The Inspiration of the Pentateuch, or Graf-wellhausen Fallacy

by M.W.J. Phelan

SUB-TITLE An examination of the origins of the Torah, the inadequacies and contradictions of cynical Source Criticism, and the merits of Faithful Source, and Form Criticism. BOOK DESCRIPTION Bible-based Christianity claims to be a revelation from God, in fact it claims to comprise the most comprehensive collection of truths concerning the nature and purposes of God, and the nature and destiny of mankind that has ever been revealed. It claims that this revelation was made to mankind by Divinely Inspired, and therefore, utterly inerrant writings that have been transmitted to us through what is popularly known as The New Testament. However, this collection of documents rests upon the previously existing collection of documents which comprise the Hebrew Canon, referred to by Christians as the Old Testament, and therefore is itself acutely vulnerable to any assault made upon the Hebrew Canon, or Old Testament. The very foundation of the Hebrew Canon, in terms of the claimed sequence of writing, historical events narrated, and theological importance, is the Torah, or Pentateuch, or Five-Books-Of-Moses; namely, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It is not surprising then, that while there is continuing debate about the so-called Synoptic Problem, the authorship and placement of the Pastoral Epistles, the provenance of the Book of Daniel, the authorship of the Book of Isaiah, and many of the Psalms, it is the Pentateuch that has been the target of the most unremitting assaults of sceptics and Critics down the years, and the Book of Genesis has suffered the most brutal of these attacks. It is these assaults upon the Pentateuch that form the subject of this book. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Part One: The origin and nature of the Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis Chapter One: Pre-Grafian Higher Criticism Chapter Two: Post-Grafian Higher Criticism Part Two: Basic Objections To The Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis Chapter Three: The Antiquity Of The Age Of Writing Chapter Four: The Antiquity Of The Pentateuch Chapter Five: The Unity Of The Pentateuch Seen From Its Literary Construction Part Three: The Literary Sources Of The Pentateuch Chapter Six: The Book Of Deuteronomy Chapter Seven: The Heart Of The Torah Chapter Eight: The Book Of Genesis Part Four: Positive Form Criticism And The Pentateuch Chapter Nine: Positive Form Criticism And The Book Of Genesis Chapter Ten: Positive Form Criticism And The Testimony To Christ Part Five: Propositions And Conclusion Chapter Eleven: Main Conclusion And Propositions Part Six: Supplementary Studies: The non literary problems of the Pentateuch Supplement One: The Problem Of The Levites Supplement Two: The Credibility Of Genesis Part Seven: Appendices, Glossary, And Bibliography Appendix I: The Order And Divisions Of The Books Of The Hebrew Canon Appendix II: The Ugaritic Alphabet Appendix III: Table Of Hebrew Alphabets Appendix IV: IV Ezra 14:1-50 Appendix V: The Covenant Book Appendix VI: The Usage Of choq And chuqqah Appendix VII: The Usage Of mishpat, shephetim, And shephet Appendix VIII: The Usage Of mitzvah Appendix IX: The Overlapping Of The Lifespans Of The Patriarchs Appendix X: The Descent Of Samuel Appendix XI: The Age Of Terah At The Birth Of Abraham Appendix XII: Further Evidence For The Views Of Kikawada and Quinn Glossary Bibliography

440 pages, Paperback

First published March 9, 2005

Reviews

[Janelle Zeeb · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this fascinating book, M.W.J. Phelan provides convincing evidence that the well-known Graf-Wellhausen theory (which claims the first five books of the Bible came to exist through a long process of editing by four main authors called J, E, P, and D) is not tenable and is disproved by numerous facts. Instead, he argues there is evidence that it was indeed written by Moses, who used even earlier sources which he had access to. This is a very encouraging book for anyone who has gone to Seminary and been told that the Graf-Wellhausen theory is true, and had their faith shaken as a result. The problem is that the Graf-Wellhausen theory undermines belief in the authenticity and authority of the Bible. Not only that, but it is self-contradictory, inconsistent, unprovable, and intentionally ignores the latest archaeological evidence. This work is fairly technical and detailed, so it's better suited towards those who have some background in Biblical Criticism and familiarity with Israelite history.

The evidence that Phelan says disprove the Graf-Wellhausen theory include:
- the large number of clay tablets found that pre-date the era of the Biblical Patriarchs, proving that writing was available from an extremely early date and so there is less need for theories that claim the Pentateuch originally was passed down as oral legends.
- the existence of the Samaritan Pentateuch, the form of the letters used, and some spelling mistakes in it show that it dates from earlier than the Babylonian Exile, and thus is not a copy of Ezra's work which transferred the Pentateuch into the later Babylonian square script.
- the existence of "structures" within the verses of the Pentateuch which show a careful ordering of sentences to form a particular pattern, which is continuous over large portions of verses which Higher Criticism would say was written by many separate authors/editors.
- amazing studies which have detected a pattern in the letters themselves, where in Genesis and Exodus, if you take every 50th letter, you can spell out "TORAH". In Leviticus you can spell out "YHWH", and in the later two books you can spell "TORAH" backwards. I think this is fascinating, as it shows the inspiration of these books must be down to the very letters, thus proving verbal plenary inspiration is true.
- Deuteronomy has evidence of being very old, based on the structure which corresponds to Hittite covenants, and the details of prohibited practices represent a much earlier stage of Israelite religion. So it was not composed in the time of Josiah as some JEPD adherents claim.

Phelan argues there is enough support to believe that the Pentateuch was instead compiled and edited by Moses, using pre-existing written sources which go back as far as Adam, which were handed down through the generations through Noah and Abraham. Some of this evidence includes:
- Genesis can be divided up by author according to the phrase "these are the generations of...", where this phrase indicates who wrote the preceding material. Whoever is listed in this phrase was alive at the time and was able to be an eyewitness to the events described. The repetition of certain phrases also shows how Genesis was originally written on a series of clay tablets, which shows their antiquity and authenticity.
- Exodus and Numbers follow a generally chronological pattern, which shows they may have been based off of Moses' own travel experiences, with laws added along the way as needed by the Israelite people.
- Genesis shows evidence of a change from using occasional Babylonian vocabulary in Gen. 37:2 to more Egyptian vocabulary, which is what we would expect if the narrative changes from being written by Jacob to being now written by Moses.
- many of the stories involving the patriarchs are structured in particular consistent forms which show they have not been tampered with by multiple editors (as otherwise the structure would disappear).

He also has a fascinating look at what he calls "The Gospel of Abraham" which makes many connections with the life of Christ, showing how Abraham's life was a prefiguration of the gospel revealed in the New Testament.

A small supplement includes some discussion of non-literary problems in Genesis, mostly involving objections that it can't be true because we know the universe was made by the Big Bang. He points out some of the most obvious criticisms of this theory, and argues that taking the creation and flood accounts straightforwardly is the best approach. Although this is short, it is a decent introduction to the topic.

Overall, this book is a very useful resource to scholars and educated lay-people to be able to reject the claims of "higher criticism", and at the same time be drawn into worship of our amazing God who reveals Himself to us.