Pentateuch

It is impossible to establish whether the Torah ever existed as a single text divided into five books. Based on biblical criticism and controversy about the authorship of the Bible, all available research data suggests that it was composed of texts written by different authors at different times. ^{[1] [2]} The first traditional reference to the division of the Torah into five books refers to the Jerusalem Talmud ^[3] (about the 3rd century AD). In any case, in addition to purely technical considerations (for example, reducing the size of the scrolls, for more convenient reading), such a division is due to the structure of the text itself.

1. The book of Genesis tells of the Creation of the World and the formation of Jews as a family;
2. The Book of Exodus has a prologue and an epilogue ^[4] , separating it from other books, and tells about the Exodus from Egypt , the bestowal of the Torah on Mount Sinai and the construction of the Tabernacle - that is, the design of the children of Israel as a Jewish people;
3. The book of Leviticus is mainly devoted to priestly legislation and temple service;
4. The Books of Numbers tells of the Jewish wanderings in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt;
5. Deuteronomy is the death-speech of Moses, in which he repeats the content of other books.

Books of the Pentateuch

Book titles of the Pentateuch

The Russian titles of the books of the Pentateuch originate from the Greek names, while in the original the books are named after the first significant words, respectively: Be-solve ("At the beginning"), Shemot ("Names"), Va-ikra ("I called") , Be-midbar (“In the desert”), Dvarim (“Words”). This method of naming has been practiced since ancient times, and therefore it can be assumed that these are the original titles of the books of the Pentateuch. However, there were other names.

• In the Talmud, the Book of Genesis is also called “ a-Sefer a-Yashar ” (literally “Direct Book”), in honor of the forefathers who were “direct” (that is, honest with people and faithful to God). ^[five]
• The book of Exodus is sometimes called “ a-Sefer a-sheni ” (“The Second Book”), because it follows the book of Genesis. ^[6]
• The book of Leviticus is also called “ Torat a-Kokhanim ” (“Priestly Charter”), since the laws of the clergy and the church service occupy a central place in it. ^[7]
• The Book of Numbers is called “ Humash a pkudim ” (lit. “Pyatina of those numbered”), because of the calculations of the number of Jews who were held in the desert. ^[eight]
• Finally, Deuteronomy is also called the " Mishna Torah " (lit. "Repeated Law"), since it is a repetition of all previous books. ^[9]

The contents of the books of the Pentateuch

• Be-decides ( Genesis ) ^[10] is the first book of the Torah , the Old Testament and the entire Bible . The book of Genesis describes the Creation of the world and all living things, as well as the creation of the first people - Adam and Eve (Hava), the first sin ( fall ), expulsion from the Garden of Eden (see also Adam and Eve ). The story of Cain and Abel (Hevel). Next in chronological order follows the description of the generations before Noah (Noah). Description of the Flood . The life of the patriarchs (forefathers and foremothers of the future Jewish people) - Abraham , his son Isaac (Isaac) and Jacob (Jacob). The Creator gives them a promise to bless their offspring for all eternity, as well as to give them the land of Canaan (Canaan) "... as long as heaven exists above the earth " ^[11] . At the end of the book are described all the twelve tribes of Israel , the life of Joseph in Egypt and ends with the relocation of Jacob’s family to Egypt and the death of Jacob.

• Shemot ( Book of Exodus ) ^[12] - The story of the Exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt under the leadership of Moses (Moshe). The book describes the spiritual path of Moses, the Ten Executions of the Egyptian and the Exodus itself ^[13] . The following is a description of the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai . Moses receives from the Creator the Table of the Covenant with the Ten Utterances (Commandments) ^[14] . During Moses’s stay at Mount Sinai, the sons of Israel created the Golden Calf , and as a result, the first tablets were broken. After all the people repented of their deed, the Most High was granted forgiveness to the people, and Moses again rises to Mount Sinai to receive new tablets. The second Tablets of the Covenant were received on day 10 Tishri , which was called Yom Kippur (that is, the "Day of Atonement"). The book also describes in detail the device of the Tabernacle of the Tabernacle ^[15] .

• Va-yikra ( Leviticus ) ^[16] - devoted mainly to priestly legislation and temple service ^[17] . This is followed by the laws of spiritual purity and impurity ^[18] , including the laws of Kashrut , Yom Kippur (Doomsday) ^[19], and others.

• Be-midbar ( Book of Numbers ) ^[20] - is dedicated to the forty-year wandering of the Jews in the desert until the entry into the Land of Israel : from the beginning of the second month of the second year to the eleventh month of the fortieth year ^[21] . Then the sons of Israel come out of the wilderness and go around the kingdoms of Moab and Edom to the Promised Land . Then Israel’s opposition to Balak — the governor of Moab — and the prophet Balaam (Bil'am), the fall of the tribe of Shimon, is described ^[22] . Having won, the Jews are sent to the kingdoms of Og and Sihon (Trans-Jordanian kingdoms) ^[23] . After defeating them, the Israelites finally approach the borders of Canaan (Canaan).

• Dvarim ( Deuteronomy ) ^[24] is the final book of the Pentateuch. Its main part is the teachings and prophecies of the sons of Israel for all subsequent generations. Moses approached Jordan itself and could see the whole Country of Israel, however, as the Lord had foretold, Moses was not destined to enter it. The book and the entire Pentateuch ends with the death of Moses ^[25] .

The division of the books of the Pentateuch

• The numbering of poems and the division of books into chapters is of non-Jewish origin. Their source is the medieval manuscript tradition of the Vulgate . The division of the books of the Pentateuch into chapters was introduced in the XIII century by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton . The oldest manuscript containing the Langton division is the Parisian manuscript of the 13th century Vulgate . From the Vulgate, such a division turned into manuscripts and editions of the Tanakh . The division of the Septuagint , which follows the Russian Synodal translation , has several differences from the Vulgate in dividing the text into chapters and numbering verses.

• According to Jewish tradition, the Pentateuch (like the rest of the books of the Bible) is divided into "paragraphs" - " parshiyot " ( Heb. פרשיות ). The scab can be open ( ptuha ) or closed ( stum ), depending on the beginning of the next scab : if scab (in the Torah scroll ) begins on the same line as the previous scab , it is called “ scab stum ”, if on the next line - " ptukha ". It is accepted to consider open scabs as the main division of the text, while the closed ones mark the secondary division. The Dead Sea Scrolls also use the method of dividing the text into open and closed scabs (although they differ from the Masorah division). In order to reduce all the Torah scrolls to one sample, Maimonides (XIII century) in his work Mishne Torah gives a complete list of all the scabs of the Pentateuch, based on the famous Keter Aram Tsov Tanakh code (known as the Aleppo Code ). According to this version, the Pentateuch contains 669 scabs : 290 open and 379 closed. In modern editions, the division of sections in the Torah is usually done in accordance with the system outlined by Maimonides . The division of the text into verses is indicated by the Masoretic subscript sign of the syllak . The concept of verse ( pasuk ) as a unit within a section is known from the Talmud . ^[26]

• Another Jewish division of the text of the Pentateuch is the division by parashot ( Heb. פרשות ). The Pentateuch is divided into 54 (53) sections - parashots , which are read in the synagogues within the framework of the annual cycle. This system was used mainly in Babylon , from where it spread to all Jewish communities. ^[27] In the Land of Israel , a different division was made — into 154 or 167 sections, called the sedar , according to the three-year synagogue reading cycle. ^[28]

According to the traditional view, the Pentateuch, that is, the Torah itself in the narrow sense, is a single document of Divine revelation, written from the beginning to the end by Moses himself. The exceptions are the last eight verses of Deuteronomy (which tells about the death of Moses), for which there are two opinions: first, and these verses were also dictated by God and recorded by Moses; second, they were written by Joshua (Yehoshua bin Nun) ^[29] .

In Numbers 12: 6-8 indicates that the way God communicated with Moses was different from how all other prophets received His revelation: other prophets left real human feelings in those moments, and only Moses was given a revelation consciousness, “ mouth to mouth ... and obviously, and not in divination ..." ^[30] ; Moreover, “the Lord spoke with Moses face to face, as if someone spoke with his friend ” ^[31] .

According to researchers (basically this view goes back to the nineteenth-century German biblical scholars), Deuteronomy is identified with the "Book of Torah" found in the Jerusalem temple in 622 BC. er in the reign of Josiah (Josiah), as described in 4 Sam. 22 ; four other books of the Pentateuch were canonized during the time of Ezra (Ezra) and Nehemiah (Nehemiah). The Book of Torah (Moses), introduced by Ezra ^[32] in addition to Deuteronomy ^[33] , apparently also included texts known to us from the book of Leviticus ^[34] and the book of Numbers ^[35] . At the same time, many researchers do not share this view.

Traditional Judaism rejects the historical-critical approach to the Pentateuch and the scientific and philological analysis of the text. The Masoretic text is accepted as the only authoritative and authorized version of the Pentateuch (although it is assumed that insignificant cusps could slip into this text). The Midrash tells of the establishment of the dominant reading by the scribes: “ Three scrolls were found in the Temple; in one of them it was written this way: [...], and in the other two it was written this way: [...]; the scribes rejected the reading of the first scroll and accepted the reading of the other two, and, in the end, the single consonant text was transferred to the temple archives ” ^[36] . A special board held on temple content periodically checked the text ^[37] . With great diligence and love for their work, the next generation of copyists cared about the exact reproduction of the original. In order to avoid possible mistakes when copying text, detailed rules were developed for the copyist ( Sofrim ). The study of biblical texts found among the Dead Sea scrolls, which are a thousand years older than the standard Masoretic text established by Aaron Ben-Asher in the 10th century, confirmed its accuracy and showed the illegality of numerous “amendments” proposed over the past two centuries.

Biblical scholars view the Pentateuch as the result of a number of revisions using various literary sources. The use of literary sources in the process of creating the modern text of the Pentateuch is most evident in Num. 21: 14-15 , where a quotation is given from the "Scroll of the Wars of Yahweh ", as well as in Gen. 5, which leads Adam's genealogy scroll.

Other signs of the composite structure of the Pentateuch in terms of biblical criticism include the following.

• Repetitions. In the stories of the Pentateuch there are about 25 cases in which the story is told in two or more versions, for example, Gen. 12: 10–20 , 20: 1-18, also 26: 6-11. Often, different versions of the story contradict each other in detail. In about 50 cases, the law is given in two or more versions, and one of the versions expands or revises another, for example, Leo. 11: 1–47 and Deut. 14: 3-20 .
• Terminology. In different parts of the Pentateuch, different terms are consistently used for some names, names and general concepts, and if history repeats twice, then in the first version one set of terms is used, and in the second version - another set.
• The coherence of the story. The parts of the text highlighted by repetition and terminology often represent a more coherent narration than in the original text of the Pentateuch.
• Theological concept. The portions of the Pentateuch that are distinguished by repetition and different terminology also have different theological concepts. These differences concern the concept of God, the relationship between God and people, as well as free will and ethical ideals.

The most famous theory of the origin of the Pentateuch is the documentary hypothesis put forward by German scientists in the 19th century and involving 4 sources-documents combined as a result of three editions. The ancient epic sources of Yahvist and Elohist recorded during the kingdom period were combined after the fall of the Northern Kingdom . Subsequently, a third document was added to the received document - the Book of Deuteronomy. The Priestly (Priestly) Codex was last added, as a result of this addition, the text of the Pentateuch acquired a modern form. The latest edition refers to the period after the Babylonian captivity .

There are more radical hypotheses of the origin of the Pentateuch. For example, representatives of the so-called school of biblical minimalism ( eng. Biblical minimalism ) claim that the texts of the Bible were written in the Hellenistic period . One of their arguments is the fact that the archaeological excavations do not confirm the facts set forth in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, on which many conclusions of Documentary theory are based. For example, according to the Bible, Nehemiah restored Jerusalem and rebuilt the city wall, which occurred approximately in the 5th century. BC er However, according to the excavations, Jerusalem in the Persian period was a tiny village 150 * 250 meters in size with a population of no more than 400 people, without any fortifications, and the city wall, attributed to Nehemiah, was built only in the 2nd century BC. BC er ^[38] In addition, there are no extra-biblical references to Ezra and Nehemiah. On this basis, the minimalists conclude that Ezra and Nehemiah are fictional characters, and the books called by their names were written centuries later.

The Samaritans use their own version of the Hebrew text of the Pentateuch, which is written by Paleo-Hebrew. Most scholars agree that the Samaritan Pentateuch existed already in the 3rd century BC. er The first acquaintance of European researchers with this Pentateuch refers to 1616 ^[39] .

A discussion of Bible scholars about the comparative merits of the Samaritan and the Masoretic texts of the Pentateuch began. The most comprehensive comparative analysis was made by G. F. V. Gezenius in his work On the Origin of the Samaritan Pentateuch (in Latin, 1815). Gezenius proved that the Masoretic text is closer to the original than the Samaritan. The latter always prefers simpler words where the first gives an archaic or complex form. The traditional pronunciation, preserved by the Samaritans reading the Pentateuch, reveals proximity to the language of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The most significant textual difference between the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Masoretic is the inset after Exod. 20:14 (and Deut. 5:18) of a long passage, consisting mainly of verses ( Deut. 27: 4 ) and 11:30. This is, of course, a conscious modification of the text, which, together with a number of other, less significant changes, is intended to “confirm” the Samaritans' assertion that Mount Grizim near Schem is “the chosen place,” that is, the seat of the central Temple.

In Christianity, there were discussions about the extent to which the commandments of Moses given in the Pentateuch can be applied to Christians. In the English-language literature, the expression Biblical Law in Christian Context can also refer to the rules and ethical rules contained in the Pentateuch as applied to Christians, especially in the context of supersessionism (theological theory that the relationship between God and Christians can be described as "Or" making "covenants with the Jewish people). Different points of view are expressed in various Christian denominations - from the complete rejection of any application of the law of Moses by Christians to partial acceptance and (in various Protestant denominations, for example, Seventh-day Adventists and representatives of some other areas of Christianity who argue that Christians should to celebrate Sabbath as a day of rest, and not Sunday, in accordance with the Pentateuch of Moses) until the doctrine of full compliance by Christians with the decrees of the Pentateuch.

Although the Christian tradition considers the Pentateuch to be inspired , the Christian tradition (as well as the Jewish one) most often denies the need for Christians to observe the entire Law of Moses ^[40] , but different arguments and opinions are used to prove which of them may also apply to Christians. Most often, an exception is made for the Ten Commandments , and ritual, ceremonial and civil laws are considered repealed. See also the New Testament in theology .

• The sixth and seventh books of Moses

• Лопухин А. П. ,. Пятикнижие // Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона : в 86 т. (82 т. и 4 доп.). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• А.К., Бернфельд С. Пятикнижие // Еврейская энциклопедия Брокгауза и Ефрона . - SPb. 1908-1913.
• Пятикнижие — статья из Электронной еврейской энциклопедии
• перевод п.р. Mn Кулакова и М.М. Кулакова ссылка

• Подстрочное Пятикнижие (с идиоматическим переводом, Самаритянским Пятикнижием и морфологией)
• Статья Хумаш (Пятикнижие) в ЕЖеВИКе — Академической Вики-энциклопедии по еврейским и израильским темам
• Текст Торы с комментариями.
• Текст Торы с комментарием Раши.
• Аудио уроки Торы. Пятикнижие с комментариями Раши. Уроки Торы на Еврейском Радио.
• Введение в Ветхий Завет. Пятикнижие Моисеево
• Текст Танаха (иврит) (англ.)
• История Синодального перевода Библии