The Books of the Old Testament

The Old Testament is a collection of works ofgreatly differing length and many different genres. They were writtenin several languages over a period of more than nine hundred years,based on oral traditions. Many of these works were corrected andcompleted in accordance with events or special requirements, often atperiods that were very distant from one another.

This copious literature probably flowered at thebeginning of the Israelite Monarchy, around the Eleventh century B.C.It was at this period that a body of scribes appeared among the membersof the royal household. They were cultivated men whose role was notlimited to writing. The first incomplete writings, mentioned in thepreceding chapter, may date from this period. There was a specialreason for writing these works down; there were a certain number ofsongs (mentioned earlier), the prophetic oracles of Jacob and Moses,the Ten Commandments and, on a more general level, the legislativetexts which established a religious tradition before the formation ofthe law. All these texts constitute fragments scattered here and therethroughout the various collections of the Old Testament.

It was not until a little later, possibly during theTenth century B.C., that the so-called ‘Yahvist’ [ So called because God is named Yahweh in this text.]text of the Pentateuch was written. This text was to form the backboneof the first five books ascribed to Moses. Later, the so-called’Elohist’ [ So called because God isnamed Elohim in this text.] text was to be added, and also theso-called ‘Sacerdotal’ [ From thepreachers in the Temple at Jerusalem.] version. The initialYahvist text deals with the origins of the world up to the death ofJacob. This text comes from the southern kingdom, Judah.

At the end of the Ninth century and in the middle ofthe Eighth century B.C., the prophetic influence of Elias and Elishatook shape and spread. We have their books today. This is also the timeof the Elohist text of the Pentateuch which covers a much smallerperiod than the Yahvist text because it limits itself to facts relatingto Abraham, Jacob and Joseph. The books of Joshua and Judges date fromthis time.

The Eighth century B.C. saw the appearance of thewriter prophets: Amos and Hosea in Israel, and Michah in Judah.

In 721 B.C., the fall of Samaria put an end to theKingdom of Israel. The Kingdom of Judah took over its religiousheritage. The collection of Proverbs dates from this period,distinguished in particular by the fusion into a single book of theYahvist and Elohist texts of the Pentateuch; in this way the Torah wasconstituted. Deuteronomy was written at this time.

In the second half of the Seventh century B.C., thereign of Josiah coincided with the appearance of the prophet Jeremiah,but his work did not take definitive shape until a century later.

Before the first deportation to Babylon in 598 B.C.,there appeared the Books of Zephaniah, Nahum and Habakkuk. Ezekiel wasalready prophesying during this first deportation. The fall ofJerusalem in 587 B.C. marked the beginning of the second deportationwhich lasted until 538 B.C.

The Book of Ezekiel, the last great prophet and theprophet of exile, was not arranged into its present form until afterhis death by the scribes that were to become his spiritual inheritors.These same scribes were to resume Genesis in a third version, theso-called ‘Sacerdotal’ version, for the section going from the Creationto the death of Jacob. In this way a third text was to be inserted intothe central fabric of the Yahvist and Elohist texts of the Torah. Weshall see later on, in the books written roughly two and four centuriesearlier, an aspect of the intricacies of this third text. It was atthis time that the Lamentations appeared.

On the order of Cyrus, the deportation to Babyloncame to an end in 538 B.C. The Jews returned to Palestine and theTemple at Jerusalem was rebuilt. The prophets’ activities began again,resulting in the books of Haggai, Zechariah, the third book of Isaiah,Malachi, Daniel and Baruch (the last being in Greek). The periodfollowing the deportation is also the period of the Books of Wisdom:Proverbs was written definitively around 480 B.C., Job in the middle ofthe Fifth century B.C., Ecclesiastes or Koheleth dates from the Thirdcentury B.C., as do the Song of Songs, Chronicles I & II, Ezra andNehemiah; Ecclesiasticus or Sirah appeared in the Second century B.C.;the Book of Wisdom and the Book of Maccabees I & II were writtenone century before Christ. The Books of Ruth, Esther and Jonah are noteasily datable. The same is true for Tobit and Judith. All these datesare given on the understanding that there may have been subsequentadaptations, since it was only circa one century before Christ thatform was first given to the writings of the Old Testament. For manythis did not become definitive until one century after Christ.

Thus the Old Testament appears as a literarymonument to the Jewish people, from its origins to the coming ofChristianity. The books it consists of were written, completed andrevised between the Tenth and the First centuries B.C. This is in noway a personal point of view on the history of its composition. Theessential data for this historical survey were taken from the entry TheBible in the Encyclopedia Universalis [ Paris, 1974 edition, Vol. a, pp. 246-263.] by J. P.Sandroz, a professor at the Dominican Faculties, Saulchoir. Tounderstand what the Old Testament represents, it is important to retainthis information, correctly established today by highly qualifiedspecialists.

A Revelation is mingled in all these writings, butall we possess today is what men have seen fit to leave us. These menmanipulated the texts to please themselves, according to thecircumstances they were in and the necessities they had to meet.

When these objective data are compared with thosefound in various prefaces to Bibles destined today for masspublication, one realizes that facts are presented in them in quite adifferent way. Fundamental facts concerning the writing of the booksare passed over in silence, ambiguities which mislead the reader aremaintained, facts are minimalised to such an extent that a false ideaof reality is conveyed. A large number of prefaces or introductions tothe Bible misrepresent reality in this way. In the case of books thatwere adapted several times (like the Pentateuch), it is said thatcertain details may have been added later on. A discussion of anunimportant passage of a book is introduced, but crucial factswarranting lengthy expositions are passed over in silence. It isdistressing to see such inaccurate information on the Bible maintainedfor mass publication.

THE TORAH OR PENTATEUCH

Torah is the Semitic name.The Greek expression, which in English gives us ‘Pentateuch’,designates a work in five parts; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbersand Deuteronomy. These were to form the five primary elements of thecollection of thirty-nine volumes that makes up the Old Testament.

This group of texts deals with the origins of theworld up to the entry of the Jewish people into Canaan, the landpromised to them after their exile in Egypt, more precisely until thedeath of Moses. The narration of these facts serves however as ageneral framework for a description of the provisions made for thereligious and social life of the Jewish people, hence the name Law orTorah.

Judaism and Christianity for many centuriesconsidered that the author was Moses himself. Perhaps this affirmationwas based on the fact that God said to Moses (Exodus 17, 14): “Writethis (the defeat of Amalek) as a memorial in a book”, or again, talkingof the Exodus from Egypt, “Moses wrote down their starting places”(Numbers 33, 2), and finally “And Moses wrote this law” (Deuteronomy31, 9). From the First century B.C. onwards, the theory that Moseswrote the Pentateuch was upheld; Flavius Josephus and Philo ofAlexandria maintain it.

Today, this theory has been completely abandoned;everybody is in agreement on this point. The New Testament neverthelessascribes the authorship to Moses. Paul, in his Letter to the Romans(10, 5) quoting from Leviticus, affirms that “Moses writes that the manwho practices righteousness which is based on the law . . .” etc. John,in his Gospel (5,46-47), makes Jesus say the following: “If youbelieved Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you donot believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” We have herean example of editing, because the Greek word that corresponds to theoriginal (written in Greek) is episteuete, so that theEvangelist is putting an affirmation into Jesus’s mouth that is totallywrong: the following demonstrates this.

I am borrowing the elements of this demonstrationfrom Father de Vaux, Head of the Biblical School of Jerusalem. Heprefaced his French translation of Genesis in 1962 with a GeneralIntroduction to the Pentateuch which contained valuable arguments.These ran contrary to the affirmations of the Evangelists on theauthorship of the work in question. Father de Vaux reminds us that the”Jewish tradition which was followed by Christ and his Apostles” wasaccepted up to the end of the Middle Ages. The only person to contestthis theory was Abenezra in the Twelfth century. It was in theSixteenth century that Calstadt noted that Moses could not have writtenthe account of his own death in Deuteronomy (34, 5-12). The author thenquotes other critics who refuse to ascribe to Moses a part, at least,of the Pentateuch. It was above all the work of Richard Simon, fatherof the Oratory, Critical History of the Old Testament (Histoirecritique du Vieux Testament) 1678, that underlined the chronologicaldifficulties, the repetitions, the confusion of the stories andstylistic differences in the Pentateuch. The book caused a scandal. R.Simon’s line of argument was barely followed in history books at thebeginning of the Eighteenth century. At this time, the references toantiquity very often proceeded from what “Moses had written”.

One can easily imagine how difficult it was tocombat a legend strengthened by Jesus himself who, as we have seen,supported it in the New Testament. It is to Jean Astruc, Louis XV’sdoctor, that we owe the decisive argument.

By publishing, in 1753, his Conjectures on theoriginal writings which it appears Moses used to compose the Book ofGenesis (Conjectures sur les Mèmoires originaux dont ilparait que Moyse s’est servi pour composer le livre de laGenèse), he placed the accent on the plurality of sources. Hewas probably not the first to have noticed it, but he did however havethe courage to make public an observation of prime importance: twotexts, each denoted by the way in which God was named either Yahweh orElohim, were present side by side in Genesis. The latter thereforecontained two juxtaposed texts. Eichorn (1780-1783) made the samediscovery for the other four books; then Ilgen (1798) noticed that oneof the texts isolated by Astruc, the one where God is named Elohim, wasitself divided into two. The Pentateuch literally fell apart.

The Nineteenth century saw an even more minutesearch into the sources. In 1854, four sources were recognised. Theywere called the Yahvist version, the Elohist version, Deuteronomy, andthe Sacerdotal version. It was even possible to date them:

1. The Yahvist version was placed in the Ninthcentury B.C. (written in Judah)
2. The Elohist version was probably a little morerecent (written in Israel)
3. Deuteronomy was from the Eighth century B.C. forsome (E. Jacob) , and from the time of Josiah for others (Father deVaux)
4. The Sacerdotal version came from the period ofexile or after the exile: Sixth century B.C.

It can be seen that the arrangement of the text ofthe Pentateuch spans at least three centuries.

The problem is, however, even more complex. In 1941,A. Lods singled out three sources in the Yahvist version, four in theElohist version, six in Deuteronomy, nine in the Sacerdotal version,”not including the additions spread out among eight different authors”writes Father de Vaux. More recently, it has been thought that “many ofthe constitutions or laws contained in the Pentateuch had parallelsoutside the Bible going back much further than the dates ascribed tothe documents themselves” and that “many of the stories of thePentateuch presupposed a background that was different from-and olderthan-the one from which these documents were supposed to have come”.This leads on to “an interest in the formation of traditions”. Theproblem then appears so complicated that nobody knows where he isanymore.

The multiplicity of sources brings with it numerousdisagreements and repetitions. Father de Vaux gives examples of thisoverlapping of traditions in the case of the Flood, the kidnapping ofJoseph, his adventures in Egypt, disagreement of names relating to thesame character, differing descriptions of important events.

Thus the Pentateuch is shown to be formed fromvarious traditions brought together more or less skillfully by itsauthors. The latter sometimes juxtaposed their compilations andsometimes adapted the stories for the sake of synthesis. They allowedimprobabilities and disagreements to appear in the texts, however,which have led modern man to the objective study of the sources.

As far as textual criticism is concerned, thePentateuch provides what is probably the most obvious example ofadaptations made by the hand of man. These were made at different timesin the history of the Jewish people, taken from oral traditions andtexts handed down from preceding generations. It was begun in the Tenthor Ninth century B.C. with the Yahvist tradition which took the storyfrom its very beginnings. The latter sketches Israel’s own particulardestiny to “fit it back into God’s Grand Design for humanity” (Fatherde Vaux). It was concluded in the Sixth century B.C. with theSacerdotal tradition that is meticulous in its precise mention of datesand genealogies. [ We shall see in thenext chapter, when confronted with modern scientific data, the extentof the narrative errors committed by authors of the Sacerdotal versionon the subject of the antiquity of man on Earth, his situation in timeand the course of the Creation. They are obviously errors arising frommanipulation of the texts.] Father de Vaux writes that “The fewstories this tradition has of its own bear witness to legalpreoccupations: Sabbatical rest at the completion of the Creation, thealliance with Noah, the alliance with Abraham and the circumcision, thepurchase of the Cave of Makpela that gave the Patriarchs land inCanaan”. We must bear in mind that the Sacerdotal tradition dates fromthe time of the deportation to Babylon and the return to Palestinestarting in 538 B.C. There is therefore a mixture of religious andpurely political problems.

For Genesis alone, the division of the Book intothree sources has been firmly established: Father de Vaux in thecommentary to his translation lists for each source the passages in thepresent text of Genesis that rely on them. On the evidence of thesedata it is possible to pinpoint the contribution made by the varioussources to any one of the chapters. For example, in the case of theCreation, the Flood and the period that goes from the Flood to Abraham,occupying as it does the first eleven chapters of Genesis, we can seealternating in the Biblical text a section of the Yahvist and a sectionof the Sacerdotal texts. The Elohist text is not present in the firsteleven chapters. The overlapping of Yahvist and Sacerdotalcontributions is here quite clear. For the Creation and up to Noah(first five chapter’s), the arrangement is simple: a Yahvist passagealternates with a Sacerdotal passage from beginning to end of thenarration. For the Flood and especially chapters 7 and 8 moreover, thecutting of the text according to its source is narrowed down to veryshort passages and even to a single sentence. In the space of littlemore than a hundred lines of English text, the text changes seventeentimes. It is from this that the improbabilities and contradictionsarise when we read the present-day text. (see Table on page 15 forschematic distribution of sources)

THE HISTORICAL BOOKS

In these books we enter into the history of theJewish people, from the time they came to the Promised Land (which ismost likely to have been at the end of the Thirteenth century B.C.) tothe deportation to Babylon in the Sixth century B.C.

Here stress is laid upon what one might call the’national event’ which is presented as the fulfillment of Divine word.In the narration however, historical accuracy has rather been brushedaside: a work such as the Book of Joshua complies first and foremostwith theological intentions. With this in mind, E. Jacob underlines theobvious contradiction between archaeology and the texts in the case ofthe supposed destruction of Jericho and Ay.

The Book of Judges is centered on the defense of thechosen people against surrounding enemies and on the support given tothem by God. The Book was adapted several times, as Father A.Lefèvre notes with great objectivity in his Preamble to theCrampon Bible. the various prefaces in the text and the appendices bearwitness to this. The story of Ruth is attached to the narrationscontained in Judges.

TABLE OFTHE DISTRIBUTION OF THE YAHVIST AND SACERDOTAL TEXTS IN CHAPTERS 1 TO 11 in GENESIS)

The first figure indicates the chapter.The second figure in brackets indicates the number of phrases,sometimes divided into two parts indicated by the letters a and b.

Letters: Y indicates Yahvist text S indicatesSacerdotal text

Example: The first line of the table indicates: fromChapter 1, phrase 1 to Chapter 2, phrase 4a, the text published inpresent day Bibles is the Sacerdotal text.

Chapter	Phrase	to Chapter	Phrase	Text
1 2 5 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 11 11	(1) (4b) (1) (1) (9) (1) (6) (7) (11) (12) (13) (16b) (18) (22) (24) (2b) (3) (6) (13a) (13b) (14) (20) (1) (18) (28) (8) (20) (24) (31) (1) (10)	2 4 5 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 11 11	(4a) (26) (32) (8) (22) (5) (10) (16a) (17) (21) (23) (2a) (5) (12) (19) (22) (17) (27) (7) (19) (23) (30) (32) (9) (32)	S Y S Y S Y S Yadapted S Y S Y S Y S Y S Y S Y S Y S Y S Y S Y S Y S

What simpler illustration can there be of the waymen have manipulated the Biblical Scriptures?

The Book of Samuel and the two Books of Kings areabove all biographical collections concerning Samuel, Saul, David, andSolomon. Their historic worth is the subject of debate. From this pointof view E. Jacob finds numerous errors in it, because there aresometimes two and even three versions of the same event. The prophetsElias, Elisha and Isaiah also figure here, mixing elements of historyand legend. For other commentators, such as Father A. Lefèvre,”the historical value of these books is fundamental.”

Chronicles I & II, the Book of Ezra and the Bookof Nehemiah have a single author, called ‘the Chronicler’, writing inthe Fourth century B.C. He resumes the whole history of the Creation upto this period, although his genealogical tables only go up to David.In actual fact, he is using above all the Book of Samuel and the Bookof Kings, “mechanically copying them out without regard to theinconsistencies” (E. Jacob), but he nevertheless adds precise factsthat have been confirmed by archaeology. In these works care is takento adapt history to the needs of theology. E. Jacob notes that theauthor “sometimes writes history according to theology”. “To explainthe fact that King Manasseh, who was a sacrilegious persecutor, had along and prosperous reign, he postulates a conversion of the Kingduring a stay in Assyria (Chronicles II, 33/11) although there is nomention of this in any Biblical or non-Biblical source”. The Book ofEzra and the Book of Nehemiah have been severely criticised becausethey are full of obscure points, and because the period they deal with(the Fourth century B.C.) is itself not very well known, there beingfew non-Biblical documents from it.

The Books of Tobit, Judith and Esther are classedamong the Historical Books. In them very big liberties are taken withhistory. proper names are changed, characters and events are invented,all for the best of religious reasons. They are in fact storiesdesigned to serve a moral end, pepll)ered with historicalimprobabilities and inaccuracies.

The Books of Maccabees are of quite a differentorder. They provide a version of events that took place in the Secondcentury B.C. which is as exact a record of the history of this periodas may be found. It is for this reason that they constitute accounts ofgreat value.

The collection of books under the heading’historical’ is therefore highly disparate. History is treated in botha scientific and a whimsical fashion.

THE PROPHETIC BOOKS

Under this heading we find the preachings of variousprophets who in the Old Testament have been classed separately from thefirst great prophets such as Moses, Samuel, Elias and Elisha, whoseteachings are referred to in other books.

The prophetic books cover the period from the Eighthto the Second century B.C.

In the Eighth century B.C., there were the books ofAmos, Hosea, Isaiah and Michah. The first of these is famous for hiscondemnation of social injustice, the second for his religiouscorruption which leads him to bodily suffering (for being forced tomarry a sacred harlot of a pagan cult), like God suffering for thedegradation of His people but still granting them His love. Isaiah is afigure of political history. he is consulted by kings and dominatesevents; he is the prophet of grandeur. In addition to his personalworks, his oracles are published by his disciples right up until theThird century B.C.: protests against iniquities, fear of God’sjudgement, proclamations of liberation at the time of exile and lateron the return of the Jews to Palestine. It is certain that in the caseof the second and third Isaiah, the prophetic intention is paralleledby political considerations that are as clear as daylight. Thepreaching of Michah, a contemporary of Isaiah, follows the same generalideas.

In the Seventh century B.C., Zephaniah, Jeremiah,Nahum and Habakkuk distinguished themselves by their preachings.Jeremiah became a martyr. His oracles were collected by Baruch who isalso perhaps the author of Lamentations.

The period of exile in Babylon at the beginning ofthe Sixth century B.C. gave birth to intense prophetic activity.Ezekiel figures importantly as the consoler of his brothers, inspiringhope among them. His visions are famous. The Book of Obadiah deals withthe misery of a conquered Jerusalem.

After the exile, which came to an end in 538 B.C.,prophetic activity resumed with Haggai and Zechariah who urged thereconstruction of the Temple. When it was completed, writings goingunder the name of Malachi appeared. They contain various oracles of aspiritual nature.

One wonders why the Book of Jonah is included in theprophetic books when the Old Testament does not give it any real textto speak of. Jonah is a story from which one principle fact emerges:the necessary submission to Divine Will.

Daniel was written in three languages (Hebrew,Aramaic and Greek). According to Christian commentators, it is a ,disconcerting’ Apocalypse from an historical point of view. It isprobably a work from the Maccabaean period, Second century B.C. Itsauthor wished to maintain the faith of his countrymen, at the time ofthe ‘abomination of desolation’, by convincing them that the moment ofdeliverance was at hand. (E. Jacob)

THE BOOKS OF POETRY AND WISDOM

These form collections of unquestionable literaryunity. Foremost among them are the Psalms, the greatest monument toHebrew poetry. A large number were composed by David and the others bypriests and levites. Their themes are praises, supplications andmeditations, and they served a liturgical function.

The book of Job, the book of wisdom and piety parexcellence, probably dates from 400-500 B.C.

The author of ‘Lamentations’ on the fall ofJerusalem at the beginning of the Sixth century B.C. may well beJeremiah.

We must once again mention the Song of Songs,allegorical chants mostly about Divine love, the Book of Proverbs, acollection of the words of Solomon and other wise men of the court, andEcclesiastes or Koheleth, where earthly happiness and wisdom aredebated.

We have, therefore, a collection of works withhighly disparate contents written over at least seven centuries, usingextremely varied sources before being amalgamated inside a single work.

How was this collection able, over the centuries, toconstitute an inseparable whole and-with a few variations according tocommunity-become the book containing the Judeo-Christian Revelation?This book was called in Greek the ‘canon’ because of the idea ofintangibility it conveys.

The amalgam does not date from the Christian period,but from Judaism itself, probably with a primary stage in the Seventhcentury B.C. before later books were added to those already accepted.It is to be noted however that the first five books, forming the Torahor Pentateuch, have always been given pride of place. Once theproclamations of the prophets (the prediction of a chastisementcommensurate with misdemeanour) had been fulfilled, there was nodifficulty in adding their texts to the books that had already beenadmitted. The same was true for the assurances of hope given by theseprophets. By the Second century B.C., the ‘Canon’ of the prophets hadbeen formed.

Other books, e.g. Psalms, on account of theirliturgical function, were integrated along with further writings, suchas Lamentations, the Book of Wisdom and the Book of Job.

Christianity, which was initiallyJudeo-Christianity, has been carefully studied-as we shall see lateron-by modern authors, such as Cardinal Daniélou. Before it wastransformed under Paul’s influence, Christianity accepted the heritageof the Old Testament without difficulty. The authors of the Gospelsadhered very strictly to the latter, but whereas a ‘purge’ has beenmade of the Gospels by ruling out the ‘Apocrypha’, the same selectionhas not been deemed necessary for the Old Testament. Everything, ornearly everything, has been accepted.

Who would have dared dispute any aspects of thisdisparate amalgam before the end of the Middle Ages-in the West atleast? The answer is nobody, or almost nobody. From the end of theMiddle Ages up to the beginning of modern times, one or two criticsbegan to appear; but, as we have already seen, the Church Authoritieshave always succeeded in having their own way. Nowadays, there iswithout doubt a genuine body of textual criticism, but even ifecclesiastic specialists have devoted many of their efforts toexamining a multitude of detailed points, they have preferred not to gotoo deeply into what they euphemistically call difficulties’. Theyhardly seem disposed to study them in the light of modern knowledge.They may well establish parallels with history-principally when historyand Biblical narration appear to be in agreement-but so far they havenot committed themselves to be a frank and thorough comparison withscientific ideas. They realize that this would lead people to contestnotions about the truth of Judeo-Christian Scriptures, which have sofar remained undisputed.