Who Wrote Genesis in the Bible?

Moses is the writer Genesis through Deuteronomy name, and the writer Jesus names. Those five books are the Torah, the law. Genesis does not open with the sentence “Moses wrote this.” The documentary hypothesis reads the five books as sources combined long after Moses. The books’ own lines, Jesus’ words, and a Jewish discussion of the closing verses are the other side of that argument.

Key points

• John 5:46CloseFor had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.John 5:46 · King James VersionOpen source (1) has Jesus say that Moses wrote of him. Mark 12:26CloseAnd as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?Mark 12:26 · King James VersionOpen source (2) calls the burning bush “the book of Moses.” Luke 24:44CloseAnd he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.Luke 24:44 · King James VersionOpen source (3) names “the law of Moses.”
• Deuteronomy 31:9CloseAnd Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel.Deuteronomy 31:9 · King James VersionOpen source (4) says Moses wrote this law. Exodus 24:4CloseAnd Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.Exodus 24:4 · King James VersionOpen source (5) and Numbers 33:2CloseAnd Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according to their goings out.Numbers 33:2 · King James VersionOpen source (6) say Moses wrote.
• Deuteronomy 34:5CloseSo Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.Deuteronomy 34:5 · King James VersionOpen source tells Moses’ death. The Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra, assigns eight verses of the Torah to Joshua. (8)
• Josephus, Against Apion 1.8, says five books belong to Moses, containing his laws and the origin of mankind until his death. (7)
• The documentary hypothesis, in the form associated with Julius Wellhausen’s Prolegomena to the History of Israel (1885), explains doublets, divine names, and changes of style as sources joined by editors. No manuscript labeled as one of those sources has been found.
• Exodus 4:10CloseAnd Moses said unto the LORD, O my LORD, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.Exodus 4:10 · King James VersionOpen source has Moses call himself slow of speech and of a slow tongue. Exodus 31:18CloseAnd he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.Exodus 31:18 · King James VersionOpen source says the stone tablets were written with the finger of God. That line is about the tablets at Sinai.

Who wrote Genesis?

Jesus answers with Moses. John 5:46CloseFor had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.John 5:46 · King James VersionOpen source, King James Version:

For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

John 5:46 · King James Version

The sentence is about belief, and it assumes a writer. Moses wrote of him. Mark 12:26CloseAnd as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?Mark 12:26 · King James VersionOpen source points to the burning bush in “the book of Moses.” Luke 24:44CloseAnd he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.Luke 24:44 · King James VersionOpen source says the things written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled concerning him. Who Wrote the Bible? is the wider claim that God inspired those writers. What Does Messiah Mean? is the office Jesus says those writings announce.

Genesis itself tells creation, the flood, Abraham, and Joseph, and then it ends with a coffin in Egypt. The narrator is never standing in Eden. Christians have read the early chapters as revelation given to Moses, the same way the rest of the law is given to him, rather than as a diary of events he watched. That is the traditional reading. It is a claim about revelation. Is the Bible True? and Can Christians Believe in Evolution? are the further questions about creation. Christians confess that God created, and they do not agree on the age of the earth or the means.

What the five books say Moses wrote

Deuteronomy 31:9CloseAnd Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel.Deuteronomy 31:9 · King James VersionOpen source says Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests and the elders. Deuteronomy 31:24CloseAnd it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,Deuteronomy 31:24 · King James VersionOpen source says that when Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, he commanded the Levites to put it beside the ark. Exodus 24:4CloseAnd Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.Exodus 24:4 · King James VersionOpen source says Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. Exodus 17:14CloseAnd the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.Exodus 17:14 · King James VersionOpen source tells him to write a memorial in a book. Numbers 33:2CloseAnd Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according to their goings out.Numbers 33:2 · King James VersionOpen source says Moses wrote the stages of the journey. Leviticus is spoken to Moses at the tent of meeting, chapter by chapter.

Those lines are inside the books. They are the internal claim. They cover law, travel, and a memorial. They do not include a modern title page on Genesis. The Christian and Jewish reading has been that the five books travel together as Moses’ law, which is how Jesus cites them.

Exodus 31:18CloseAnd he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.Exodus 31:18 · King James VersionOpen source says God gave Moses two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. That sentence is about the tablets. It is not a second claim that Genesis was inscribed by a finger on those stones.

Who wrote the end of Deuteronomy?

Deuteronomy 34:5CloseSo Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.Deuteronomy 34:5 · King James VersionOpen source says Moses the servant of the Lord died in the land of Moab. A dead man does not write the notice of his death. The paragraph is an ending. An ending written by another hand can close a book that man wrote.

The Babylonian Talmud takes up who wrote the biblical books. In Bava Batra 14b the discussion assigns Moses his own book and assigns Joshua his book together with eight verses of the Torah. (8) Bava Batra 15a debates those eight verses. (9) The English on those Sefaria pages is the William Davidson translation. This page does not reprint it. The point that matters here is the one the Talmud is already worrying: the Torah’s closing can be Joshua’s without the law ceasing to be Moses’.

Josephus, writing in Rome, states the same traditional count. Against Apion 1.8, in Whiston’s translation: (7)

For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from, and contradicting one another: [as the Greeks have:] but only twenty two books: which contain the records of all the past times: which are justly believed to be divine. And of them five belong to Moses: which contain his laws, and the traditions of the origin of mankind, till his death.

Josephus, Against Apion 1.8 · William Whiston

Five books, until Moses’ death. Josephus includes the origin of mankind, which is Genesis, inside Moses’ five. He is a Jewish writer of the first century, not a medieval Christian. His count is the count Jesus’ phrase “the law of Moses” already assumes.

What is the documentary hypothesis?

From the eighteenth century on, some readers argued that the Pentateuch was compiled from earlier documents. Julius Wellhausen’s Prolegomena to the History of Israel (1885) is the book that fixed the form still taught in many universities. In that account the sources are often labeled J, E, D, and P. J prefers the divine name rendered LORD. E prefers God. D is the style of Deuteronomy. P is priestly material: genealogies, dates, and ritual. Editors, on this account, joined the sources. Doublets do the work of evidence: two creation narratives, two flood narratives, two namings of Beer-sheba. Shifts of style do the rest.

That is a real reading of the text. It should be stated at full strength. Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 do not tell creation in the same order or the same words. The flood narrative repeats itself. The divine names change. A reader who has never heard of Wellhausen can see the seams.

The hypothesis is a theory about style. It is not a set of recovered scrolls. No manuscript has turned up that is “J” alone or “E” alone. The books we possess, including the Dead Sea Scrolls copies described on Is the Bible True?, are copies of Genesis, Exodus, and the rest, with both divine names already inside them. Exodus 3 is itself a scene in which God reveals his name. A change of name can be the story the book is telling. It can also be a source marker. The hypothesis chooses the second explanation. Jesus’ sentence in John 5:46CloseFor had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.John 5:46 · King James VersionOpen source chooses Moses.

An editor who added place names after Israel entered the land, or who recorded Moses’ death, does not by himself move the law into a Persian archive. Editorial updates are visible in many ancient books. They are a smaller claim than four documents invented to explain every doublet. Both claims are on the table. The Christian confession follows Jesus’ attribution, and it can grant the death notice and the seams without granting that Moses wrote none of it.

Was Moses unable to write?

Exodus 4:10CloseAnd Moses said unto the LORD, O my LORD, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.Exodus 4:10 · King James VersionOpen source has Moses say he is not eloquent, that he is slow of speech and of a slow tongue. The verse is his objection to being sent to Pharaoh. God answers by sending Aaron to speak. The verse does not name a disability, and this page will not invent one. Slow speech is not the same statement as “he could not write the law.” Deuteronomy 31:9CloseAnd Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel.Deuteronomy 31:9 · King James VersionOpen source still says he wrote it.

Frequently asked questions

Did Moses write all of Genesis through Deuteronomy?

The books say he wrote the law, the travel list, and the words at Sinai. Jesus cites the collection as Moses’ book. Deuteronomy 34 records his death, and the Talmud assigns eight verses of the Torah to Joshua. The documentary hypothesis reads the whole as combined sources. This page follows Jesus’ attribution and treats the closing as an ending, not as a reason to erase the law.

Who wrote Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy?

The same tradition covers all five. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are the law Jesus and Josephus attach to Moses. A separate author for each English title is not what those witnesses claim.

Who wrote the creation account?

Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are the two accounts inside the first book of Moses’ law. They sit in the book Jesus treats as Moses’. The documentary hypothesis calls them different sources. Christians who confess creation still differ on how to read the days. Can Christians Believe in Evolution? quotes that disagreement and does not add a second verdict.

Keep reading

• Who Wrote the Bible?
• Is the Bible True?
• Can Christians Believe in Evolution?
• What Does Messiah Mean?
• Was the Bible corrupted?
• How Was the Bible Canon Decided, and What Is the Apocrypha?