Who Wrote the Bible?
Firnando
Friedman, Richard Elliott
Summit Books (Simon & Schuster, Inc.) 1987
[we begin our quote from page 232-233]
Artistry Upon Artistry
The redactor, whom I identify as Ezra, has been the least appreciated of the
contributors to the Five Books of Moses. Usually, more credit is given to
the authors of the stories and the laws. That may be an error.
The redactor was as much an artist, in his own way, as the authors of J, E,
P, and D were in theirs. His contribution was certainly as significant as
theirs.
His task was not merely difficult, it was creative. It called for wisdom and
literary sensitivity at each step, as well as a skill that is no less an art
than storytelling.
In the end, he was the one who created the work that we have read all these
years. He assembled the final form of the stories and laws that, in
thousands of ways, have influenced millions.
Is that his influence? Or is it the influence of the authors of the sources?
Or would it be better to speak of a literary partnership of all these
contributors, a partnership that most of them never even knew would take
place? How many ironies are contained in this partnership that was spread
over centuries? How many new developments and ideas resulted from the
combination of all their contributions?
In short, the question for the last chapter of this book is: is the Bible
more than the sum of its parts?
[end of quote]
Pentateuch [First five books appearing in the Old Testament]:
Moses is the major figure through most of these books, and early Jewish and
Christian tradition held that Moses himself wrote them, though nowhere in
the Five Books of Moses themselves does the text say that he was the author.
[Deut. 31:9,24-26 describes Moses as writing a scroll of the torah - but no
claim that the scroll included all five books. Only later did torah come to
mean the Pentateuch]
But the tradition that one person, Moses, alone wrote these books presented
problems. People observed contradictions in the text. It would report events
in a particular order, and later it would say that those same events
happened in a different order. It would say that there were two of
something, and elsewhere it would say that there were fourteen of that same
thing. It would say that the Moabites did something, and later it would say
that it was the Midianites who did it. It would describe Moses as going to a
Tabernacle in a chapter before Moses builds the Tabernacle.
People also noticed that the Five Books of Moses included things that Moses
could not have known or was not likely to have said. The text, after all,
gave an account of Moses' death. It also said that Moses was the humblest
man on earth; and normally one would not expect the humblest man on earth to
point out that he is the humblest man on earth. (17f.)
Objections largely met through various forms of explanation (including
midrash). But in the medieval period, the objections began to be met with an
acknowledgment that Moses may not have been the sole author:
In the eleventh century, Isaac ibn Yashush, a Jewish court physician of a
ruler in Muslim Spain, pointed out that a list of Edomite kings that appears
in Genesis 36 named kings who lived long after Moses was dead. Ibn Yashush
suggested that the list was written by someone who lived after Moses. The
response to his conclusion was that he was called "Isaac the blunderer."
(19)
But the man who called him this, 12th century Spanish rabbi Ibn Ezra added
...several passages that appeared not to be from Moses' own hand: passages
that referred to Moses in the third person, used terms that Moses would not
have known, described places where Moses had never been, and used language
that reflected another time and locale from those of Moses. (19)
Friedman suggests that Ibn Ezra recognized that these passages confirmed ibn
Yashush's claim - but advised silence.
The silence was broken in the 14th ct. by Bonfils in Damascus. Bonfils wrote
"And this is evidence that this verse was written in the Torah later, and
Moses did not write it; rather one of the later prophets wrote it." Bonfils
was not denying the revealed character of the text. He still thought that
the passages in question were written by "one of the later prophets." He was
only concluding that they were not written by Moses. Still, three and a half
centuries later, his work was reprinted with the references to the subject
deleted. (19)
[contrary to the old tradition that Joshua wrote the account of Moses'
death] ...in the sixteenth century, Carlstadt, a contemporary of Luther,
commented that the account of Moses' death is written in the same style as
texts that precede it. This makes it difficult to claim that Joshua or
anyone else merely added a few lines to an otherwise Mosaic manuscript.
In a second stage of the process, investigators suggested that Moses wrote
the Five Books but that editors when over them later, adding an occasional
word or phrase of their own. In the sixteenth century, Andreas van Maes, who
was a Flemish Catholic, and two Jesuit scholars, Benedict Pereira and
Jacques Bonfrere, thus pictured an original text from the hand of Moses upon
which later writers expanded. Van Maes suggested that a later editor
inserted phrases or changed the name of a place to its more current name so
that readers would understand it better. Van Maes' book was placed on the
Catholic Index of Prohibited Books. (19-20)
In the third stage of the investigation, investigators concluded outright
that Moses did not write the majority of the Pentateuch.
Hobbes (17th ct.) - example: the use of the phrase "to this day," which is
not a phrase used by someone describing a contemporary situation
Four years later, Isaac de la Peyr�re (French Calvinist) - "across the
Jordan" (Deut 1:1), which would place Moses in Israel, which otherwise
contradicts the claim that Moses never entered Israel. (book was banned and
burned; de la Peyr�re was arrested, forced to become a Catholic.)
Roughly contemporary, Spinoza published a unified critical analysis
demonstrating the problematic passages pervaded the text:
There were the third-person accounts of Moses, the statements that Moses was
unlikely to have made (e.g., "humblest man on earth"), the report of Moses'
death, the expression "to this day," the references to geographical locales
by names that they acquired after Moses' lifetime, the treatment of matters
that were subsequent to Moses (e.g., the list of Edomite kings), and various
contradictions and problems in the text of the sort that earlier
investigators had observed. He also noted that the text says in Deuteronomy
34, "There never arose another prophet in Israel like Moses...." Spinoza
remarked that these sound like the words of someone who live a long time
after Moses and had the opportunity to see other prophets and thus make the
comparison. (They also do not sound like the words of the humblest man on
earth.) Spinoza wrote, "It is...clearer than the sun at noon that the
Pentateuch was not written by Moses, but by someone who lived long after
Moses." Spinoza was excommunicated from Judaism. Now his work was condemned
by Catholics and Protestants as well. His book was placed on the Catholic
Index, within six years thirty-seven edicts were issued against it, and an
attempt was made on his life. (20-21)
(Richard Simon, a Catholic priest who converted from Protestantism, wrote
what he intended to be a critique of Spinoza, claimed that
the core of the Pentateuch (the laws) was Mosaic but that there were some
additions. The additions, he said, were by scribes who collected, arranged,
and elaborated upon the old texts. These scribes, according to Simon, were
prophets, guided by the divine spirit, and so he regarded his work as a
defense of the sanctity of the biblical text. (21)
- but his contemporaries were not ready - he was attacked by Catholic
clergy, expelled from his order, and his books were placed on the Index.
Protestants wrote 40 refutations of his work. 1294 copies of his book were
burned - 6 survived. An English translation landed the translator in the
tower. (21)
Eighteenth ct. - in response to doublets:
A doublet is a case of the same story being told twice. Even in translation
it is easy to observe that biblical stories often appear with variations of
detail in two different places in the bible. There are two different stories
of the creation of the world. There are two stories of the covenant between
God and the patriarch Abraham, two stories of the naming of Abraham's son
Isaac, two stories of Abraham's claiming to a foreign king that his wife
Sarah is his sister, two stories of Isaac's son Jacob making a journey to
Mesopotamia, two stories of a revelation to Jacob at Beth-el, two stories of
God's changing Jacob's name to Israel, two stories of Moses' getting water
from a rock at a place called Meribah, and more. (22)
- three independent investigators (H. B. Witter, a German minister; Jean
Astruc, a French medical doctor, and J. G. Eichhorn, a German professor)
arrived at the same conclusion: two different sources for these stories,
from writers who lived after Moses. (23)
The sources:
J -- Yahweh/Jehovah as the name of God
E -- Elohim as the name of God
P -- the largest: includes most of the legal sections, priestly matters
D -- only found in the book of Deuteronomy
[return to top]
opposition to the Documentary hypothesis in the 19th ct. - but in the 20th
ct., major turning point with the encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu, Pope
Pius XII, 1943, "the Magna Carta for biblical progress."
The Pope encouraged scholars to pursue knowledge about the biblical writers,
for those writers were "the living and reasonable instrument of the Holy
Spirit..." He concluded:
Let the interpreter then, with all care and without neglecting any light
derived from recent research endeavor to determine the peculiar character
and circumstances of the sacred writer, the age in which he lived, the
sources written or oral to which he had recourse and the forms of expression
he employed. (27)
Eventually accepted by Protestant and Jewish scholars as well. In the
current generation of Biblical scholars, the Documentary Hypothesis
"continues to be the starting point of research, no serious student of the
Bible can fail to study it, and no other explanation of the evidence has
come close to challenging it." (28)
It is, in my terms, the equivalent of quantum mechanics in physics.
=========================
The World that Produced the Bible: 1200-722 B.C.E.
little historical information about the patriarchs, their experiences as
slaves in Egypt, the wandering in the Sinai. Evidence for accurate picture
of life of biblical only from about 12th ct. B.C.E., as the Israelites
become established in this region.
Tribal - thirteen, "with considerable differences in size and population
from the smallest to the largest. Twelve of the tribes each had a distinct
geographical territory. The thirteenth, the tribe of Levi, was identified as
a priestly group. Its members lived in cities in the other tribes'
territories. Each tribe had its own chosen leaders."
Judges, priests: judges both heard disputes and provided military
leadership. Priests served at religious ceremonies - first of all,
sacrifices (receiving a portion of the sacrificed animal, produce).
Prophets - from any occupation: Ezekiel was a priest; Amos was a cowboy.
"The word in Hebrew for prophet is nabi, which is understood to mean
'called.'" (36)
M o r e . . . .
Scholars of Christianity and Judaism Reveal Truth About Their Religions
Learn More About Bible And Beliefs
Surprises Even for the Scholars
1 Click "Bible - A Closer Look" Yusuf Estes, Ph.D. (Theology)
[this one] "Who Wrote the Bible" - (excerpts) Richard E. Friedman
3 Click "Who Wrote the Bible" (text pages)- Richard E. Friedman
4 Click "Council of Nicaea - Trinity Accepted in 325 AD" - According to the
Catholic Church
5 Click "Arianism Vs. Council of Nicaea" (Church History) By Brother John
Raymond
6 Click "Beginnings" (How Did It Come About?) [under construction]
7 Click "Priests And Preachers Enter Islam" True Story - of American Family
& Catholic Priest
8 Click "Live Broadcast" /video/audio/chat room
Who is Richard Elliott Friedman?
"Friedman, one of our brightest young biblical scholars, adroitly combines
the history of scholarship with an autobiographical account of his own
search and findings. A fascinating and brilliant book, full of new insights
and fresh discoveries. Reads like a detective story." -- Frank Moore Cross,
Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages, Harvard University
"Achieves that rare combination of serious scholarship and an eminently
readable, even racy style. The finest book of its kind that I have read in
years." -- David Noel Freedman, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Biblical
Studies, University of Michigan, and Editor, Anchor Bible Series
"A new paradigm for understanding the composition of the Bible. Novel,
stimulating, a breath of fresh air, and a desideratum for Hebrew Bible
research." -- Abraham Malamat, Professor of the Bible, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
"Fascinating, full of suspense and surprises, a well written detective
story," -- Richard J. Clifford, S. J., Dean and Professor of Old Testament,
Weston School of Theology
"I ran through the manuscript in the space of a day, much as one might pick
compulsively at a box of chocolates. It was simply too provocative to put
down. Has the potential of being highly influential inside the field and
among an informed public." -- Baruch Halpern, Professor of Bible, York
University, Toronto
"Not just another book about the Bible. One is amazed how much new data and
how many intriguing ideas emerge from this newly published research." --
Yigal Shiloh, Professor of Biblical Archeology, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
"Conveys a freshness and excitement of discovery that the old discipline has
lacked for many decades. I find Friedman's account especially sympathetic,
as will any other Bible reader who has ever stopped to wonder just whose
text they are reading." -- Alan Cooper, Professor of Bible, Hebrew Union
College
------------------
* redactor; someone who 'rewrites' or 'revises' text
http://islamtomorrow.com/bible/Who_Wrote_Bible_Friedman.asp
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duke
wrote:
>Who Wrote the Bible?
God revealed, man wrote. Isn't the bible wonderful.
The Dukester, American-American
*****
"The Mass is the most perfect form of Prayer."
Pope Paul VI
*****
Dan Listermann
"duke" <duckg...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:ghu0f5hv2em671k0j...@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 3 Nov 2009 21:24:13 +0200, "Firnando"
> <geovani_t...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>>Who Wrote the Bible?
>
> God revealed, man wrote. Isn't the bible wonderful.
>
That is it press . . . . It helps if you tend toward being gullible.
duke
With a strong commitment to following God and not satan.
Dan Listermann
> On Tue, 3 Nov 2009 13:52:56 -0500, "Dan Listermann" <d...@listermann.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>"duke" <duckg...@cox.net> wrote in message
>>news:ghu0f5hv2em671k0j...@4ax.com...
>>> On Tue, 3 Nov 2009 21:24:13 +0200, "Firnando"
>>> <geovani_t...@yahoo.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Who Wrote the Bible?
>>>
>>> God revealed, man wrote. Isn't the bible wonderful.
>>>
>>
>>That is it press . . . . It helps if you tend toward being gullible.
>
> With a strong commitment to following God and not satan.
>
whatever other deity.
Bill M
> <geovani_t...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>>Who Wrote the Bible?
>
> God revealed, man wrote. Isn't the bible wonderful.
Christians totally base their faith on the Bibles.
The Bibles are nothing more than books of myths, fables, contradictions,
human and animal sacrifices, genocide, slaveholding, misogyny, destruction,
barbarisms, and impossible tales. They are not accurate history and
certainly are not the words of any god unless he is an insane and totally
untrustworthy monster. They are not even good fiction.
Just a few Bible nonsense statements;
The universe revolves around the earth.
Stars are pinpricks in the heavens.
The world is flat (and on pillars)
Bats are a kind of bird.
Rabbits chew their cud.
There is enough water to flood the entire planet
Women were created from a man's rib
Rainbows are a promise from God
The average person today does not appreciate the difficulty and unlikelihood
of producing accurate transmissions of the original Bibles. Firstly there
are NO ORIGINALS in existence. They are all copies of copies of unknown
accuracy.
One of the problems with the accuracy of the Bibles is that when they were
copied, no marks of punctuation were used, no distinction was made between
lower case and upper case letters and more bizarre to modern script, no
spaces were used to separate words.
This kind of continuous writing was called "scriptuo continua"
'godisnowhere' could mean 'god is now here' or quit the opposite, 'god is no
where' depending on the spacing which was not used at the time. This left
accurate interpretation very unlikely if not impossible.
Add to this the natural occurrence of errors of transmission and the
intentional modification to suite the transcribers wishes and beliefs and
you have documents of highly questionable meaning and very poor accuracy.
Further compounding the problem was the size and accuracy of the
vocabularies were much more limited than today.
The Bibles are a foundation of quicksand. There are NO ORIGINALS in
existence. Why would any 'real' God not protect the originals??? What are
available are altered copies of copies by unknown men of questionable
veracity. The books of the Bibles were written over 1,000 years before the
invention of the printing press. Even the so called originals were
supposedly written by 50 or more different authors of unknown veracity. They
are biased by, and dependent on the writings and opinions of the clergy. And
the status and survival of the clergy is totally dependent on their follower's
belief in their Bible stories. There are 18 different English versions alone
and there is no way of knowing how far they have wondered from the
originals.
The new testament Bibles were written 60 and many more years AFTER Jesus
death. Jesus never wrote a word. He was apparently illiterate.
And there is no evidence that even the originals are anything more than
inaccurate fiction.
Basing ones life and faith on these MYTHS AND FABELS is not very sound
reasoning. It is the equivalent of depending on the good luck of a rabbits
foot.
Bill M
> On Tue, 3 Nov 2009 13:52:56 -0500, "Dan Listermann" <d...@listermann.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>"duke" <duckg...@cox.net> wrote in message
>>news:ghu0f5hv2em671k0j...@4ax.com...
>>> On Tue, 3 Nov 2009 21:24:13 +0200, "Firnando"
>>> <geovani_t...@yahoo.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Who Wrote the Bible?
>>>
>>> God revealed, man wrote. Isn't the bible wonderful.
>>>
>>
>>That is it press . . . . It helps if you tend toward being gullible.
>
> With a strong commitment to following God and not satan.
And Santa Claus too!
Syd M.
> On Tue, 3 Nov 2009 13:52:56 -0500, "Dan Listermann" <d...@listermann.com> wrote:
>
> >news:ghu0f5hv2em671k0j...@4ax.com...
> >> On Tue, 3 Nov 2009 21:24:13 +0200, "Firnando"
> >> wrote:
>
> >>>Who Wrote the Bible?
>
> >> God revealed, man wrote. Isn't the bible wonderful.
>
> >That is it press . . . . It helps if you tend toward being gullible.
>
> With a strong commitment to following God and not satan.
>
>
Prove either exist, Earl, or shut up.
PDW
Father Haskell
> On Tue, 3 Nov 2009 21:24:13 +0200, "Firnando" <geovani_the_ital...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Who Wrote the Bible?
>
> wonderful.
Fixed that for you.
The Chief Instigator
> On Tue, 3 Nov 2009 21:24:13 +0200, "Firnando" <geovani_t...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>>Who Wrote the Bible?
>
> God revealed, man wrote. Isn't the bible wonderful.
The tribes were there a couple of millennia before your fantasy book was
cobbled together, and any evidence of a worldwide flood that lasted up to a
year is nowhere to be found. Go ahead and tapdance away from those facts,
Drugged.
--
Patrick L. "The Chief Instigator" Humphrey (pat...@io.com) Houston, Texas
www.io.com/~patrick/aeros.php (TCI's 2008-09 Houston Aeros) AA#2273
LAST GAME: Texas 3, Houston 1 (October 30)
NEXT GAME:Thursday, November 5 vs. Manitoba, 5:05
hypa...@comcast.net
> wrote:
>
> >Who Wrote the Bible?
>
> God revealed, man wrote. Isn't the bible wonderful.
>
betrayals, lies, rape, sexism and child abuse can be.
hypa...@comcast.net
> >news:ghu0f5hv2em671k0j...@4ax.com...
> >> On Tue, 3 Nov 2009 21:24:13 +0200, "Firnando"
> >> wrote:
>
> >>>Who Wrote the Bible?
>
> >> God revealed, man wrote. Isn't the bible wonderful.
>
> >That is it press . . . . It helps if you tend toward being gullible.
>
> With a strong commitment to following God and not satan.
>
your word isn't worth cow patties. Actually, cow patties
are worth more
Why are you cross-posting to an Islamic newsgroup,
you silly person? I removed it.
Mike Jones
[...]
>> >>>Who Wrote the Bible?
>>
>> >> God revealed, man wrote. Isn't the bible wonderful.
>>
>> >That is it press . . . . It helps if you tend toward being gullible.
>>
>> With a strong commitment to following God and not satan.
>>
> We only have your word on that. And, in alt.atheism your word isn't
> worth cow patties. Actually, cow patties are worth more
4,000 quatludes on the cow pattie!
P.S. The answer to the original question was "Paul of Tarsus".
--
*=( http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/
*=( For all your UK news needs.
Mike Painter
> Responding to hypa...@comcast.net:
>
> [...]
>>>>>> Who Wrote the Bible?
>>>
>>>>> God revealed, man wrote. Isn't the bible wonderful.
>>>
>>>> That is it press . . . . It helps if you tend toward being
>>>> gullible.
>>>
>>> With a strong commitment to following God and not satan.
>>>
>> We only have your word on that. And, in alt.atheism your word isn't
>> worth cow patties. Actually, cow patties are worth more
>
>
> 4,000 quatludes on the cow pattie!
>
>
>
>
> P.S. The answer to the original question was "Paul of Tarsus".
No, "Who Wrote The Bible?" was written by Richard Friedman
Mike Jones
'Swhat I said, yeah? Whu-evah! %)