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Torah composition timeline
Mythic

Torah composition timeline

Deuteronomy written centuries after Moses
UB

Deuteronomy written centuries after Moses

Deuteronomy written centuries after Moses = Torah composition timeline

UB ConfirmedStrong evidenceBiblical / Abrahamic

The Connection

The UB states Hebrews had no written language in Moses' time. The alphabet was adopted from the Philistines (refugees from Crete). Deuteronomy was composed centuries after the events it describes. Mainstream scholarship dates it to ~621 BC, found during Josiah's reforms.

UB Citation

UB 96:5.2

Academic Source

Documentary Hypothesis; 2 Kings 22:8; Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (1973)

Historical Evidence(Strong evidence)

Mark S. Smith (The Early History of God, Eerdmans): Yahweh originated in Edom/Midian as a warrior-god and was "subsequently assimilated into the highland pantheon headed by El." Deuteronomy 32 preserves the belief of an earlier period "where El was still the chief deity and Yahweh was a subordinate." Psalm 82: "God stands in the divine council; among the gods he renders judgment" -- preserves a polytheistic framework. These were originally separate deity traditions later merged.

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