"The books of the Pentateuch are never ascribed to Moses in the inscriptions of Hebrew manuscripts, or in printed copies of the Hebrew Bible. Nor are they styled the 'Books of Moses' in the Septuagint[92:1] or Vulgate,[92:2] but only in our modern translations, after the example of many eminent Fathers of the Church, who, with the exception of Jerome, and, perhaps, Origen, were, one and all of them, very little acquainted with the Hebrew language, and still less with its criticism."[92:3]
The author of "The Religion of Israel," referring to this subject, says:
"The Jews who lived after the Babylonish Captivity, and the Christians following their examples, ascribed these books (the Pentateuch) to Moses; and for many centuries the notion was cherished that he had really written them. But strict and impartial investigation has shown that this opinion must be given up; and that nothing in the whole Law really comes from Moses himself except the Ten Commandments. And even these were not delivered by him in the same form as we find them now. If we still call these books by his name, it is only because the Israelites always thought of him as their first and greatest law-giver, and the actual authors grouped all their narratives and laws around his figure, and associated them with his name."[92:4]
As we cannot go into an extended account, and show how this is known, we will simply say that it is principally by internal evidence that these facts are ascertained.[92:5]
Now that we have seen that Moses did not write the books of the Pentateuch, our next endeavor will be to ascertain when they were written, and by whom.
We can say that they were not written by any one person, nor were they written at the same time.
We can trace three principal redactions of the Pentateuch, that is to say, the material was worked over, and re-edited, with modifications and additions, by different people, at three distinct epochs.[93:1]
The two principal writers are generally known as the Jehovistic and the Elohistic. We have—in speaking of the "Eden Myth" and the legend of the "Deluge"—already alluded to this fact, and have illustrated how these writers' narratives conflict with each other.
The Jehovistic writer is supposed to have been a prophet, who, it would seem, was anxious to give Israel a history. He begins at Genesis, ii. 4, with a short account, of the "Creation," and then he carries the story on regularly until the Israelites enter Canaan. It is to him that we are indebted for the charming pictures of the patriarchs. He took these from other writings, or from the popular legends.[93:2]