Thread:Superdadsuper/@comment-5590118-20160118105355/@comment-1777104-20160118201651

I think I made it clear that we don't hold to JEPD. The only "documentary theory" that comes close to being possible is the use of pre-existing documents compiled in writing the inspired works. With Moses, all of Genesis and the first few chapters of Exodus were either dictated to him by God or from existing documentation that God guided him to use.

Phrases like "until this day" show up in the historical works throughout the Bible. Editors compiled the records under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This is not what the modern scholars are teaching. I am sorry if my response left even an inkling of support to JEPD.

The use of YHWH in Genesis tends to support Moses having written, or edited, everything up to Exodus 3, for that is the name that was revealed to HIM. This is NOT an edition of Yahwists against the "Elohists." The priests had very little to do with writing the Books which they were called upon for their very purpose. Deuteronomy is basically a recording of Moses' last address to the people of God.

Having said that, the evidence for Mosaic authorship of the Torah is not quite so simple. The parts about him in the text are ALL in the third person. There are places where God told him to write stuff down andt is obvious that we have a record of things that happened before and during his lifetime. Differences between the use of the names of God (the J & E) are best explained by assuming Moses had documents from which to work in writing Genesis. The record in Exodus and Numbers are bookends -- the beginning and the end of the journey to Canaan (Moses & probable secretary to better explain the third person). Parts of Exodus and almost all of Leviticus are documenting the Law -- the so called "Priestly" document.

In the end, though, the later readers of Scripture consistently refer to the Law as Mosaic. Jesus and the writers of the NT confidently accept the providence of God in providing a complete OT. Jesus spoke of it in the traditional threefold way: Moses, the Prophets, and the Writings (he called it the Psalms after the prefered "first book"of that group). Based on this, we can confidently hold to the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.