A long one, but there is some good stuff in here

Bible Survey

Introduction to the Pentateuch

• Books
• The Pentateuch covers from Genesis to Deuteronomy
  
  
• Time span
• It begins with Creation and goes to roughly 1407 BC
• What are some of the different events in the Pentateuch?
• Creation
• Fall
• Flood
• Call of Abraham
• Family of Abraham
• Isaac
• Jacob
• Joseph
• Moses
• Israel the nation
  Some pretty big things are going on in these books
  
  
• Author(s), the authorship argument is a big issue for the study of these books
  
• The Pentateuch claims
• Exodus 24:4-7
• Numbers 33:1-2
• Ok the claims of the books of the Pentateuch itself are fairly straightforward, but what about other books of the OT
  
• Old Testament
• Malachi 4:4
• 1 Kings 2:3
• So the entire OT is pretty clear on who they believe wrote the OT
  
• Jewish tradition
• Moses wrote the books of Genesis to Deuteronomy
  
• What does Jesus say about the matter
  
• John 5:46-4
• Luke 24:27
• Jesus on the road to Emmaus
• Mark 7:13
• Jesus quotes from Exodus and says Moses says it
• The Bible seems to be fairly clear on this issue but some disagree.
  
  
• JEDP Documentary Hypothesis (a short history), straight from Old German Theology to your computer
  
• Parts of the OT claim to use sources for information
• Numbers 21:14
• Joshua 10:13
• 2 Chronicles 33:19
• Beginning around 1800, Scholars attempted to first decipher the different unnamed sources in the Pentateuch
• They divided the sources by the names of God used in each section. J is for YHWH, E is for Elohim
• This development led to skepticism of Mosaic authorship. By 1805, one scholar W.M.L. de Wette taught that none of the Pentateuch came before the time of David (at least 400 years after Moses)
• Julius Wellhausen (mid 19^th c. to early 20^th) popularized the JEDP
  Here is a picture of ole' Julius
  
  
  
  
  
  Here is what he argued
  
• J – YHWH documents were written about 850 BC, by a Judean author. Pro-Judean. Concerned with specific theology as YHWH as God alone
• E – Elohim documents written about 750 BC, by a Northern kingdom author. Less concerned with theology, portrays Moses as the prophet and God communicating through dreams
• Around 650 BC these documents were combined.
• D – Deuteronomic school wrote around 621 BC at the revival of Josiah. Concerned with taking down the high places
• P – (570 BC) Priestly documents written with the idea of holiness and specific worship rituals in mind.
  
• How did they divide the text when it appears line by line in a book format? Which line is an E line, which section is a D section? Created much scholarly debate.
• Now not only are there multiple authors of Genesis to Deuteronomy, but there are also multiple and competing theologies.
  
  
• Critique of JEDP theory (Gleason Archer A Survey of the OT Chapter 8)
• JEDP theory was developed in a Deistic philosophical universe. It presupposes that supernatural revelation is impossible. Example, Moses could not have been the author of Deuteronomy because Deuteronomy 28:58-68 happened much later in Israel's history. How could Moses know what would happen, not by God's foreknowledge, but because it was written after the fact.
  
• Scholars assumed that the authors of the Bible could only use one name for God (J or E) or only one style of writing (D or P). Because obviously authors only use one name and one style (I am not sure how obvious my sarcasm is here).
• Even though it claims to be an objective scientific approach, subjectivity reigns in their archaeological reasoning. Biblical information is considered with skepticism, while archaeological and pagan documentation is considered more reliable. In discrepancies between the two, the pagan documentation is shown favor. This skepticism is without cause, seeing as how time and time again archaeology proves the Bible’s historicity. Rather the Bible is just evidence of people’s political propaganda.
• Wellhausen begins with the presupposition that Jewish monotheism evolved from pantheistic roots, despite the textual evidence. All straightforward accounts are reworked by this presupposition.
• Although Semitic literature is repetitious in nature, scholars assume that repetition is evidence of multiple sources. (Reading our cultural and literary rules into their culture and literature). Repetition is not for emphasis but proves multiple authors/editors.
• They assume that they and only they have been able to figure out the text after 3,400 of distance. They know what really happened at this event. The arrogance in writings is really astonishing.
• They divide the text where the text does not divide itself. If you believe that this is God’s word, then this is a big deal for you.
• I believe this field of scholarship is asking the wrong questions, with the wrong presuppositions and therefore getting the wrong answers.
  

• What is the nature of the Bible
• Inspired Word of God
• Answers some of man’s deepest questions, guidebook for our life.
• Who is man?
• Who is God?
• What does God expect of me?
• What is the purpose of life?
• What is going on here (in life)? Tell me what's goin' on.
  
• Is there an afterlife?
• What must I do to be saved?
• This is not just an intellectual question for us, but one that hits to the very core of who we are and what our lives are all about.
• Claims to be inspired by God
• Isaiah 45:14
• This is what the LORD says
• Matthew 5:18; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; Hebrews 3:7; 1 Peter 1:10-12; 2 Peter 1:21
• This in and of itself does not prove that the Bible is the word of God (inerrant – without mistake), but it is a start. The Bible is claiming some authority here.
  
  
• Autographs (Originals) and Copies
• We believe the autographs are inerrant
• BUT We don’t have the originals!
• The copies may have errors
• Problem, there are variations in the copies (just as if I was to miscopy a verse from the Bible). How can we know what the original message is?
• Copies of the NT
• For the NT we have 5,686 known Greek copies (either fragments of books or whole books) that date from the 2^nd to the 5^th c. That does not count copies in other languages. There are 19,284 copies in other languages, some in Latin, Ethiopic, Slavic, and other languages. Altogether there are 24,970 copies. They go all the way back to the late 1^st or early 2^nd c. Now compared to other ancient documents. Homer’s Illiad, earliest copies go back 400 years after it was written and there are only 643 ancient copies available.
• Copies of the OT that we have
  
• Dead Sea Scrolls (written 300BC – 50AD), discovered in the 1940s
  
• Lenigrad Manuscript (written around 1010 AD) – Masoritic text, standard text for Hebrew scholarship today
• The Dead Sea scrolls date from 3^rd c. BC to 1^st c. AD. They are important because they can be compared to copies from much later and confirm the accuracy of these separate copies.
  
• We have many different copies and they are very old in different languages from different parts of the world, so we can compare them. When there are variations, we can see what they are and how we might reconcile them.
• For the most part there is little variation between the texts we have
  
  
• Conclusion
• Many claim today that the bible is no different than the Koran or that Jesus is a prophet just like Buddha or Mohammed.
• If we were all trying to philosophize and figure out who God is on our own then yes we are all on a level playing field. If we are all searching after truth and groping in the dark for it, then yes Jesus’ words are on par with any other “religious” teacher. But if we believe that God has revealed himself to his prophets long ago and even more so through his Son, then what they say is the truth. We are no longer trying to figure out God, but he is communicating with us. This is God’s self-revelation to us. Hebrews 1:1-2.

• We don’t study because it makes us feel good or believe because we believe the Bible is a great work of literature. No we study it because the Bible has authority and God is the one who gives it that authority. This is why we study our Bibles and this is why we trust God's Word.