins by saying \u201cThese are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan.\u201d Thus, the rest of the book is attributed to him, prompting ancient interpreters to believe that all the books of the Pentateuch were written by Moses.<\/p> Moreover, Collins notes that<\/p><\/div> In the books of Joshua and Kings, \"the torah of Moses\" refers to the laws of Deuteronomy (Josh 8:31\u201332; 23:6; I Kgs 2:3; 14:6; 23:5), Later books of the Hebrew Bible, such as Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles, refer to the Torah of Moses, with reference to the laws in Deuteronomy and Leviticus (e.g., Neh 8:1, 13\u201318).<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div> By the 1st century CE, the Gospel writers reported that Jesus had indirectly claimed that Moses wrote the Torah as well:<\/p><\/div> \u201cThese are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you\u2014that everything written about me in the law of Moses<\/strong>, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled\u201d (Luke 24:44).<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div> Likewise, while debating with Jewish authorities in John 5:45\u201347, Jesus says<\/p><\/div> Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me<\/strong>, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div> While this doesn\u2019t prove that Moses wrote the books, it does prove, at the very least, that the Torah was widely attributed to Moses in Jesus\u2019 time.<\/p> However, cracks in the theory of Mosaic authorship started to form, first in the medieval period. A 12th-century rabbi and scholar named Abraham Ibn Ezra questioned the Mosaic authorship of the Torah, raising several logical questions that were impossible to ignore. For example,<\/p><\/div> - Although it says in Deut. 1\u20135 that Moses was \u201cbeyond the Jordan,\u201d the end of the book makes it clear God did not allow him to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. When did Moses write Genesis? Modern scholars have concluded that if Moses indeed wrote Genesis and the other four books of the Pentateuch, he could only have done so in the 13th or 14th centuries BCE, the period written about in Exodus. However, as Simon Oliver writes in his book Creation: A Guide for the Perplexed<\/a>, modern scholars have confirmed that Genesis\u2019 composition occurred much later (more on that below).<\/p> If Moses didn\u2019t write Deuteronomy, then his authorship of the rest of the Torah, including Genesis was also in doubt.<\/p><\/div> While opinions about the authorship of Genesis and the rest of the Torah continued to proliferate, modern scholarly studies began, oddly enough, with the writing of a French professor of medicine Jean Astruc (1684\u20131766). Although not a biblical scholar, Astruc posed one simple question that Peter Enns says initiated a multitude of further studies: Why does God have two names in Genesis?<\/strong><\/p> The two names Astruc was referring to were Elohim, the name for God in Genesis 1, and Yahweh<\/a>, the name for God in Genesis 2 and 3. However, Astruc also noticed that the name change corresponded to two very different creation stories. Based on this, he decided that these two versions of creation were written by two different authors. Still clinging to the idea of Moses being involved in Genesis\u2019 composition, Astruc proposed that Moses, as an editor, had stitched the material from these two sources together into one book.<\/p> Meanwhile, a 17th-century British scholar, Richard Simon, had gone even further than Astruc. In The Hebrew Bible Today: An Introduction to Critical Issues<\/a>, John Van Seters writes that Simon, a Catholic priest and scholar, believed that the Pentateuch was the result of multiple authors writing in different time periods. Although vague, this theory would be verified and supplemented with more detail by later scholars.<\/p>![\"When](\"https:\/\/www.bartehrman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/When-Was-Genesis-Written.png\" "\\"When")
<\/p>\nWhen Was Genesis Written (and Why Does It Matter)?<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bartehrman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/quote-down.png\" "\\"quote")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bartehrman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/quote-up.png\" "\\"quote")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\nTraditional Claims: The Books of Moses<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bartehrman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Finding-Moses-PBS-4x3-1.jpg\" "\\"Finding")
<\/a><\/p>\nModern Study of the Pentateuch<\/h2>\n
![\"How](\"https:\/\/www.bartehrman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/how-old-is-the-book-of-genesis.png\" "\\"how")
<\/p>\nWho Was Genesis Written For?<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n\t__CONFIG_colors_palette__{\"active_palette\":0,\"config\":{\"colors\":{\"62516\":{\"name\":\"Main Accent\",\"parent\":-1}},\"gradients\":[]},\"palettes\":[{\"name\":\"Default Palette\",\"value\":{\"colors\":{\"62516\":{\"val\":\"var(--tcb-skin-color-0)\"}},\"gradients\":[]}}]}__CONFIG_colors_palette__<\/div>\n\t\n\t\tPentateuch<\/span><\/span>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/div><\/div>When Was Genesis Written? (Debates and Evidence)<\/h2><\/div>
__CONFIG_post_symbol__{\"id\":\"17826\"}__CONFIG_post_symbol__<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/div>When Was Genesis Written (and Why Does It Matter)?<\/h2><\/div>
\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\tTraditional Claims: The Books of Moses<\/h2><\/div>
\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t
- Why would Moses refer to himself in the third person? See Deut 31:9 (\u201cMoses wrote the law\u201d).<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\t__CONFIG_post_symbol__{\"id\":\"11757\"}__CONFIG_post_symbol__<\/div><\/div>Modern Study of the Pentateuch<\/h2><\/div>