New Testament Witness

The New Testament method of referring to the Books of Moses is also worthy of note. "It is a significant example of the accuracy with which references to authorship are made in the Bible," wrote Wiseman.⁽⁵⁹⁾ Though Christ and the Apostles repeatedly quote from Genesis, "they never actually say that Moses wrote or spoke the statement quoted." But when we read references or quotations taken from the beginning of Exodus and onwards to Deuteronomy, "it is then we begin to read in the New Testament, 'Moses said ...'"⁽⁶⁰⁾

 

The World's Oldest Books

In conclusion, I would like to say that Genesis, as we now know it, is composed of a series of some of the world's oldest books. Dr. Charles Taylor has identified the following "nine volumes" of which he claims the Book of Genesis originally consisted:⁽⁶¹⁾

I: "God's Book, an account of his activities at the beginning of things. (Gen. 1:1 to 2:4a)"
II: "Adam's Diary, some of it parallel to Vol.I. (Gen. 2:4b to 5:2)"
III: "Noah's Family Tree and Diary. (Gen. 5:3 to 6:9a)"
IV: "Noah's Sons' File on the Deluge. (Gen. 6:9b to 10:1)"
V: "The Dispersion and Shem's Table of Nations. (Gen. 10:2 to 11:10a)"
VI: "Terah's Family Tree. (Gen. 11:10b to 27a)"
VII: "Isaac's Biography of Abraham, with Ishmael's Family Tree as Appendix.(Gen. 11:27b to 25:19a)"
VIII: "Jacob's Biography of Isaac and his Descendants, including Jacob's Autobiography; with Esau's Family Trees in two Appendices. (Gen. 25:19b to 37:2a)"
IX: "Moses' Biography of Joseph and his Brothers. (Gen. 37:2b to 50:26)."

It is to be hoped that future biblical students will greatly advance humanity's knowledge of the Book of Genesis, by humbly and patiently studying its Toledoth histories.

Notes and References

1. Wiseman, P.J., 'New Discoveries in Babylonia about Genesis', Marshall, Morgan & Scott (1936); 'Clues to Creation in Genesis', Marshall, Morgan & Scott (1936); 'Die Entstehung der Genesis', Wuppertal (1958); 'Ancient Records and the Structure of Genesis', Thos. Nelson (1985).

2. Ardley, G., 'Aquinas and Kant', Longmans, Green & Co. (1950), p.5.

3. Ibid., 6.

4. Ibid.

5. Wiseman's findings have captured the imagination of, for instance, the renowned Old Testament scholar, Professor R.K. Harrison. See e.g. his 'Introduction to the Old Testament', Eerdmanns (1969), in which he summarises Wiseman's 'Toledoth' theory on pp. 545-553. Also, the linguist, Dr. Charles Taylor, who - on the basis of the same theory - wrote 'The Oldest Science Book in the World', Assembly Press (1984). It is also worth mentioning here that P.J. Wiseman's son, Donald J. Wiseman, who wrote the Foreword to 'Ancient Records' (see footnote 1), is one of the pre-eminent Assyriologists of our time.

6. 'Jehovah' being German for 'Yahweh.'

7. With R. K. Harrison, I believe that the so-called Deuteronomist source is the only valid one amidst the JEDP 'sources.'

8. Wiseman, P.J., 'Clues to Creation in Genesis,' 143.

9. Wellhausen, J., as quoted by Wiseman in Clues, 144.

10. Wiseman, Clues, 145. Wellhausen resigned from Greifswald University in 1882. Orthodox Lutherans there were alarmed at the doubts that he had been casting on the inspiration of Scripture (see 'New International Dictionary of the Christian Church', ed. J. Douglas, The Paternoster Press, Exeter, 1974, under "Wellhausen").

11. Ibid., 143.

12. Ibid., 144.

13. However, as those involved in a revision of ancient chronologies would appreciate, a full scientific answer to this question cannot be given until a complete and accurate revision of the chronology of the ancient world has been achieved.

14. Wiseman, Clues, 143.

15. Ibid., 159.

16. Wiseman, Ancient Records, 60.

17. Ibid.

18. Driver, as quoted by Wiseman, ibid.

19. R.K. Harrison, 'Introduction to the Old Testament,' 543-553, discusses this mistake by some modern scholars.

20. Wiseman, Ancient Records, 61.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid.

23. Wiseman, Clues, 35.

24. Wiseman, Ancient Records, 63.

25. Ibid.

26. Ibid.

27. Wiseman, Clues, 40.

28. Skinner, J., 'Genesis' (1929).

29. Maly, E., "Genesis", in JBC 2:21 (1968).

30. F. Delitzsch, as quoted by Wiseman, Ancient Records, 67. To those who might be under the misconception that there were no registers of births and deaths in such distant days, we might suggest that that is just exactly what the fifth chapter of Genesis is. The family records that were preserved in those days were little else but records of births, marriages and deaths.

31. Wiseman, Ancient Records, 67.

32. This does not mean that Abraham could not have had his own separate history, or that he had perhaps written part of his sons' records. Again, whilst his sons may have owned the tablets, Abraham may have written them.

33. Wiseman, Ancient Records, 69. He noted here that all of these ancestral histories could have come into the possession of Moses in the way that family records were normally handed down.

34. Wiseman, Clues, 77.

35. Ibid., 42.

36. Wiseman, Ancient Records, 79.

37. Ibid.

38. Ibid., 80.

39. Ibid., 81.

40. Ibid.

41. Ibid., 82.

42. Ibid.

43. Ibid.

44. Ibid., 128.

45. Ibid., 129.

46. Note that "Ur of the Chaldees" is not to be confused with the famous Babylonian city called Ur that Sir Leonard Woolley excavated.

47. Wiseman, Ancient Records, 129.

48. Ibid., 132.

49. Ibid., 133.

50. Maly, ibid., 2:16.

51. Yahuda, A., 'The Language of the Pentateuch in its Relation to Egyptian' (Oxford, 1933), 127. Yahuda further notes, in footnote 3, that: "The argument that ['tehom'] must be identical with tiamat because like the latter it is feminine, is untenable, for the simple reason that in our particular passage the gender of ['tehom'] is not apparent, and further because, there are examples of its being used in the masculine as a poetical expression for sea."

52. Ibid., 128.

53. It is an eye-witness acount.

54. Wiseman, Ancient Records, 93.

55. Wiseman, Clues, 170.

56. Ginzberg, L., 'The Legends of the Jews', Vol. V (Philadelphia, 1955), 196-197. It has been drawn to my attention that the C7th BC Assyrian king, Asshurbanipal, claimed to have seen (read) a copy of the pre-Flood tablets.

57. In a follow-up article, I shall produce compelling evidence in support of the traditional view that the compiler of Genesis was, in fact, Moses.

58. Wiseman, Clues, 66.

59. Ibid.

60. Ibid.

61. Taylor, C. (see footnote 5), 20.

(Other articles in CompuServe libraries by the same author are: 'The Sothic Star Theory of the Egyptian Calendar'; 'Is the Bible Fact or Fiction? A Reply to TIME'; 'Pharaoh Who Looted Solomon's Temple'; 'Queen of Sheba: Hatshepsut').

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