Introductory essays

An introduction to this website

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A critique of the documentary hypothesis

This essay argues that the Torah is a divine text written by Moses at God’s command, and it rejects higher biblical criticism which claims the Torah was composed from multiple human sources (J, E, P, D) and edited much later. It critiques the documentary hypothesis on several grounds: the absence of any ancient Jewish tradition mentioning multiple Torah versions, the improbability that a nation would accept a newly-composed scripture, and the implausibility of a Redactor weaving together separate sources without any record of him doing this. Archaeological, historical, and biblical evidence is presented that Israelites in the early biblical period possessed a known “book of the Torah” and practiced its laws, implying a continuous tradition rather than a late composition. Drawing on the scholarship of Umberto Cassuto, the essay argues that variations such as the divine names YHWH and Elohim reflect theological nuance and literary purpose, and not multiple authors. Ultimately, the essay maintains that the Torah’s coherence, literary sophistication, fulfilled prophecies, and the historical survival and restoration of the Jewish people support its divine origin rather than human compilation.

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Why the Names of God in the Torah are important

This essay explores the two names of God in the Torah, Elohim and YHWH, which represent different relationships between God and humanity. Elohim is the universal God who created the world, and is distant and transcendent, while YHWH is the immanent, personal God concerned with individual moral progress and Israel's destiny. This essay challenges the Documentary Hypothesis, which attributes the different names of God to distinct literary sources, supporting instead the idea that the names reflect varying attributes of God. Umberto Cassuto's rejection of the Documentary Hypothesis is highlighted, emphasizing his belief in divine authorship and the different ways God interacts with humanity. Ultimately, the two names express both the universal and personal aspects of God's relationship with the world, offering ancient people a revolutionary understanding of a singular, multifaceted deity.

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Allegory in the Early Stories of Genesis

This essay argues that the earliest stories in Genesis—such as Eden, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah’s flood—are best understood as allegorical, citing symbolic names, implausible narratives, and archaeological difficulties with literal readings. It notes that ancient audiences were comfortable with such allegories, as seen in parallels like the Gilgamesh flood story. Despite this, rabbinic and medieval Jewish commentators generally insisted on literal or harmonized interpretations to avoid internal contradictions. The essay explains that their resistance to allegory stemmed from fear of erasing the boundary between myth and history. The author concludes that while the primeval stories may be allegorical, history begins with Abraham, whose reality—and that of Moses and the Exodus—is affirmed as a matter of faith.

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