FROM the heading, "The fifth book of Moses, called Deuteronomy," found in our Common Version, one might naturally assume that Moses wrote this book and also the four which precede it; but the description of his passing, in Deuteronomy 34:5f. proves that this portion, at least, was not from his hand, while many other indications combine to show that the complete Pentateuch was not composed by him, nor indeed by any one person. However, these five books may justly be called "books of Moses"—though they are not so named in the original Hebrew—since he is the chief character in this part of our Bible. "The authorship of the Pentateuch," writes Dr. Albert F. Gilmore, "was long attributed to Moses. But recent discoveries, intensive scholarship, and the historical method of research have definitely disproved this theory" (The Bible: Beacon Light of History, p. 39). This does not minimize the real importance of Moses, for the basic essentials of the Pentateuch may surely be traced to him; while the recognition of various sources in these books helps to explain such anomalies as the two startlingly different accounts of creation, and the two intertwined but variant accounts of the flood (e.g., contrast Gen. 6:19 with Gen. 7:2).
Scholars have discovered definite indications of at least four chief documents or sources in the Pentateuch. One of these, whose style and content suggest that it is the most primitive, is known as "J," because it refers to God as Jehovah or "the Lord" (more correctly Yahweh), and seems to have appeared in Judah about the ninth century B. C. This source, represented in Genesis, chapters 2 and 3, and elsewhere, provides an anthropomorphic concept of Deity and a correspondingly primitive idea of morality, as of the nature of man (cf. Gen. 2:7). It was a group of writers or editors living in northern Palestine who provided what we call the "E" source, using Elohim as its typical name for Deity. In this source human actions and emotions are not predicated of Elohim, as they are of Yahweh in "J." Elohim is represented as revealing Himself to men through dreams and visions, but especially through the prophets, while "E" also brings out a higher sense of mortality. The third source noted by scholars is Deuteronomy ("D"), a book of law so pervaded by ideas of love, joy, and kindliness that it is often called "The Gospel of the Old Testament." This was the "Book of the law" found in the temple and put into effect about 621 B. C., during King Josiah's reign (cf. II Kings 22 and 23). The fourth source, known as the Priests' Code ("P"), was prepared in Babylon, evidently towards the close of the Exile, and from it came the greater part of Leviticus and Numbers, and portions of Genesis and Exodus. Despite the priests' great stress on ritual, they possessed a deep religious sense. It was they who recorded the second great commandment of the law (Lev. 19:18; Mark 12:31). Like the "E" writers, they used the name Elohim for God, and a majority of scholars now attribute to these priestly editors the lofty account of creation in the first chapter of Genesis, though some still feel it to be a part of the "E" source.
