Understanding the bible - the Penteuch

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Method Moyo
Understandingthe Pentateuch
Understanding Law and Narrative in the Pentateuch
The Pentateuch consists of the first books of the Hebrew Bible. These books are
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These first five books are
considered the heart of the Old Testament since they provide the background of all the
books that follows. It is good to identify and to understand the genre that is used in the
Pentateuch so as to have a proper understanding of the nature of the text. Law and
narrative are two major genres that are found in the Pentateuch although there are
some other genres within the text also. Critical analysis of these two genres of the
Pentateuch brings one to a more in-depth understanding of the Pentateuch and how it
ought to be handled and applied. It is in this regard that Vogt P. T. (2009) takes a closer
look into the genres found in the Pentateuch especially law and narrative.
In particular, Vogt describes law and narrative as two distinct genres of the
Pentateuch writing while also noting that these are but two genres of several
represented in the Pentateuch. Poetry is also found in the Pentateuch but not in
abundance as compared to law and narrative. A biblical genre is a classification of Bible
literature according to literary genre. The genre of a particular Bible passage is
ordinarily identified by analysis of its general writing style, tone, form, structure, literary

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technique, content, design, and related linguistic factors: texts that exhibit a common set
of literary features (very often in keeping with the writing styles of the times in which
they were written) are together considered to be belonging to a genre. This work will
focus on two main genres that are found in the Pentateuch, and these are law and
narrative.
According to Bon Ha Gu (2017), a primary hermeneutical task when perusing the
Pentateuch is discerning the use of law as a literary genre, and particularly its usage as
Near Eastern covenant, as the Pentateuch includes vast legal contents of ordinances,
statutes, and commandments throughout its five books. Law as a covenant was not
exclusive to Pentateuchal literature, various permutations of covenants are found within
Mesopotamian, Babylonian, and Sumerian traditions. The covenant code (Exodus 20-
24) and the book of Deuteronomy analog ancient Near Eastern suzerain vassal treaties,
wherein a vassal submits to the stipulations spelled out by a more powerful suzerain, to
acquire auspicious provisions like protection and safety. However, Hill and Walton
(2009) says, “The means by which God establishes relations with humanity is through a
series of covenant enactments. The Pentateuch exhibits a comparable binding
indenture between Yahweh and Israel were Israel, by observing Yahweh’s covenantal
conditions, are granted blessings and prosperity.”
Traditional approaches to Old Testament law cluster the stipulations broadly into
three categories; civil, ritual, and ethical or moral laws. Civil laws appear interspersed
throughout Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and involve legal
specifications when dealing with dispute and crime in Israel. Ritual or ceremonial laws
outline Israelite instruction on proper worship and formation of liturgy, and methods and

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objects of sacrificial offering. Ethical or moral laws are ordinances that relate to God’s
holy nature, and involve regulations of justice, respect, sexual conduct, and the blessing
or penalty associated with the adherence or failure.
Vogt talks about what he calls A Paradigmatic Approach. This approach
contrasts existing categorization of law, civil, ceremonial, and moral, with this
paradigmatic approach that suggests that Israel was to be a paradigm for how people
were to live. Vogt states that this arbitrary categorization of law is not to be found in
Scripture and creates problems for contemporary Christians regarding how they are to
interpret the law given the modern challenges they face. Vogt concludes this discussion
with the point of this approach that it “helps us to recover the whole of the Pentateuch
as Torah, in its broadest sense.”
The narrative is another genre that is found in the Pentateuch. The narrative
comprise the vast majority of the Pentateuchal literature in which third-person accounts,
variegated with poems, speeches, and prayers, give a simple but lucid chronicle events.
Fee and Stuart (2014) outline three interdependent tiers of biblical narratives that help
readers understand the genre: top, middle, and bottom. The top or the central or
ultimate narrative deals with the principal plot and includes God’s initial creation and his
divine intervention into the world. The middle centers primarily on Israel, establishing
the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants and God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt. The
bottom involves individual events that when compounded together constitute the
previous two tiers, and include events such as Joseph being sold into slavery and
Yahweh’s parting of the Red Sea. A proper reading strategy includes awareness of this
hierarchical structure and the vigilant ability to distinguish the forest from the tree.

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Additionally, it is important to recognize the use of narratives as a literary genre
and to adopt an interpretative approach associated with it. For one, narratives by their
very conventional nature give a selective and incomplete account of an event and are
therefore limited in exposition. Further, one must recognize the biblical narratives being
ethically and morally neutral; the biblical accounts are intended to detail what happened
in a situation and not what ought to have been transpired. A good example is that of
Sarah implementing her handmaid Hagar to bear for her the descendants of Abraham
which does not indicate the Bible condones the use of concubines. Moreover,
Pentateuchal narratives normally engage in indirect teaching or instruction; though
readers may associate vicariously with an event. For instance, Joseph’s account of
absconding from the seduces of Potiphar’s wife does not correspond to a specific
statement in the narrative that writes, “Do not be seduced and do as Joseph did,” and
yet, the allure of sexual temptation and the correctness of Joseph are suggestive.
It is also critical to consider what narratives are not. For one, they are not
theological disquisitions, and should not be perceived as one. Though many theological
questions may be discussed or even answered within a thread of a narrative, biblical
narratives were not written with the intent of resolving myriad doctrinal questions one
might have. This approach to reading biblical narratives would lead to an imprudent
form of exegesis and be potentially eisegetical. Lastly, and perhaps most vital is to be
conscious of God’s primacy and centrality within the Pentateuch. In all five books, God
is the triumphant protagonist without equal; it is his sustained presence that permeates
the entirety of metanarrative of the Pentateuch. It is through the genre of narratives that

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Yahweh’s providential interventions and variegated qualities are vividly illustrated and
come to fore.
Vogt introduces narratives in his own way that makes it easier for one to
understand. After a brief introduction to narrative as his second focus of interpretation,
this is that, “narratives are a selective record of events.” Vogt discusses the features of
narratives such as scene, plot, tension, dialog, and point of view. He concludes with
several examples of how to accomplish interpretation in the Pentateuch and how to
communicate those interpretations to an audience.
Textual Criticism and the Pentateuch
Textual criticism is critical in studying and analyzing biblical texts. Without the
original autographs in which the authors wrote, it is very much essential that scholars
carry out a scientific study that will help in coming to terms with what those originals
could have contained. Ignoring textual criticism may result in us having incorrect
translations and interpretation of the Bible. If we understand the nature of the
manuscripts and the wording therein, and make a good comparison between different
manuscripts, we might come to a better conclusion on what the writers of the
Pentateuch could have loved to convey. The fact that the manuscripts we have may
have some words which are blotted out means that textual criticism is essential.
Textual criticism is the science of studying ancient manuscripts to determine the
authentic text of the Bible. It is sometimes called lower criticism. Textual criticism is
necessary because we no longer possess the original manuscripts. The primary goal of
textual criticism has traditionally been to establish the actual text that the author wrote,

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so far as this is possible. This needs to be done because, in the case of classical and
biblical authors, the autograph or author’s original manuscript no longer exists.
However, in its place there are surviving manuscripts, each of which is a copy of an
earlier manuscript, often at an unknown number of steps removed from the autograph.
The belief that some of the words or phrases could have been removed in other existing
manuscripts makes it ripe that textual criticism is needed.
The situation includes three assumptions: firstly that there actually was an
author; secondly that the author left behind an original manuscript; and thirdly, that this
original manuscript is worthy trying to reconstruct. The further complication frequently
arises in which it appears that the author has left more than one manuscript of a
particular work, leaving the question as to which of these versions should be treated as
the authoritative one. The texts of biblical authors have come down to us in widely
varying states of abundance. The seemingly straightforward elements of textual
criticism are whether the surviving manuscripts agree on a piece of text or whether they
disagree over a particular passage, be it something as apparently trivial as the alternate
spelling of a word or the use of a different word, or something as significant as the
omission of a whole section in one manuscript and its inclusion in another, one must
decide which of the two or perhaps more options is the best.
The Pentateuch is believed to have been authored by Moses although some
scholars tend to dispute this argument. According to the New World Encyclopedia,
virtually all contemporary biblical scholars date the completion of the Pentateuch no
earlier than the Persian period. However, the process by which this final Torah was
arrived at is still the subject of debate. The documentary hypothesis proposed in detail

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by Julius Wellhausen in the late 19th century, which dominated the field of the majority
of the 20th century, has come under intense questioning in recent years. Yet, although
alternative theories have been advanced, none has found acceptance that Wellhausen
once enjoyed.
Julius Wellhausen (1844-1918) proposed that the Pentateuch is composed of
roughly four separate and identical sources, dating roughly from the period of Solomon
up through the Babylonian exile. These various texts were brought together by scribes
working over a long period of time. The text of the Pentateuch reached its final form in
the days of Ezra, after the exile. The sources are hypothetical because no actual texts
have been found; they are constructed based upon philological and historical evidence.
The four sources that we have are; the Jahwist (J), the Elohist (E), the Deuteronomist
(D), and the Priestly source (P).
The Elohist is believed to have been written around 750 B.C.E. it is named
“Elohist” because of its preferred use of “Elohim” which is the generic name for God in
Hebrew. It is believed that it was directed or written in the northern kingdom’s (Israel)
story of national origins. The Deuteronomist is believed to be of the 7th century B.C.E
either from the time of King Hezekiah or Josiah of Judah; it is confined largely to the
book of Deuteronomy. Some scholars think this source continued into Joshua and most
of the subsequent books up to 2nd Kings. There is also a theory that the last chapters of
Deuteronomy were added by a second Deuteronomist editor to correspond with
conditions during the exile. The Yahwist could have been written around 850 B.C.E
maybe as a southern kingdom’s (Judah) story of national origins. It commonly used the

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name “Yahweh” in its text. The Priestly source is believed to have been written during or
after the exile. It derives its name from its focus on Levitical laws.
A number of smaller independent texts have also been identified, including the
Song of the Sea (Exodus 15) and other passages, mainly in verse, most of them older
than the four main texts. A few scholars have posited a “Hexateuch,” a term for the first
six books of the Bible. In this view, the Pentateuch seems incomplete without Joshua’s
account of the conquest of the Promised Land. The book of Joshua would complete the
story, continuing directly from the events of Deuteronomy to document the conquest of
Canaan predicted in the Pentateuch. Still other scholars have proposed that
Deuteronomy stands apart from the first four books of the Pentateuch. It recognizes that
Deuteronomy introduces a series of books influenced by Deuteronomy called the
Deuteronomistic History consisting of the books of Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel,
and 1 and 2 Kings.
Vogt discusses aspects of interpreting the Pentateuch. He brings a brief
discussion of textual criticism, why it exists, what it is used for, and several examples
from the Biblical text. However, Vogt moves on to Ancient Near Eastern parallels to the
biblical texts in light of criticism. This overview includes the idea that the gods were very
real to Near Eastern society. Additionally, all life had religious significance in these
societies. Vogt concludes that corporate life was very important in the Ancient Near
East. Vogt suggests that “people thought of themselves as members of a family, tribe,
clan, or nation.” He then covers Middle Assyrian and Near Eastern laws, worldviews,
and narratives followed by a comparison of those texts to biblical materials. However,

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the question that remains unanswered is whether the documents from other groups of
the Ancient Near East can provide the basis for biblical textual criticism.
Textual criticism is essential in trying to reconstruct the text of the Pentateuch to
be closer to what the original manuscripts were. While the science of reconstructing
manuscripts to be what the original author wrote is demanding and a very difficult job, it
is however, an important aspect in preserving the biblical texts. As for the Pentateuch,
there are no original manuscripts that were left behind by the author that exist today,
this makes it difficult to conduct the science of textual criticism. However, from those
manuscripts that are available, scholars have tried to make a reconstruction so that
biblical texts stay close to the original autographs.
The Process of Interpreting the Pentateuch
Interpretation of the biblical text is one of the difficult things that one may
encounter. People have interpreted biblical texts differently. According to Sailhamer
(1995), the reader begins with the hermeneutical process in interpreting the Pentateuch.
He stresses revelation, that is, “the divine act of self-disclosure put into written form as
Scripture by the prophets.” He argues that the Pentateuch is a revelation rather than an
artifact of ancient Israelite religion. In doing so, he also lays out his own approach to
reading the Pentateuch, what he really calls a compositional approach. Moses is
identified as the author of the Pentateuch. Sailhamer locates the composition and
interpretation of the Pentateuch within the process of making the entire Old Testament.
On the other hand, Vogt also gives us a direction on how we can interpret the
Pentateuch. He begins with a discussion of the unity and diversity in the Pentateuch as

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informed by the documentary hypothesis and an alternative approach implies mosaic
authorship redactors and editors. Vogt gives us guidelines on how to interpret the law
and narratives found in the Pentateuch. The first approach that he gives us is to
determine the context of the passage. When interpreting the law, one needs to
understand the context of the passage. If one interprets the law without reference to the
context, one may end up making wrong interpretation. Context is therefore important in
interpreting law.
Also, in interpreting the law, it is important to identify the kind of law involved.
One needs to know whether he is dealing with civil law, ceremonial law, or moral law.
Without the understanding of the kind of law one is dealing with, it may be difficult to
interpret law found in the Pentateuch. Vogt also states that it is important to determine
the nature of the legal requirement. One needs to know what that kind of law requires
one to do. Does the law require one to act or does it require him to change his behavior.
There is a need also to describe the purpose of the law in Israel. One needs to
understand what the law required the Israelites to do and why that law was given to the
people. If one understands the purpose of such law, one can make a good interpretation
of the same law. Vogt also states that when interpreting the law, it is important to
identify the applicability of the purpose in a contemporary context.
Vogt also gives us some guidelines on how to interpret narratives in the
Pentateuch. He gives his process for interpreting narratives in an orderly manner. Like
that of law, Vogt encourages an interpreter to establish the literary context of the
passage. This means that one needs not to apply allegorical meaning to the text if the
author did not intend it to be so. One also needs to identify and label the scenes of the

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story and also analyze the plot. He also states that one needs to describe the tension
levels associated with plot development. In interpreting the narrative, one needs to
identify the communicative intention of the author. This means that only what the author
intended to communicate is what is to be interpreted rather than to infuse our own ideas
in his text. It is also important for the interpreter to recontextualize the text for a
contemporary setting.
In conclusion, the interpretation of scripture requires paying attention to a lot of
things that constitute the text to be interpreted. The interpreter needs to pay attention to
literary genre, grammar and style, and the context of the text. Ignorance of the
Pentateuch and the lack of awareness of it may lead to the interpreter failing to make
good conclusions of the text. There is a need to first be acquainted with the texts of the
Pentateuch before attempting to interpret it. It is not wise to rely on unsupported
hypothesis when interpreting a text. Concrete evidence should be brought forward from
the text itself, to support one’s conclusions.

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References
Fee, G. D., Stuart D. K. (2014). How to Read the Bible for all its Worth. Zondervan
Publishers. Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Gu, B. H. (2017). An Overview of the Pentateuch. Retrieved from:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/overview-pentateuch-bon-ha-gu.
Hill, A. E., Walton J. H. (2009). A Survey of the Old Testament. 3rd
ed. Zondervan
Publishers. Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Holy Bible, New International Version (1978). New York International Bible Society.
Zondervan Publishing Company. Grand Rapids
Sailhamer, J. (1995). The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary.
Zondervan Publishers. Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Vogt, P. T. (2009). Interpreting the Pentateuch: An Exegetical Handbook. A vol. of
Handbooks for Old Testament Exegesis. Kregel Academic. Grand Rapids.