When did Moses write his book?

Answer 1

Answer - Late date (textual evidence 1)The traditional view is that the Book of Exodus was written by Moses. Based on the traditional date for the death of Moses, that would mean that it was written about 1400 BCE.

However, the view of biblical scholars now is that Moses did not write, and could not have written, Exodus.

Exodus was compiled over a period of centuries, before it reached a more or less identifiable form, and was then redacted into substantially the form we know today. So, the answer to this question depends on the level of the book's evolution at which you would finally consider it to be 'Exodus'. Arguably, that would be somewhere around 500 to 600 BCE.

The book is based on input from several sources. Because we do not know the actual names of those sources, we generally call the major contributors: J, E, D and P.

Based on the archaic Hebrew and other evidence, J and E appear to be from around 800 to 1000 BCE. D (the Deuteronomist) lived a little before 600 BCE. P (the Priestly source) probably lived during the Babylonian exile.

Answer - Late date (textual evidence 2)The first answer to this question gave the traditional answer (about 1400 BCE) and a briefly reasoned scholarly answer (around 500 to 600 BCE) for the date of the Book of Exodus as we would know it, leaving it up to the reader to decide which date to accept. To have reasoned the scholarly date more fully would have risked appearing to place undue weight on one date in preference to the other.

It has been argued further that Moses was not only the author of Exodus, but also of the entire Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). That is fully supportive of the first of the two dates provided in the first answer to this question.

However, the Sources Theory, which states that the Pentateuch had several authors, is widely accepted by modern scholars and some Christians. After all, a late date for Exodus does not undermine the message of The Bible. It is also important to note that nowhere in Exodus, or the Pentateuch, does it claim to have been written by Moses so we must analyse the text to determine who probably wrote it. Just one citation is "Testament: the Bible and History", by John Romer (1996). However, some Christian organizations and their websites present a different view.

In order to provide balanced support for a late date of the authorship of the Pentateuch, I have added some additional reasoning, taken from examples in the Bible. The reader should make his or her own decision as to which date to accept (eg circa 1400 BCE or circa 500-600BCE).

Deuteronomy chapter 34 describes the death of Moses.and says that "not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses..." This could not have been written by Moses or even by any author prior to the establishment of a nation called Israel. If we explain this by saying that this chapter was added after the death of Moses, we leave open the question as to what else was added after the death of Moses.

The Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 have a slightly different wording to the same commandments in Deuteronomy 5. Exodus 20:11 says that the Sabbath is in honor of the 7 days of creation; Deuteronomy 5:15 says that the Sabbath is in honor of the flight from Egypt. While these issues have no important theological consequences, it is not possible that the man who personally carved the commandments onto tablets would not even remember what he wrote. And if, as the author of the Pentateuch, he was not sure, he could have looked in the ark and read the tablets again.

· The J (Yahwist) source always used 'YHVH' as the name for God and presents tradition from the point of view of the southern kingdom, Judah, using archaic Hebrew. J was a gifted storyteller who was especially interested in the human side of things and had his own characteristic vocabulary. J referred to Moses' father-in-law as Reuel or Hobab.

· The E (Elohist) source always used 'Elohim' as the name for God and presents tradition from the point of view of the northern kingdom, Israel, using archaic Hebrew. E referred to Moses' father-in-law as Jethro, an apparent error that Moses himself could not have made.

· At some time around 650 BCE., J and E were combined by Judaean editors, known to us as JE.

· The D (Deuteronomist) source emphasises centralisation of worship and governance in Jerusalem, as would be expected from political events that followed the defeat of Israel. It uses a more modern form of Hebrew.

· The P (Priestly) source uses both Elohim and El Shaddai as names of God and focusses on the formal relations between God and society. He also uses a late form of Hebrew, with a rather turgid style.

There are also many 'doublets' where each author provided his own, separate version of the same event. We can be sure that had Moses had been the author, he would have chosen a preferred version and stuck with that one.

AnswerThe Pentateuch itself clearly states that the following passages were authored by Moses:

Exodus 17:14

Exodus 20:22 - 23:33

Exodus 34:10 -26

Moses was certainly in a position to write the Pentateuch. Moses would have had access to the Hebrew patriarchal records. Moses had the time during the 40 years in the wilderness. Moses was personally familiar with the geographical features of the area. Moses as the leader and founder of the nation wanted them to have the laws which would facilitate their function as a nation. At this time, even Egyptian slaves were inscribing records on tunnel walls. On the other hand a man like Moses must certainly have written about one of the most significant epochs in history.

Note that the gospel passages include a number which indicate Jesus himself believed the Law was written by Moses.

So the Exodus would have been written by Moses between 1441 and 1401 BC.

Answer - Late date (external evidence)A. Domesticated camelsNo one seriously disputes the historical fact that camels were first domesticated well after 1000 BCE and not widely used for transport until the seventh century BCE, or a little earlier (One citation for this is: The Bible Unearthed by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman). But the Pentateuch frequently refers to domesticated camels, a historical impossibility.

Exodus 9:3: "Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain."

Clearly, the author was not aware that camels had not yet been domesticated during the times of Abraham and Moses. This fact alone is sufficient to prove that the Pentateuch was not written before the eighth century BCE, or the tenth century at the very earliest. Technology and lifestyles changed so slowly that the biblical author believed that the lifestyle he experienced had always been so.

To broaden this research to the Pentateuch as a whole: in Genesis, the story of Jacob includes the gift from Jacob to his twin brother Esau of thirty milch camels with their colts. This could not have written in the time of Jacob nor the time of Moses. It must have been written in the first millennium BCE.

A date in the first millennium BCE is consistent with the Sources Theory, providing an independent proof of late dating for Exodus.

B. PhilistinesThe Pentateuch frequently refers to the Philistines whoonly settled in Palestine around 1200 BCE, even in the time of Abraham (for example: Genesis 21:32-34). If Moses had written the Pentateuch around 1400 BCE, he would not even have known of the future nation of Philistines. Since the Philistines arrived by boat, Moses could not even have been aware of "proto-Philistines" or forerunners of the Philistines.

Even looking at just the Exodus, with a date sometimes given as just prior to 1220 BCE, does not make sense for references to Philistines. Whoever wrote these accounts lived after 1100 BCE and probably in the first millennium BCE.

C. ArameansThe Pentateuch mentions the Arameans. Arameans were not mentioned as a separate ethnic group until around 1100 BCE, and became dominant on the northern borders of Israel in the early 9th century BCE. Whoever wrote these accounts lived in the first millennium BCE. D. EdomitesEdom, supposedly founded by Esau, did not become a political entity until eighth century BCE. Whoever wrote this account must have lived during or after the eighth century BCE and did not realise that the Edomites had not existed centuries earlier.E. HittitesThe Hittites are known to have flourished in Central Asia Minor after 1300 BCE, so it is possible that Moses (or any later author) knew of them. Therefore the Hittites do not inform us as to when Exodus was written. F. ScribesCould the differences that scholars see in different parts of the Pentateuch be due simply to the different styles of scribes that Moses may have used? If this hypothesis is supportable, it would not preclude the late date of authorship, but it would lend some credibility to a Mosaic date.

First of all, literary analysis is not about handwriting, it is largely about content.

Secondly, are we saying that Moses gave his scribes such latitude in what they wrote that it reflected their personal biases more than anything that Moses dictated to them? Whenever scholars identify the style associated with the Yahwist (J), the text reflects the Judahite perspective; whenever scholars identify the style associated with the Elohist (E), the text reflects the Israelite (northern) perspective. Also many doublets differ too much in content to have originated from the same source.

D and P also had their own style. But why did they use a much later form of Hebrew than the others? A form that is associated with the middle of the first millennium BCE?

I. CONCLUSIONThe above is just some of the volume of evidence available to show conclusively that Exodus, and in fact the Pentateuch, was written long after the time of Moses. Moses was not the author of Exodus.

Answer 2

The traditional view is that the Book of Exodus was written by Moses. Based on the traditional date for the death of Moses, that would mean that it was written about 1400 BCE. However, the view of biblical scholars now is that Moses did not write, and could not have written, Exodus.

During the nineteenth century, Samuel Davidson, D.D found clear literary evidence that Exodus was not written by anyone in the time of Moses. For example:

• Exodus 16:35: And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.
  

Moses was dead before the manna ceased. It is therefore natural to infer that he did not write these words.

• Exodus 22:29: Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.
  
• Exodus 23:19: The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God.
  

No regulation is given respecting the manner of their offering ; it is simply enjoined that the people should not delay to offer. This presupposes that the Israelites had already brought the first-fruits of their fields and vines to the priests and knew how much to offer and in what manner. The second verse above also presupposes the existence of the temple (house of the LORD thy God).

• Exodus 16:36: Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.
  

Davidson says this explanation seems to have originated in a change of time, the measure having gone out of use and therefore needs explanation.

• Exodus 6:26: These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the LORD said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.
  

Moses would not have needed to tell the Israelites who were with him and who had come with him out of Egypt that he and his brother were the persons to whom the Lord said, " Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies, etc. ?" Surely this were superfluous if given by Moses himself, but appropriate as a celebration of Moses in later times.

Exodus was compiled over a period of centuries, before it reached a more or less identifiable form, and was then redacted into substantially the form we know today. So, the answer to this question depends on the level of the book's evolution at which you would finally consider it to be 'Exodus'. Arguably, that would be somewhere around 500 to 600 BCE.

The book is based on input from several sources. Because we do not know the actual names of those sources, we generally call the major contributors: J, E and P. Based on the archaic Hebrew and other evidence, J and E appear to be from around 800 to 1000 BCE. P (the Priestly source) probably lived during the Babylonian exile.

The Torah including the book of Exodus was written by Moses (Deuteronomy 31:24) before his death, which is traditionally put in 1272 BCE. .Note:

According to tradition, the whole Torah has a single author.The same literary devices which the Torah employs to enrich its text, have been used by Bible-critics in an attempt to reassign its authorship.

The Jewish sages, based on ancient tradition, identified many of these devices, which include:

recapping earlier brief passages to elucidate,

employing different names of God to signify His various attributes,

using apparent changes or redundancies to allude to additional unstated details,

speaking in the vernacular that was current during each era,

and many more. While Judaism has always seen the Torah as an intricate tapestry that nonetheless had one Divine source, some modern authors such as Wellhausen (the father of modern Biblical-criticism, 1844-1918) have suggested artificially chopping up the narrative and attributing it to various authors, despite the Torah's explicit statement as to its provenance (Exodus 24:12, Deuteronomy 31:24). This need not concern believers, since his claims have been debunked one by one, as Archaeology and other disciplines have demonstrated the integrity of the Torah. No fragments have ever been found that would support his Documentary Hypothesis, which remains nothing more than an arbitrary claim, whose falsehood has been pointed out:

http://www.whoreallywrotethebible.com/excerpts/chapter4-1.php

http://www.pearlmancta.com/BiblicalcriticswrongRShlomoCohen.htm

And see also the wider picture:

http://judaism.answers.com/hebrew/does-archaeology-support-the-hebrew-bible

Answer 3

Moses was writing for the Israelite people who were wandering in the wilderness between the Exodus and the death of Moses. The author was also writing for all Jewish people, since it is a record of a part of their history.

Answer 4

The bible was actually written down by 40 different men, but their words were all inspired and from Jehovah God.

Some of these men are Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Solomon, Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Solomon, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, David, Nehemiah, Malachi, Matthew, Luke, James, Mark, Peter, Paul, Jude,and John.

The Bible began being written in 1513 B.C.E. and continued being written sometime after 443 B.C.E. So, all together, a period of some 1,610 years was involved in producing the Bible.

Answer 5

The Torah consists of the five books of the Hebrew Bible or the "Old Testament". Exodus is the second book. It was written by Moses who was a former Egyptian prince later turned prophet, religious leader and lawgiver, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed. He was from the tribe of Levi. In 1445 bc five years after Death of Thutmose III's death, Moses returns to Egypt. (Exodus 4:18-7:13) He then becomes the leader of the Israeli.

Answer 6

The Torah including the book of Exodus was written by Moses (Deuteronomy 31:24) before his death, which is traditionally put in 1272 BCE. .Note:

According to tradition, the whole Torah has a single author.The same literary devices which the Torah employs to enrich its text, have been used by Bible-critics in an attempt to reassign its authorship.

The Jewish sages, based on ancient tradition, identified many of these devices, which include:

recapping earlier brief passages to elucidate,

employing different names of God to signify His various attributes,

using apparent changes or redundancies to allude to additional unstated details,

speaking in the vernacular that was current during each era,

and many more. While Judaism has always seen the Torah as an intricate tapestry that nonetheless had one Divine source, some modern authors such as Wellhausen (the father of modern Biblical-criticism, 1844-1918) have suggested artificially chopping up the narrative and attributing it to various authors, despite the Torah's explicit statement as to its provenance (Exodus 24:12, Deuteronomy 31:24). This need not concern believers, since his claims have been debunked one by one, as archaeology and other disciplines have demonstrated the integrity of the Torah. No fragments have ever been found that would support his Documentary Hypothesis, which remains nothing more than an arbitrary claim, whose falsehood has been pointed out:

http://www.whoreallywrotethebible.com/excerpts/chapter4-1.php

http://www.pearlmancta.com/BiblicalcriticswrongRShlomoCohen.htm

And see also the wider picture:

http://judaism.answers.com/hebrew/does-archaeology-support-the-hebrew-bible

Answer 7

Tradition says that Moses wrote the Book of Exodus, as well as other early books of the Hebrew Bible. However, scholars say there is no evidence in the Book of Exodus that it was really written by him. It was actually written in a relatively late form of the Hebrew language and refers to Moses in the third person.

During the nineteenth century, Samuel Davidson, D.D. found clear literary evidence that Exodus was not written by Moses. For example:

• Exodus 16:35: And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.
  

Moses was dead before the manna ceased. It is therefore natural to infer that he did not write these words.

• Exodus 22:29: Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.
  
• Exodus 23:19: The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God.
  

No regulation is given respecting the manner of their offering ; it is simply enjoined that the people should not delay to offer. This presupposes that the Israelites had already brought the first-fruits of their fields and vines to the priests and knew how much to offer and in what manner. The second verse above also presupposes the existence of the temple (house of the LORD thy God).

• Exodus 16:36: Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.
  

Davidson says this explanation seems to have originated in a change of time, the measure having gone out of use and therefore needs explanation.

• Exodus 6:26: These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the LORD said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.
  

Moses would not have needed to tell the Israelites who were with him and who had come with him out of Egypt that he and his brother were the persons to whom the Lord said, " Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies, etc. ?" Surely this were superfluous if given by Moses himself, but appropriate as a celebration of Moses in later times.

Davidson explains that according to the Book of Exodus, Elohim became Yahweh to the religious consciousness of the Israelites, with Moses:

• Exodus 6:2-3: And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Yahweh [YHWH] was I not known to them.
  

Accordingly, the pre-Mosaic time did not know of Yahweh, but Elohim. Even when the sabbath-day is said to be hallowed, when circumcision is enjoined upon Abraham as a seal of the covenant, and when Jacob presents his vow to God, Elohim is used ; whereas Jehovah would have been chosen, in such cases, as more appropriate, had not the fundamental idea, lying in the latter, been still unknown to the religious consciousness of the patriarchs. Yet Jehovah is employed in the book of Genesis and is supposed already in use in Exodus 3:14-16 Davidson asks whether the author, who introduces the Deity as saying, in Exodus 6:3, " I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Yahweh was I not known to them," adhere to the distinction in certain sections with great carefulness, while in other and parallel ones he neglects it, and introduces Yahweh into the patriarchal age? He says it can be better accounted for by the hypothesis of two separate writers, because the one author would stultify himself by announcing an important distinction which he had uniformly observed in certain sections, and as uniformly violated in others.

Exodus was written many centuries after the events it is said to describe, by anonymous authors now known as the Yahwist, Elohist and Priestly Source.

Answer 8

Scholars say that the Book of Exodus was written progressively by anonymous authors, now known as the Yahwist, the Elohist and the Priestly Source, mainly in the southern Hebrew kingdom of Judah. In their view, the book was originally written for the Judahites of the monarchical period but it was completed in the post-Exilic period for the returning Jews.

For more information, please visit:

http://christianity.answers.com/bible/the-pentateuch-explained
http://christianity.answers.com/bible/the-book-of-exodus

Answer 9

Just before his death (Deuteronomy 31:24). See also:

http://www.academia.edu/1651319/Is_the_Exodus_Story_Possible

http://www.biblicalchronologist.org/answers/exodus_egypt.php

And the wider picture. Archaeology in general:

http://judaism.answers.com/hebrew/does-archaeology-support-the-hebrew-bible

http://www.whoreallywrotethebible.com/excerpts/chapter4-1.php

http://www.pearlmancta.com/BiblicalcriticswrongRShlomoCohen.htm

Answer 10

Deuteronomy 31:24 credits Moses with authorship of the Book of Deuteronomy, although presumably he did not write about his own death, in Deuteronomy 34:5-8, but this is widely assumed to have been written by Moses' successor, Joshua. The Bible places Moses' death approximately 1400 BCE, so the tradition that he wrote the Torah, or Pentateuch ( the Books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) would place their authorship in the years leading up to 1400 BCE.

By modern standards, the statement in verse 31:24 ought to be confirmed to the extent possible, both from the Bible itself and from other information available to scholars. Deuteronomy 34:10 says, "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses ..." This could only have been written centuries after the events portrayed in the Book of Deuteronomy, suggesting that Moses was not the real author. 2 Kings 22:8 speaks of a book of law supposedly found in the Jerusalem temple during the renovations undertaken during the reign of King Josiah. Biblical scholars say this book, the Book of Deuteronomy, was not so much rediscovered, but written and placed in the Temple so that it could be "found" there and declared an ancient manuscript. Now, if the real author wanted this book not only to be considered ancient but also the work of Moses himself, he could easily include verse 31:24 and thereby assert this as evidence of Mosaic authorship. Although this evidence is persuasive, it does not proves conclusively that the book was not written by Moses. However, the strong consensus of scholars is that there never was an Exodus from Egypt as described in the Bible, and without an Exodus, we do not have a historical Moses. That is the final clue that Moses did not write the Pentateuch.

The five books of the Pentateuch were written by five main sources, over a period of several centuries during the first millennium BCE.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/bible/the-pentateuch-explained