In the Beginning . . .

1
??????

• In the Beginning . . .

2
Torah ????

• For the bulk of church history Mosaic authorship
  was undoubted
• Renaissance Scholastic Skepticism Doubting of
  Authority
• Much of this criticism was directed to the Old
  Testament and the Torah in particular
• Anti-supernatural rationalism (DesCartes)

3
Graf-Wellhausen Documentary Hypothesis

• J the Jehovistic Writer. 9th century Southern
  writer, epic narrative
• E the Elohist Writer. 8th century Northern
  writer emphasizing Joseph, Bethel, Shechem
• P the Priestly Writer. Concerned with legal and
  ceremonial things
• D the Deuteronomist. The book found by Josiah
  (2 Kings 22).

4
In the Old Testament

• the Law
• the book of the law
• the book of the law of Moses
• the book of Moses
• the law of the Lord

• the law of God
• the book of the law of God
• the book of the law of the Lord
• the book of the law of the Lord their God
• the law of Moses, the servant of God

5
In the New Testament

• the book of the Law
• the book of Moses
• the law

• the Law of Moses
• the Law of the Lord

6
Pentateuch

• Philo and Josephus testified to five-fold
  division of the Law.
• Jerusalem Talmud spoke of the Pentateuch as the
  five-fifths of the Law

7
Authorship

• Testimony of the Torah
• Exodus 17.14-And the Lord said unto Moses, write.
• Exodus 24.4-8-And Moses wrote all the words of
  the Lord.
• Exodus 34.27-and the Lord said unto Moses, write.
• Numbers 33.1-2-And Moses wrote their goings out
  according to their journeys.
• Deut. 1-These are the words which Moses spoke
  unto all Israel.
• Deut. 31.9-And Moses wrote this Law.
• Deut. 31.22-and Moses wrote this song.

• Testimony of the rest of the OT
• Joshua is filled with references to Moses.
• References to Moses are found in Kings, Ezra,
  Nehemiah, and Chronicles.
• Daniel 9 speaks of the oath that is written in
  the Law of Moses, the servant of God
• Malachi-remember the Law of Moses
• The presupposition of the OT witness is that
  there is in existence a written book known as the
  Law and that the contents of this Law were given
  to Moses by the Lord.

8
Testimony of the NT

• NT bears clear testimony to the Mosaic authorship
  of the Pentateuch
• Christ quotes from the Law, Moses, because of the
  hardness of your hearts. His disagreement was
  not with who wrote it but rather on
  interpretation.
• In the NT Law and Moses are equivalent.

• What is meant by Mosaic authorship?
• It does not mean that he wrote every word.
• Moses was the fundamental real author.
• Moses may have employed parts of previously
  existing written documents, which may have had
  latter additions or revisions under divine
  inspiration.

9
Genesis

• Hebrew Bershith ?????? (In beginning)
• Talmud - Book of the creation of the world
• LXX - Genesis, means origin, source, generation

10
Purpose

• The purpose of the first book of the Pentateuch
  is to give a brief survey of the history of
  divine revelation from the beginning until the
  Israelites were brought into Egypt, ready to be
  formed into a Theocratic nation.

• It relates the creation of the world, of man,
  God's covenant with man, the fall into sin, the
  covenant of grace, and the lives of the Patriarchs

11
Two Parts

• Creation to the call of Abraham (Gen 1-11)
• Call of Abraham to Israel in Egypt (Gen 12-50)

12
Gen 1.1-2.3 The creation of the heavens and the
earth

• All things had their beginning through a
  creative act of God
• Covers the details of bringing the earth from its
  original unformed state to its present, well
  ordered condition.
• The account is told in terms of fiat and
  fulfillment. God said it into existence.

• Gen 2.4-4.26 The generations of the heavens and
  the earth
• 'These are the generations' occurs 11 times in
  Genesis.
• Use of the phrase in 2.4 introduces the account,
  not of the creation of heaven and earth, but of
  their offspring-man (his spirit is of heaven and
  his body is of the earth)

13
Genesis 2

• The words of 2.4b 'in the day that the Lord made
  the heavens and the earth' rather than
  introducing an account of creation, serves to
  point out that the creation already took place.
• Chapter 2 is not chronological but topical
• It explains the nature of man
• Body formed from dust-sentence of dust to dust
• Life inbreathed by God-possibility of higher
  elevation to immortality (Tree of life)
• Calls attention to the two trees and the covenant
  of works
• Sets the stage for the fall of chapt. 3

14
Chapter 3

• If this portion were merely legend and not an
  historical account of the entry of sin into the
  relationship between man and his creator then
  there is not need of sense to what follows in
  Genesis through Revelation. The salvific act on
  the cross means nothing because it has no
  necessary function and Paul was entirely
  incorrect in his assessment of the importance of
  Calvary.

15
Chapter 9

• Chapter 9.1-7. Note carefully that the
  indications are form the text that prior to the
  flood there was no capital punishment nor the
  eating of meat by man. Yet God felt it necessary
  to destroy the earth because of the wickedness of
  man. This is a repudiation of the idea that all
  will be well with the world if only man will give
  up capital punishment and meat eating. Note that
  Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian.

16
Abraham (12.1-25.18)

• Covenant between Yhwh and Abram (12.1-13.6)
• Yhwh's renewal of his covenant with Abram through
  faithfulness (13.7-17.27)
• The confirmation of Abraham's faith in his
  renewal of the Covenant through Obedience
  (18.1-25.18) cf esp chapt 22.
• God promised to Abraham that he would
• 1) be blessed and that through him the all the
  families of the earth will be blessed (12.1-3)
• 2) he would have a numerous seed (13.16 15.5
  17.5-6 22.17)
• 3) he and his descendants would possess a goodly
  land (12.7 13.14-15 15.18-21).

17
Children of Israel