Reference: Hexateuch
Hastings
The first five books of the OT were known in Jewish circles as 'the five-fifths of the Law.' Christian scholars as early as Tertullian and Origen adopted the name Pentateuch, corresponding to their Jewish title, as a convenient designation of these books. 'The Law' was regarded as a unique and authoritative exposition of all individual and social conduct within Israel: a wide gulf seemed to divide it from the Book of Joshua, which inaugurated the series of historical books known as 'the Latter Prophets.' As a matter of fact, this division is wholly artificial. The five books of the Law are primarily intended to present the reader not with a codification of the legal system, but with some account of the antiquities and origins of Israel, as regards their religious worship, their political position, and their social arrangements. From this standpoint, nothing could be more arbitrary than to treat the Book of Joshua as the beginning of an entirely new series: 'its contents, and, still more, its literary structure, show that it is intimately connected with the Pentateuch, and describes the final stage in the history of the Origines of the Hebrew nation' (Driver, LOT [Note: OT Introd. to the Literature of the Old Testament.] 103). Critics have accordingly invented the name Hexateuch to emphasize this unity; and the name has now become universally accepted as an appropriate description of the first six volumes of the OT. In this article we propose to consider (I.) the composition, (II.) the criticism, and (III.) the characteristics of the Hexateuch.
I. Composition of the Hexateuch.
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These are the records of the universe at its creation. Onthe day that the LORD God made the earth and skies, no shrubs had yet grown in the meadows of the earth and no vegetation had sprouted, because the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there were no human beings to work the ground. read more. Instead, an underground stream would arise out of the earth and water the surface of the ground. So the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground, breathed life into his lungs, and the man became a living being. The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, where he placed the man whom he had formed. The LORD God caused every tree that is both beautiful and suitable for food to spring up out of the ground. The tree of life was also in the middle of the garden, along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flows from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides, becoming four branches. The name of the first one is Pishon it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is pure; bdellium and onyx are also found there. The name of the second river is Gihon it winds through the entire land of Cush. The third river is named the Tigris it flows to the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. The LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden in order to have him work it and guard it. The LORD God commanded the man: "You may freely eat from every tree of the garden, but you are not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because you will certainly die during the day that you eat from it." Later, the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make the woman to be an authority corresponding to him." After the LORD God formed from the ground every wild animal and every bird that flies, he brought each of them to the man to see what he would call it. Whatever the man called each living creature became its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds that fly, and to each of earth's animals, but there was not found a strength corresponding to him, so the LORD God caused a deep sleep to overshadow the man. When the man was asleep, he removed one of the man's ribs and closed up the flesh where it had been. Then the LORD God formed the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. So the man exclaimed, "At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. This one will be called "Woman,' because she was taken from Man." (Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife, and they will become one flesh.) Even though both the man and his wife were naked, they were not ashamed about it.
However, I will establish my own covenant with you, and you are to enter the ark you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives. You are to bring two of every living thing into the ark so they may remain alive with you. They are to be male and female.
You are to bring two of every living thing into the ark so they may remain alive with you. They are to be male and female. From birds according to their species, from domestic animals according to their species, and from everything that crawls on the ground according to their species two of everything will come to you so they may remain alive. read more. For your part, take some of the edible food and store it away these stores will be food for you and the animals." Noah did all of this, precisely as God had commanded.
You are to take with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of the unclean animals, a male and its mate; along with seven pairs of the flying birds, male and female, in order to keep their offspring alive on the surface of all the earth.
Abram traveled through the land to the place called Shechem, as far as the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
This is a list of the kings who ruled the territory of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelis.
When Joseph reached Shechem, a man found him wandering around in a field. So the man asked him, "What are you looking for?" "I'm searching for my brothers," he responded. "Tell me, where are they tending the flock?" read more. "They've already left," the man answered. "I heard them saying that they were headed to Dothan." So Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan and found them there. Now as soon as they saw him approaching from a distance, before he arrived they plotted together to kill him. "Look!" they said. "Here comes the Dream Master! Come on! Let's kill him and toss him into one of the cisterns. Then we'll report that some wild animal devoured him and wait to see what becomes of his dreams!"
Then the LORD told Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is hard. He has refused to let the people go.
Moses and Aaron did all these wonders in front of Pharaoh, but the LORD made Pharaoh's heart stubborn, and he would not let the Israelis go out from his land.
Then the LORD told Moses, "Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua: "I'll certainly wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven.'"
So Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He got up early in the morning and built an altar with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain.
He took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They said, "We will put into practice and obey everything that the LORD has decreed."
Now the man Moses was very humble more than any person on earth.
"When you have come to the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, and you have taken possession of it, and have settled in it, then you will say, "I will appoint a king over me like all the nations around me.'
When Moses had finished writing the words of this Law in a book,
No prophet ever rose again in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew with such great intimacy.