Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 44:3 (Sep 2001)
Article: Recovering The Voice Of Moses: The Genesis Of Deuteronomy
Author: Daniel I. Block

JETS 44:3 (September 2001) p. 385

Recovering The Voice Of Moses:
The Genesis Of Deuteronomy 1

Daniel I. Block*

[* Daniel Block is Associate Dean of Scripture and interpretation and John R. Sampey is Professor of Old Testament interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2825 Lexington Road, Louisville, KY 40280.]

Recently, as I have been reflecting on the significance of this, the last year in this millennium, it has struck me that the tradition that Moses wrote the Pentateuch is actually more than three thousand years old. Of course, Christian adherence to this tradition is based on three pillars: (1) the internal evidence of the book of Deuteronomy, which specifically speaks of Moses writing the Torah (31:9, 24); (2) the frequent references to “the book of the Torah of Moses” (Josh 8:31, 32; 23:6; 2 Kgs 14:6; Neh 8:1), “the book of Moses” (Neh 13:1; 2 Chr 25:4; 35:12), “the Torah of Moses,” 2 “the book of the Torah of Yahweh by the hand of Moses” (2 Chr 34:14, 15), and “the words of Yahweh by the hand of Moses” (2 Chr 35:6), in the OT; (3) and NT references to “the Nomos of Moses,” 3 “Moses” used as a substitute for “ho Nomos,” 4 “the book of Moses” (Mark 12:26), Moses’ “writings” (John 5:47), vaguer references to laws that Moses commanded, 5 statements like “Moses wrote/writes,” 6 “Moses says” (Rom 10:19), and “customs that Moses delivered to us” (Acts 6:14). In the Gospels Jesus himself frequently refers to Moses as a recognized authority in Jewish tradition and as an authority behind his own teachings.

Luke 16:19–31 and You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
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