Who wrote Genesis

New evidence suggests that the book of Genesis may be older than first thought!

Please note, this is ONLY a theory, until we can actually ask Moses how he wrote Genesis, we will never know the exact background to his writing.

First some background on Moses.

1. Moses was born of an Israelite family during a period of social unrest.

2. His parents were intelligent. Pharaoh had made a decree that all male children were to be cast into the Nile river. 
Exodus 1:22 So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive." His parents fulfilled the decree by casting Moses into the river, but they waterproofed his basket! Pharaoh's decree had been fulfilled!

3. He was adopted by Pharaohs daughter, and trained in Pharaoh's courts were he spent the first 40 years of his life.
Acts 7:22 "And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.

4. He would have been taught to be literate in all the known languages, and was known to be a great orator in Pharaoh's court.
Josephus Ant 2:9:6 Now Moses' understanding became superior to his age, nay, far beyond that standard; and when he was taught, he discovered greater quickness of apprehension than was usual at his age, and his actions at that time promised greater, when he should come to the age of a man.

Background to written history In the period of early history the written texts were recorded on clay tablets called cuneiform.  These were made by making wedge shaped impressions in clay. The Hebrew word for "to write" literally means "to dig" or "to cut in" One of the standards of cuneiform was to have a colophon at the end of the text. This would often include the period for which the text was written and who it was written for (or by) The cuneiform would often include a history (or genealogy) of the "owner" of the text at the beginning.

The Theory In 1936 PJ Wiseman put forward the theory that the book of Genesis (which means "beginnings" or "book of generations") was not written by Moses, so much as compiled by Moses from earlier writings. This is a more feasable explanation than that of Moses writing a transcript of verbal traditions passed down throughout generations. (A theory that is still held by some today) He proposed that the original authors were Adam, Noah, the sons of Noah, Shem,Terah, Ishmael, Isaac, Esau, Jacob, and Joseph. And that the Authors (other than Joseph) had written on cuneiform tablets. This would seem to hold to the truth as there are natural breaks throughout Genesis that start with a history/genealogy and end with a colophon for the person written about in that passage/s

The Breakdown of Genesis

It is interesting to note that the last section of Genesis does not have a history/genealogy of Joseph, nor does it end with a colophon. 
This fits well with the theory as Joseph would have written during the time he was in Egypt. 
The Egyptians did not use cuneiform tablets but used papyrus or leather scrolls.   Colophons are only associated with cuneiform.

Implications

The implications of this evidence for the origin of Genesis are staggering.

Rather than Genesis having a historically later date for its origin, it implies that Genesis chapters 1-11 is a transcript of the oldest written records in human history!
It explains the repetition of the creation account in chapter 1 & 2.
It confirms that the Genesis account of creation and the flood are the original accounts and not taken from the Bablonian accounts (it was probably the other way around)
The theory is in keeping with the Biblical accounts of creation, rather than mankind evolving intelligence, he would have been of great intelligence, totally capable of reading & writing.

Bibliography

Marvin L. Lubenow, Bones of Contention, Baker Books, 1992
P.J. Wiseman, Ancient Records and the Structiure of Genesis, Thomas Nelson Publisher, 1985
R.K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testement, Wm.B.Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1969

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