Literary the Pentateuch is a vast collection of work; in that line many traditional views solidify

their stand on the authorship of Moses. But with the advent of Humanism and renaissance,

intellectualism of many has seen freedom which thereby has led them into vast self-study and

research, with this step many have developed a sense of critical study of text seeking to have a

wider scope of understanding and trying to challenge the texts as well as the traditional beliefs

that have been passed on from generation to generation. One of the most attacked common belief

is that of regarding Moses has the Author of the Torah, this has birthed many debates between

theologians and scholars at a wider range; the conservatives believe that Moses is the author

while the liberals claim the authorship cannot be tied to one man, the belief is that there are

actually many different authors accredited to the Pentateuch. Therefore this academic assignment

will endeavor to give an exposition of the documentations of the JEPD in light of personal

opinion, with aid from other academic sources.

To better understand, it is utmost needed that a quick and brief explanation be given in

light of the JEPD sources and see what they are all about. According to Huddleston (2013), each

source seemingly has its own historical background, words and theological agenda (Huddleston,

2013). The J is believed to start from the Genesis, this is a narrative from the inception through

to Numbers, and the J here stands for Yahweh. The main focus of this document is that it reveals

God has almost Human in that he creates Man in his own Image. The J is very symbolic in that it

shows how it all started and the walk of the promises that God had given to his people the

Israelites. The second letter which is E stands to show us that God is Elohim, it presents a

flawless and perfect God, most scholars stand to agree that E starts from Genesis 20 (LaSor,

1996).
 The third is the D, which represents the Deutronomist tradition and it stands as the central

document of Deuteronomy. This book differs in style from other sources, the main focus of this

source is the Law, and the emphasis is mainly on the strict following and obedience the Law.

The book starts with Joshua and concludes with 2kings. The last is the P, which stands to

represent the Priests; this mainly focuses on genealogies, cultic laws, covenants, the Sabbath and

the procedures of sacrifices. This source points out the Holiness and Sovereignty of God.

With an overview of what is at hand, I endeavor to clarify my position; the documentary

Hypothesis or JEPD theory, shows a lot of weaknesses, to mention but a few in the write,

namely, the foundation of the Theory is a speculation. The theory shows that the writers of the

books didn’t really have truth in them, the authorship of these books is clearly tied to those who

wrote and the way of write shows a single authorship. Throughout the Torah it can be seen that

The name standing out the most is that of Moses, from Joshua 1:7-8, Ezra 3:2, Nehemiah 1:7,

these different scriptures all refer to Moses when they talk about the Torah, even the Apostle

Paul quotes and recognizes the Authorship of Moses, Romans 10:5, 1Corinthians 9:9. It can be

seemingly possible that Moses may have had scribes to help him put down the oral words into

compilation, in that sense we can view it because Moses couldn’t have written about his own

death. Many scholars and teachers all agree that Torah 1 was authored in the time of Moses

while 2 was written by Moses while 3 can be said to have been written by either Moses himself,

or Scribes but still under the direction of Moses. The Theory stands to deny all these three sides.

We cannot talk about theology without the source which is the bible, the scriptures are

true and nothing stands to be missing, so if we can trust the bible to be the source of all truth then

it is most likely that the JEPD theory is frail in its exposition, reason being that, the bible itself

has clearly ascribed the authorship to Moses. The bible is not a secondary source for any
theological information but the primary source, because we cannot study God in a systematic

way without the scriptures. The bible is the primary source about and of the knowledge of God-

it is the assured source of all revelations and doctrine in regard to the Deity of God, his will and

plan for mankind. Other scholars explain the authority of the bible this way “it is the light and

truth of all Mankind, and all that is written is primarily and inspiration”, this implication is

obvious; if we fail to trust in the bible we have no regard to talk about what stems from God

(Wiseman, 2000).

The JEPD theory contradicts a lot of biblical truths, it stands to deny the authenticity of

the Bible, the theory does not conquer with the exposition of Truth, in its attempt to bring

balance, and it misses out on factual truth. There is no reason to have a thought that most

sections in the book of Deuteronomy were just randomly put together from different sources; if

that is true, then the Apostles that quoted the texts and ascribed them to Moses were all false and

miss-guided. This theory contradicts its belief in the sovereignty of God and his ability to reveal

the whole process from Creation to one man. From the many themes that are written throughout

the Torah, I would then conclude that, if the JEPD is true then the themes in the book of

Deuteronomy are all false because of their sequential order, they portray the flow of the work of

God, if carefully looked on, the 10 commandments in both Exodus and Deuteronomy are

actually the same, if they were done my different authors then it shows are lack of authenticity

and truth in expository (Sewell, 1994).

One of the most fascinating things is the fact that, if the Torah was no single authored

then why the later editor does decided to bring all the sources together and make them into one

compile, if the traditions had kept them separate (Wolters, 1996). The source of truth for

Christians is the bible, which is an inspiration from God, the bible is infallible, therefore it does
not contradict itself, each document was written in its original form, and any contradiction to

truth surely affects the foundation of the whole Bible and Theology.

Jesus himself quoted the Law of Moses, in countless times the Apostles also ascribe the

authorship of the Torah to Moses, if then the JEPD theory contradicts this notion, then it stands

to say that the Apostles and Jesus were all not truthful in their delivery of scripture and teaching.

O there is no reason for a believer to accept the theory of the JEPD, the vast and countless

testimonies show us that Moses is the author, so anything that is in rebellion to what the bible

says then we are not to believe and take it has truth.

Conclusion

The setting of the Bible clearly shows us that The Ultimate truth comes from God and

Jesus is that very ultimate truth, hence ours is to believe and trust what we read in the bible

because it is true. The authorship of Moses and the Torah may be a debated thing, but one of all

we can clearly see that most of the debaters and writers of desertions are not Christian but just

students of biblical texts. From my stand point, it can be seen through the above write that, the

JEPD is biased most of themes contradict the truth; they speak in parallel with the word of God.

Hence it is cardinal that we stick to what the bible says through what has been revealed and not

our own understanding or feelings.

 Reference

Huddleston, J. (2013). Recent Scholarship on Pentateuch. Historical, Litrary and Theological

reflections 55, 193-211.

LaSor, W. S. (1996). Old Testament Survy: The message form and background of the old

testament. GrandRapids: Eerdmans Publishing.

Sewell, C. (1994). The Tablet Theory of Genesis authorship. Bible and Spade 7 (1), 20.

Wiseman, P. (2000). Ancient Records and the the Structure of Genesis. Nashville: Thomas

Nelson.

Wolters, A. (1996). Creation Regained;Biblical Basis for Reformation Worldview. Carlisle:

Paternoster Press.