Who Wrote the Bible - Dissertation Example

?Jane Jones Jim Smith English IV 24 January Who Wrote the Bible? Ever since Johannes Guttenberg first printed the Holy Bible in the fifteenth century, in effect making the printed word widely available to the general public (and no longer a king’s pastime), there has existed a controversy as to who exactly authored the Bible. For instance, because it was during his lifetime that King James had the Bible translated into English, many have long believed that William Shakespeare actually wrote the book itself. There have many television programs on that subject and believers point to the 46th Psalm as their evidence. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.” Their “evidence” consists of the fact is the word “shakes” is forty-six words from the beginning of the verse and “spear” is forty-six words from the end. Because Shakespeare was forty-six when this passage was printed, that is proof! Therefore, a book was first published in 1987 by Richard Elliott Friedman (updated in 1997) entitled Who Wrote the Bible? Many consider Friedman, a professor of Jewish studies at the University of Georgia, somewhat of an expert on Jewish history and culture and he has studied extensively in Israel, with excerpts of his works published in the Jerusalem Post. He is also a prolific author, for along with Who Wrote the Bible?, Friedman has also published such works as The Disappearance of God and The Bible Now (Friedman). Authors such as Dan Brown and Richard Leigh have concentrated on the New Testament for hidden authorship and meaning (such as Brown’s claim in the Da Vinci Code that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and fathered a child). Interestingly enough, it appears that Friedman has concentrated most of his writings on what Christians call the Old Testament, especially in the first few books of the Bible, what the Jewish people refer to as the Tanakh. As the author himself said in the 1997 preface, he wrote Who Wrote the Bible? as a scholarly work to set his research apart from what he calls the “popular” works, a thinly veiled references to such authors as Brown. Indeed, he revealed in the decade since he published the original book, many professors and students alike had communicated with him to reveal they had used the book in their studies. Friedman humbly dismisses those who compare his findings to that of the rediscovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls or Darwin’s conclusions. However, he does admit that the book should be looked on as a something of a puzzle whose conclusions are somewhat irrefutable (Friedman II, 15). He begins his introduction to Who Wrote the Bible? by asking that very question, concentrating on three areas, the Five Books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) was supposedly written by Moses himself and Lamentations is considered authored by Jeremiah. The third area is considered indisputable by Jews and Christians alike, whether King David wrote most of Psalms. He also mentions that the Bible is such a sacred book in most parts of the world that the majority of believers would give little thought or even care who wrote it. If one gave enough pause to think about it, it would be obvious to the casual observer that all three men mentioned were far too busy in their lifetimes to have literally written their texts, especially on the laborious papyrus scrolls. After all, it was common practice to utilize scribes and did Friedman actually write the entire book himself? Doubtful, for he probably used associates and graduate students to transcribe from his personal notes. A valid point Freidman brings to life is to whether the actual author of the works in question actually witnessed those events in his lifetime or did they occur maybe centuries before he put pen to scroll? In addition, that question has likewise plagued the Shakespearean believers and authors like Dan Brown. History books did not exist and computers certainly were not available, so most history was carried through the generations via oral tradition. Even today, with many writings and paintings concerning George Washington, many details of his life are sketchy, even such events as his crossing the Delaware River. Therefore, historical accuracy the same three centuries after Moses’ death would definitely be called into question if Moses were not the author. The Five Books of Moses are an excellent example of this phenomenon. Not necessarily questioning authorship early on (as early as the third century AD), scholars began to see little things at first that did not make sense. Although supposedly written in chronological order, dates did not match in different books and events supposedly happened that were impossible in Moses’ lifetime, such as referring to his own death. Counts were sometimes way off and in one instance the books had the man entering a temple before he actually built the temple (Friedman II, 18). One could pass that off as the forgetful wanderings of an old man except for a somewhat humorous reference also on Page 18. The books refer to Moses as the “world’s most humblest man”. That leads to one of two conclusions. Either Moses was egotistical, in direct contravention to the “humble” statement or somebody else wrote the passage who no doubt stood in awe of Moses! Friedman refers to the humble verse many times throughout his book. In Chapter 1, the author explains the early beginnings of the Judaic religion, through the rise of David. Next, he explains the monarchy of David’s son Solomon, supposedly the wisest Jewish king. After Solomon’s death, from there, Friedman covers the general history of the country we now know as Israel through the realm of Solomon. It was after the king’s death in roughly 931 BC, over three centuries after Moses’ demise that Judah and Israel split into two separate kingdoms ruled by Rehoboam and Jeroboam respectively. Jerusalem was physically located in Judah (albeit near the border). Therefore, without the holy city in Israel, the people would have to leave their country many times a year, thereby reducing Israel’s economy. Jeroboam was literally forced to manufacture a new religion that although similar, was unlike Judaism. From the early questions, for the next millennium rabbis and other experts weighed in on their thoughts of Moses’ authorship, often with disastrous results. The Middle Ages were the time of the Crusades and later the Spanish Inquisition. Questioning the Bible in any way led to one’s writings being burnt and often the author himself. For instance, Frenchman Isaac de la Peyrere was forced to convert to Catholicism and renounce his own writings because he dared question the Tanakh, a passage in Exodus referring to crossing the Jordan River. The verse was written in such a manner that the author could not have possibly been in Egypt but rather on the Israeli side. That would have been quite a revelation, since Moses was supposedly never in Israel. Most of the inconsistencies were passed off to the fact that Moses was a prophet and foresaw events such as his demise. Therefore, it wasn’t until the modern era (around the early nineteenth century) that scholars began to piece together what they considered the most credible theory as to just how the Five Books came to be. They surmised that four different writers authored the Tanakh, at least after a German named De Wette stated good cause that Deuteronomy was written entirely by a single person. It was then generally agreed that letters be assigned to code the four authors: 1) J for the person who refers to the deity as Jehovah or Yahweh, 2) If the Supreme Being was God then the author would be E, 3) Those verses stating specific laws for priests and the general public alike were assigned P and 4) The author of Deuteronomy was given D. Therefore, chapters 2 thru 4 deal with J and E. Anyone who has been involved in computer editing is familiar with the term cut and paste. Beginning in the eighteenth century three different individuals (two Germans and one Frenchman) came to basically the same conclusion hundreds of miles apart. There were two obviously different versions of many beloved stories in the Bible (Creation described two variances of how the Earth was made and the story of Noah and the Great Flood likewise had discrepancies.). The three decided that that meant two authors wrote the books and they were spliced together, sometimes not very well. This was later expanded to the four author theory as discussed above. Friedman points out that the first four books of the Christian New Testament were written by four different authors (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and each gave separate accounts of Jesus’ birth, life, ministry and death. Therefore, it was more than a bit ironic that the idea the Five Books were not written by Moses were met with such criticism from all, Jews and Christians alike (P 53). Nevertheless, when he splits the Great Flood story into the two separate versions (one version is bold), it becomes blatantly obvious that the man knows exactly what he is talking about. This explanation is in detail in Chapter 4. Yet at the same time, it could not be a new religion but rather a new version of the old and established. He made two holy cities, new religiously significant holidays and symbols to demonstrate Israel’s new religion. One of those symbols was the Golden Calf to replace Jerusalem’s gilded cherubs. Part of Jeroboam’s ideas were political, as many Canaanites also existed in Israel and the golden calves (actually young bullocks) were mainly to please them. This semi harmonious existence between Israel and Judah lasted for two short centuries (about normal for the history of Israel) and it is in these two hundred years that Friedman theorizes that the Bible we know today was written (P 49). Friedman gives evidence of this by showing two separate passages, which inadvertently refer to both kingdoms. In his covenant with Abraham, Yahweh promises him the land, which roughly encompasses Judah. In the aftermath of Jacob’s famous wrestling match with God, Jacob names the place where the event happens Peni-El, one of Jeroboam’s new Israeli holy cities. Again, there are two separate versions of the founding of Shechem, Israel’s new capital. The E story has Jacob simply buying the land from the ruling people. In the J version, this leader rapes Jacob’s daughter and holds her for marriage. In revenge, her brothers convince the people to be circumcised and while they are in pain from the procedure, they kill the men of the city and repatriate their sister. This violent and non-violent theme prevails throughout the books. In Exodus, Moses ascends “into the clouds” to personally confer with God. Mind, this is only forty days after God had personally spoke to the people, verbally laying the laws to be followed. While Moses was gone, the people get restless and demand Moses’ brother Aaron make them a new deity. He complies and forges a Golden Calf. This enrages God, who sends Moses down with the Ten Commandments. He too was infuriated and smashed the commandments, also destroying the Golden Calf. To appease God, many of the people were destroyed. The Golden Calf story is the deciding factor when the author gives credit to a Levitical Shiloh priest (name of course unknown) as the elusive E. They were passed over by Jeroboam as priests of his new realm and therefore had very good reason to despise the whole state of Israel. As such, the golden calves would have symbolized their resentment. In the Judah side, Aaron is hated but cannot be destroyed by God, for he would eventually become a High Priest, one of the earmarks of their religion. Another infamous story exemplifies the division between the J and E camps. The E author envisioned himself as a direct descendant of Moses and would therefore have much more sympathy for the man, as when the people are wandering the desert and grumbling because they have what they feel is insufficient foodstuff. Meanwhile, J is more content in showing the power of Yahweh. Even the “Great I Am” story is dealt with much more significance with E than J. Another one of Friedman’s hypotheses that is shocking is that he lends credibility to the possibility that J could very well be a woman. He does not doubt that E is a man, for in order for his theory of his being a Priest, he would have to be male. Moreover, agreed that E’s writings are definitely masculine. Yet Judean society gave status to women as well as men. Friedman references Genesis 38, in which Tamar is a heroine and the writings do tend to pity the woman and how she was mistreated (P 86). He also argues that sometime after the Assyrians invaded Israel in 722 BC, many of them fled south to Judah, most likely Jerusalem, also bringing their valuables, including documents with them. Once the Bible as known today was assembled, it was probably discovered that neither E nor J’s account were complete, so the editors came in to play, cutting and pasting the two so that the end result was plausible. Likewise, they could not simply make either version easily go away, for both accounts were well known. Omitting either would be tantamount to heresy. After almost a hundred pages where he gives the history of Judah after the Assyrian invasion of Israel, the author devotes two chapters to D (Chapters 5 & 6), the person who wrote Deuteronomy. He also tries to explain the reasoning for the various laws that make up the bulk of the book. In it, Friedman explains that D lived during the reign of King Josiah (around 622 BC) and explains that again, D had to be a Shiloh priest. At the end of this chapter, the author gives compelling evidence that Prophet Jeremiah was in fact D. In fact, putting verses from Jeremiah side by side with Deuteronomy, one sees startling comparisons between the two. “and he brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt” (Deut 4:20) and in the day I brought them out from the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace.” (Jer. 11:4). Interestingly, Jeremiah is one of only two authors that Friedman is able to give a name. Chapters 7 and 8 speak about the history of the area after the death of King Josiah. The next six books tie in to the prospect that a void was left by the monarch’s death that Deuteronomy could not fill. Thus, the books of the Early Prophets, as shown by Noth, prove that one person both edited and wrote them. Chapter 9 is what the author calls the “Brilliant Mistake”. Due to errors by Biblical scholars like Reuss, it was established that P was written last, perhaps many decades after P & E, even after D, a belief that exists in present day. Wellhausen espoused the idea that was wrong, even resigning his professorship due to his convictions. Friedman agrees and lays the groundwork for P. Chapter 10 speaks on the differences between the Temple and Tabernacle. He explains that each is simply a tent, as permanent structures were not commonplace. Going by Biblical measurements, the author gives very detailed drawings of how each looked. In Chapter 11, Friedman explains the origins of the author known as P. He sets the scenario in the time immediately following the fall of Israel. The Aaronite Priests of Judah are enjoying status and because refugees have nearly doubled their flock, the Priests realize their belief structure is similar. There is one problem, the new parishioners do not understand the laws that the priests abide by. Another disadvantage shown by the newly arrived Israelites is their E texts. Although similar to the J texts and in many ways they can be combined, there are astounding differences. One huge discrepancy is the fact that Aaron, the very figure the priests fashion their life after, is a blaspheming heretic in the E story of the Golden Calf. P’s end result is that he (a priest is a man so he had to be male) fashioned still another version of the Five Books of Moses to spin their hero. He more or less followed both J and E but polished Aaron’s reputation in each instance. In that adaptation, Aaron becomes the hero while his brother Moses becomes secondary to the entire storyline. For instance, in all of the P accounts of Moses striking his staff to perform various miracles, it was in actuality Aaron’s cane that actually performed the feats. In another, not mentioned in the other two versions, Aaron and sister Miriam conspire to discredit Moses’ wife, making her a black Ethiopian. In Chapter 12, he brings together his theories of exactly when P existed. With Friedman categorizing Jeremiah as D, he also makes the reasoning that he either was a contemporary of P or lived shortly after. Previously it had been surmised that the opposite was true, Jeremiah actually preceded P. In doing so, Friedman places P to have existed during the reign of King Hezekiah. Lastly, the author makes the conclusion during Chapter 13 that only one person could have combined all four versions of the Five Books of Moses into one semi smooth account and that person could only be Ezra. He references a law given in Leviticus that could only have existed in Ezra’s time. In addition, the human element added suggested that the editor had to have been a priest. Hence, the Second Temple of Jerusalem was when Aaronite priests flourished and Ezra was such a priest. Among the powerful, Ezra was the most powerful with embellishment from the highest authority, “It also reports that the emperor authorized him to teach and enforce the law of your God which is in your hand” (P 224). In the last chapter (14), the author explains very eloquently that instead of looking at the Bible as a fraud as some do, one should actually realize the four writers and editor made a flowing work with opposing viewpoints as to God and early life. It would be easier to comprehend the heaping praise for Moses when one accepts that someone else was writing his biography. In conclusion, in his book Who Wrote the Bible?, Richard Friedman makes a convincing argument that no one man wrote the Five Books of Moses and that they were indeed written many centuries after the prophet’s death. If Ezra was indeed the editor of these four volatile and often accusatory versions against whoever’s enemy, then it should be stated imputatively that he was the most skillful of the five mentioned, for the Bible as written does seem to flow seamlessly to the layman’s eye. WORKS CITED Friedman, Richard E, “Bio”, Web, January 23, 2013. Friedman, Richard E, Who Wrote the Bible?, Prestwick House, San Francisco: Harper, 1997. eBook. Read More