History of the Ancient Near East · Part 24 · Texts and temples · C1
When Was the Torah Written?
Part 24 of History of the Ancient Near East: Philo believes that Moses wrote the five books of the Torah. Most modern scholars think they were woven together from older sources and reached their final form in the Persian period; a smaller group argues for an even later date, in the Greek age, perhaps in Alexandria itself. Dating language (dates from, no earlier than), is thought to have been edited, and the language of argument, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
Tonight, the question I have been promising since our first lesson. Philo, you may not like all of it.
Moses wrote the Torah; I have always believed it. But you have shown me Hammurabi’s ox, Sargon’s basket, and a Persian word in my paradise. Tell me what the scholars of the future will say, and I will listen as a scholar, even if I answer as a believer.
Do the Greek scholars have the same problem with Homer?
The Torah, or Pentateuch, is the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Jewish and Christian tradition held that Moses wrote them. From the 17th century onwards, scholars noticed features that suggested otherwise: the books describe Moses’s death; some stories are told twice, in different ways; God has different names in different passages; and the laws sometimes disagree with each other.
Most scholars today think that the Torah was built from older sources and traditions, written and rewritten over several centuries. Many connect the core of Deuteronomy with the reform of King Josiah in the late 7th century BCE, and a priestly layer with the exile and after. The main view, often called the consensus, is that the five books reached roughly their final form in the Persian period, in the 5th or 4th century BCE.
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