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Did Moses write the Pentateuch, when it records his own death and praises his meekness?
Hard question · The law of Moses · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
“And Moses wrote this law”, and gave it to the priests who carried the ark and to the elders of Israel.
And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel.
When Moses has finished writing the words of the law in a book, he has it placed beside the ark as a witness.
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.
Moses dies in Moab and is buried where no one knows “unto this day”; no prophet like him has arisen since in Israel.
So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth–peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses. And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,
A note in brackets in the KJV: Moses was very meek, “above all the men which were upon the face of the earth”.
(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)
The objection
Jewish and Christian tradition holds that Moses wrote the five books of the law, and Deuteronomy says “Moses wrote this law”. Yet Deuteronomy 34 describes Moses’ death and burial, says no one knows his grave “unto this day”, and says no prophet like him has arisen since. Numbers 12:3 calls him the meekest man on earth, an odd thing for a meek man to write about himself. Critics conclude that other hands wrote these books.
The answer
The Bible says that Moses wrote the law, but it does not claim that he wrote every word of the five books as we have them. The books record that Moses wrote down God’s laws and covenant, the stages of Israel’s journey and his last words (Exodus 17:14; 24:4; Numbers 33:2; Deuteronomy 31:9, 24), and the rest of Scripture calls the whole “the book of the law of Moses” (Joshua 8:31). Jesus spoke of “the book of Moses” and said of Moses, “he wrote of me” (Mark 12:26; John 5:46). That is why the five books are rightly called his. It leaves room for an inspired hand to add the account of his death, and perhaps a few notes.
Jewish tradition said as much long ago. The Talmud records the view that Joshua wrote the last eight verses of the Torah, beginning “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there” (Deuteronomy 34:5), since it asks how Moses could have written ‘And Moses died there’ (Bava Batra 15a). Gill thought it likely that Joshua wrote the whole chapter. Words such as “unto this day” (34:6) and “there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses” (34:10) fit a writer looking back some time later.
Numbers 12:3 can be read in either way. It may be such an inspired note, added to explain why Moses said nothing in his own defence and God answered for him; Gill allows this. Or Moses may have written it under God’s direction as a plain statement of fact, as Paul, when his opponents forced him, set out his own labours and sufferings (2 Corinthians 11:16-33). The Hebrew ‘anav means ‘humble’, and to record truthfully that a man did not stand up for his own honour is not boasting.
Other answers Christians give
Moses wrote even his death
Some in the ancient world held that Moses recorded his own death beforehand, by prophecy. Josephus says that Moses ‘wrote in the holy books that he died’, and in the Talmud Rabbi Shimon says that God dictated the last verses and Moses wrote them ‘with tears’ (Bava Batra 15a).
Later updating of names
Many conservative scholars think that an inspired editor also brought a few place names up to date, such as ‘Dan’ in Genesis 14:14, a city that received that name only in the days of the judges (Judges 18:29). Others, like Gill on Deuteronomy 34:1, say such names were used by anticipation.
Still open
Most critical scholars today do not think Moses wrote the Pentateuch. They see it as compiled from several sources or traditions over centuries, though they disagree on how. Conservative scholars hold that Moses wrote its substance, with limited later additions, and they differ on how much was added after him.
From the classic commentators
Aben Ezra thinks Joshua wrote this verse by a spirit of prophecy; and it is very likely the whole chapter was written by him, and not the eight last verses only, as say the Jewish writersJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Deuteronomy 34 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub
Sources
- Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 14b–15a, at Sefaria
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Deuteronomy 34, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Numbers 12, at Bible Hub
- Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book IV, chapter 8 (Whiston’s translation), at Project Gutenberg