Chapter Six: The Composition of the Pentateuch

(Posted by Paige Britton)

Some Preliminary Notes

Despite some significant scribal errors, this section offers an easier read than the previous two dense chapters. In Chapter 6, Sailhamer homes in on particular examples of compositional strategy in the Pentateuch, laying out the evidence he has collected to support his claim that a single author tied it all together with a certain theological agenda in mind. Let me address the most painful of the scribal errors first, and then we will take a look at Sailhamer's big-picture observations about compositional strategies in the Pentateuch, plus some of his specific examples.

First off, do note that the 2009 edition of this book evidences rather a lack of good copyediting. This observation should not detract from Sailhamer's scholarly efforts, but it is an unfortunate comment on the publisher. Among the more cringe-worthy misses (which will be corrected in subsequent editions) are these two from Chapter 6:

In the second line of the poem in Genesis 3:15, God says to Eve, "and he shall bruise you on the head." (321)

The phrase "in the last days" is found in the introduction to each of these poems but elsewhere in the Pentateuch only in Deuteronomy 4:40. (332; nope, it's found in Deut. 4:30.)

A third puzzling statement comes from Sailhamer's discussion of Urzeit und Endzeit (pp.342-344). Following Franz Delitzsch, Sailhamer offers the insight that the first word of Genesis, "in the beginning" (beresit), corresponds with the Hebrew antonym "end" (aharit), which is used later in the Pentateuch to point to an eschatological fulfillment of hope (Num. 24:14; Deut. 4:30; 31:29). To Sailhamer, the initial reference to a "beginning" (Hebrew resit, German Urzeit) itself calls forth the idea of an "end" (Endzeit), and thus represents an example of deliberate authorial strategy with a theological goal -- i.e., "the beginning" is immediately connected with "the end" in the mind of the Hebrew reader/hearer. However, what are we to make of this statement?

By opening the Pentateuch with a statement about the "beginning" (resit), the author attaches the early chapters of Genesis to the broader eschatological (or apocalyptic) schema in which its events forecast and anticipate those of an Urzeit, a "primeval time." (343, emphasis added)

I am thrown by the idea of the resit "forecasting and anticipating" an Urzeit, since in this discussion resit = Urzeit. One would think Sailhamer meant to write Endzeit there, but maybe I am missing something myself. (I did inquire of the author for clarification on this point, but as of this posting I have not received a response.)

Compositional Strategies: Evidence of Intelligent Design

Apart from these humbling reminders of the fallibility of authors, editors, and readers (all of which I have been and will be -- and equally fallible, at that), Chapter 6 provides a thorough and helpful collection of Sailhamer's specific insights into the intelligent design behind the Pentateuch. As a whole, he insists, the Pentateuch tells a single and complete historical story, made of parts woven together with a plan in mind, ultimately communicating a particular theological message about the importance of "faith." Our tasks as students of the Book is to ask questions about its structure, thus tracing its themes and harvesting its meaning from the evidence of its composition.

A question of first importance is, How does the "primeval history" of Genesis 1-11 relate to the later portions of the Pentateuch? Connections between these earliest and subsequent sections of the text are not obvious, leading some critics to decide that Gen. 1-11 must certainly have been added later. Of course, any theory that suggests a prolonged and gradual development of the Pentateuch necessarily also dismisses the idea of a single author who strategically wove blocks of narrative together. But Sailhamer urges us to look closer: he has noticed that the very structure of the "primeval history" sets a pattern that is replicated throughout the rest of the Pentateuch. It is possible that this evidence of a deliberate and repeated compositional strategy is the key to recognizing the hand of a single author from Genesis through Deuteronomy.

Rather than reproducing all of Sailhamer's lists and examples at this point, I will just summarize the sorts of patterns he has noticed in the microcosm of Gen. 1-11, which are then repeated in the macro-structure of the whole Pentateuch. (For your reference, though, Sailhamer lists the blocks of narrative and the genealogies found in Gen. 1-11 on p.306; the locations of the primeval poetry on p.315f.; and the major blocks of Pentateuchal narrative and their corresponding poems on p.323f.)

Sailhamer identifies the use of poetry at the "compositional seams" of the text as the primary compositional strategy of the author of the Pentateuch. That is, in both Gen. 1-11 and in the rest of the Pentateuch, large blocks of narrative are connected together by poems that draw the reader's attention to larger theological themes. The poems act almost as tour guides, showing the central movement of the story and its most important ideas. Of the "primeval history" Sailhamer writes,

Genesis 1-11 follows an intentional compositional strategy that links together an otherwise loose collection of minor independent narratives. The strategy largely consists of attaching poems to small units of narrative. The poems play a significant role in thematizing the author's understanding of the meaning of each individual narrative. (318)

Each poem is presented as the words of the central character of the narrative, providing thoughtful commentary and reflection that almost always draws the reader's attention to a long-range historical view into the future. This eschatological perspective persistently searches out the identity of the promised "seed," a question that is raised in Genesis 3:15 and then answered at strategic moments throughout the rest of the Pentateuch. Thus, "in the last days" (eschatological trajectory) a "new covenant" will be implemented with the reign of a "future king." This forward-looking, faithful hope for one who will make things right is, Sailhamer believes, the foundational theme of the Pentateuch; later, it would become the guiding theme of the prophets.

As a specific example of Sailhamer's approach to gleaning theological information from the compositional strategies of the text, consider his observations about Joseph and Judah. At numerous points in the Joseph narratives (Gen. 37-50), "Judah is singled out from the other brothers as the one through whom the rescue of the family of Jacob was accomplished" (327). In the poetic blessing pronounced by Jacob, Judah is connected with Joseph's dreams through the verbal repetition of the idea of his brothers bowing down to him (Gen. 49:8b; cf. 37:7, 9f). Although Joseph became Jacob's "firstborn," Judah is identified in his father's blessing as the progenitor of the coming prince (Gen. 49:10; cf. 1 Chr. 5:1-2). Through parallelism and poetry, then, "the king who was to come from the house of Judah is foreshadowed by the life of Joseph" (328). As we learned from Chapter 5, this is one of the "searchlights" of the OT that would shine on Jesus' life, identifying him as the Messiah.

These eschatological references are strongly underscored by the theme of "faith," which Sailhamer observes to run throughout the Pentateuch, from Urzeit to Endzeit (or resit to aharit). If the very first word of Genesis orients us by association toward "the last days," the explicit references to "faith" and "unbelief" prepare us for the later reflections of the prophets and New Testament writers concerning the importance of steadfast trust in the covenant-keeping God of the universe. In this regard, the compositional strategy that Sailhamer identifies is a narrative pattern of emergency, promise, faith, and certainty (cf. the discussion on p.345ff.). A focus on faith raises the further question of the purpose of the law passages in the Pentateuch, which is the subject of the next chapter.

The advantage of tracing theological date through the evidence of deliberate literary strategies, as Sailhamer has done, is the text-immanent nature of the task. A focus on verbal patterns and literary genres keeps us looking at the text as we have it, rather than going "behind" or beyond it into extra-biblical sources or assumptions. Sailhamer's observations about the use of poetry to bind narrative portions together suggests that there is an intelligent design back of the Pentateuch, a planful authorial strategy, rather than the amorphous, gradual development posited by critical scholars.

Whodunnit?

I have saved the topic of the identity of the author till last, even though Sailhamer begins to address it early in the chapter, because I found that by the end of Chapter 6 I had lost track of who was supposed to have done what. Here is a review sketch, to the best of my understanding so far:

Sailhamer clearly rejects the familiar higher-critical view that the Pentateuch evolved fairly randomly over time at the hands of many redactors, each of whom had his own religio-political agenda to promote. In contrast, he repeatedly speaks of a single author, of a holistic "intelligent design," and of univocal compositional strategies that can be identified and interpreted. Yet in reality, Sailhamer's compositional theory involves more than one "composer" of the Pentateuch, whether authorially or editorially involved; and while he rejects a prolonged, unguided evolution of the text, he pictures a "punctuated equilibrium" that allows for a great deal of time to pass between original composition and later commentary.

Thus the sources of the Pentateuch, in Sailhamer's view, fall into three categories:

First, the anonymous written material behind the narratives of events that occurred before Moses' time;

Second, the initial author who stitched the Genesis blocks of narratives together, providing poetic commentary at the major seams; and who then composed the Mosaic narratives (and their connecting poems), so creating "Pentateuch 1.0";

And third, a prophetic editor who reinforced the themes already present by tweaking the poems with further commentary, giving us our current "Pentateuch 2.0" edition.

Which sketch segues into the first of our questions...

1. Based on Sailhamer's explanations so far, can you match the "compositional strategies" with their proper sources? When does the author of Pentateuch 1.0 influence the prophets, and when does this process happen in reverse? Was Moses the author of Pentateuch 1.0? Was Ezra the editor who gave us the upgraded version?

2. On a scale of "insightful" to "forced," how would you rate Sailhamer's observations of compositional strategies, such as poetic commentary and narrative patterns? Do you find his literary evidence convincing?

3. Do you find the them of "faith" a compelling part of the message of the Pentateuch? If it is indeed present as a major theme, how do we explain the historically common interpretive view that the Books of Moses are primarily about law-keeping and obedience, not "faith"?