Who Wrote the Bible By Robert E. Friedman

Judaism by the priest /scribe Ezra , a long standing candidate for this task . There is nothing original about the thesis , nor is there anything new about the evidence

It should be noted that Friedman does not offer anything new or original in his narrative . He is as creative as he imagines Ezra to be in developing arguments that lead to the conclusion that there were two texts , two texts corresponding to priestly and political divisions . But even if this is the case , Friedman hedges his bets by claiming that his famous

Redactor , likely Ezra in his view , maintained a distanced respect for the text , preferring slightly different versions to forming one unified ' version of a story . In fact , any Redactor could not have behaved differently , given the extreme reverence for the sacred writings . If anything , the story that has come to us in modern times is likely helped , rather than vitiated , by the Redactor (s ) work Nevertheless , Friedman 's scholarship can be read as consistent with the single author thesis , especially if God , rather than Moses himself , is the author , as the traditionalists claim . Events were reported and understood according to the need of God to transmit certain thoughts and mindsets to the people , both then and now , and hence providing a narrative designed to lay out , in simple terms , the nature of the important events of Israelite life

By way of conclusion , the student is faced by several documents referring to place or priestly faction , purporting to be the authoritative account of the origins of Israel and the trials of Moses These manuscripts are held to be separate by certain details being different from the others , as well as subjective evaluations of writing style , etc . Hence , to account for the discrepancies in the final text one must posit a...