The Documentary Hypothesis, Essay Example

The proposal that W.M.L. De Wette made in 1805 concerning the book of Deuteronomy dealt with its authorship. He proposed that the scroll found in the temple during the time of King Josiah of Judah was the book of Deuteronomy. This is significant because the book was believed by many to have been written by Moses, but the evidence that De Wette identified led him to believe that it was written by priestly scribes who believed in and wished to promote the faith. Therefore, this document was written much later than originally believed.

De Wette believed that Deuteronomy came from Josiah’s time rather than Moses’ time for several reasons. Firstly, Deuteronomy is the only book of the Pentateuch that commands the unification of the cult. This unification was only carried out twice, and the second time was around 622 during the time of Josiah. Lastly, this book was dated based on its relationship to the D document. These three factors served as evidence to demonstrate that the authorship was less obvious that had been previously believed.

Martin Noth’s “Deuteronomistic History” discovery explains that Deuteronomy was composed during the exile. In addition, the entire book was planned as a whole and therefore unified. Lastly, he states that the book is a combination of redactional commentary and source material. However, this theory contradicts many of the evidence that has been uncovered concerning the authorship of Deuteronomy. Many scholars claim the opposite; that the book appears to have been written in parts and is not unified. Furthermore, the dating studies of Deuteronomy indicate the book, or at least parts of it, were not written during the time of Moses. Therefore, De Wette’s and Noth’s theory oppose one another. However, De Wette’s theory is more grounded in evidence and therefore somewhat more believable.

Friedman points out that the notion of an eternal kingship for David and his descendants is described in a perspective that only someone living after the time of Moses would be able to describe. Therefore, it is unlikely that Moses authored this particular discussion.

Possible solutions to the conflict described above are either that De Wette is correct in that Deuteronomy was written down by followers of the faith after the events had occurred. This is observable based on the wording used in the text and as a consequence of the evidence that De Wette discovered. It is also possible that some of the words from Deuteronomy came from the mouth of Moses and were passed down orally, but not written until years later.

Josiah is the one who discovered the book of Deuteronomy, which he stated was handed down from Moses. These two men are similar because they were devout believers who aimed to spread the faith. Both of them received knowledge from God and were dedicated to the mission of spreading this knowledge.

Halpern believes that the Levites may have been the authors of Deuteronomy due to the unique powers and abilities that this book gives this group of individuals compared to the others. For example, Levites are able to serve as priests, whereas they are expected only to assist priests by other definitions. Since the importance of Levites are emphasized here where they are lesser so in the Old Testament, it is possible that in their reporting of God’s knowledge, they took advantage of this situation.

Friedman argues that the Levites who composed Deuteronomy would not have been part of the Jerusalem temple priests because the Cohanim were given the role of master in Exodus and other books. These books guided religious practice and politics during this time, rather than Deuteronomy because it was found during the time of Josiah.

Shiloh is connected to Deuteronomy because there was a time before Jerusalem had been founded as Israel’s capital and sanctuary. The setting of Deuteronomy is believed to be one before the creation of Jerusalem as a center of faith, so it may have been written in Shiloh.

There was hope for the future because the bible had been rediscovered by Josiah. This indicated that faith would be renewed under the direction of this king, and it would spread. The major themes included in Deuteronomy helped provide a better context for understanding and practicing the faith.

The hope from the end of chapter 6 looks foolish in chapter 7 because although Josiah restored faith through his discovery of Deuteronomy, Judah falls after Josiah’s death and the Judeans become exiles in Egypt.

The exile in Deuteronomy is explained that Israel had been unfaithful to God and the exile was punishment for this. Ultimately, God was waiting for men to completely restore their faith in him, which was assisted by Moses who served as a prophet to spread his word.Ultimately, this restoration in faith led the Judeans from exile and a new group of believers were delivered back to the holy land.