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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
These are births of the heavens and of the earth in their being prepared, in the day of Jehovah God's making earth and heavens; and no shrub of the field is yet in the earth, and no herb of the field yet sprouteth, for Jehovah God hath not rained upon the earth, and a man there is not to serve the ground, read more. and a mist goeth up from the earth, and hath watered the whole face of the ground. And Jehovah God formeth the man -- dust from the ground, and breatheth into his nostrils breath of life, and the man becometh a living creature. And Jehovah God planteth a garden in Eden, at the east, and He setteth there the man whom He hath formed; and Jehovah God causeth to sprout from the ground every tree desirable for appearance, and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river is going out from Eden to water the garden, and from thence it is parted, and hath become four chief rivers; the name of the one is Pison, it is that which is surrounding the whole land of the Havilah where the gold is, and the gold of that land is good, there is the bdolach and the shoham stone; and the name of the second river is Gibon, it is that which is surrounding the whole land of Cush; and the name of the third river is Hiddekel, it is that which is going east of Asshur; and the fourth river is Phrat. And Jehovah God taketh the man, and causeth him to rest in the garden of Eden, to serve it, and to keep it. And Jehovah God layeth a charge on the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden eating thou dost eat; and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it -- dying thou dost die.' And Jehovah God saith, 'Not good for the man to be alone, I do make to him an helper -- as his counterpart.' And Jehovah God formeth from the ground every beast of the field, and every fowl of the heavens, and bringeth in unto the man, to see what he doth call it; and whatever the man calleth a living creature, that is its name. And the man calleth names to all the cattle, and to fowl of the heavens, and to every beast of the field; and to man hath not been found an helper -- as his counterpart. And Jehovah God causeth a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he sleepeth, and He taketh one of his ribs, and closeth up flesh in its stead. And Jehovah God buildeth up the rib which He hath taken out of the man into a woman, and bringeth her in unto the man; and the man saith, 'This is the proper step! bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh!' for this it is called Woman, for from a man hath this been taken; therefore doth a man leave his father and his mother, and hath cleaved unto his wife, and they have become one flesh. And they are both of them naked, the man and his wife, and they are not ashamed of themselves.
'And I have established My covenant with thee, and thou hast come in unto the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy son's wives with thee; and of all that liveth, of all flesh, two of every sort thou dost bring in unto the ark, to keep alive with thee; male and female are they.
and of all that liveth, of all flesh, two of every sort thou dost bring in unto the ark, to keep alive with thee; male and female are they. Of the fowl after its kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort they come in unto thee, to keep alive. read more. 'And thou, take to thyself of all food that is eaten; and thou hast gathered unto thyself, and it hath been to thee and to them for food.' And Noah doth according to all that God hath commanded him; so hath he done.
of all the clean beasts thou dost take to thee seven pairs, a male and its female; and of the beasts which are not clean two, a male and its female; also, of fowl of the heavens seven pairs, a male and a female, to keep alive seed on the face of all the earth;
And they come in unto Noah, unto the ark, two by two of all the flesh in which is a living spirit;
And Abram passeth over into the land, unto the place Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh; and the Canaanite is then in the land.
And these are the kings who have reigned in the land of Edom before the reigning of a king over the sons of Israel.
And a man findeth him, and lo, he is wandering in the field, and the man asketh him, saying, 'What seekest thou?' and he saith, 'My brethren I am seeking, declare to me, I pray thee, where they are feeding?' read more. And the man saith, 'They have journeyed from this, for I have heard some saying, Let us go to Dothan,' and Joseph goeth after his brethren, and findeth them in Dothan. And they see him from afar, even before he draweth near unto them, and they conspire against him to put him to death. And they say one unto another, 'Lo, this man of the dreams cometh; and now, come, and we slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and have said, An evil beast hath devoured him; and we see what his dreams are.'
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'The heart of Pharaoh hath been hard, he hath refused to send the people away;
and Moses and Aaron have done all these wonders before Pharaoh, and Jehovah strengtheneth Pharaoh's heart, and he hath not sent the sons of Israel out of his land.
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Write this, a memorial in a Book, and set it in the ears of Joshua, that I do utterly wipe away the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens;'
And Moses writeth all the words of Jehovah, and riseth early in the morning, and buildeth an altar under the hill, and twelve standing pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel;
and he taketh the Book of the Covenant, and proclaimeth in the ears of the people, and they say, 'All that which Jehovah hath spoken we do, and obey.'
And the man Moses is very humble, more than any of the men who are on the face of the ground.
When thou comest in unto the land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee, and hast possessed it, and dwelt in it, and thou hast said, Let me set over me a king like all the nations which are round about me, --
And it cometh to pass, when Moses finisheth to write the words of this law on a book till their completion,
And there hath not arisen a prophet any more in Israel like Moses, whom Jehovah hath known face unto face,
And Joshua writeth these words in the Book of the Law of God, and taketh a great stone, and raiseth it up there under the oak which is in the sanctuary of Jehovah.