![]() However, the prophets before the Captivity knew nothing of this, and before the Exile the Law of Leviticus was not merely disregarded it was unknown.įurthermore, over many years observers had noticed that there were many internal inconsistencies in the text, and frequently, the same story was told twice in different language. There were no local altars or shrines where sacrifice could be offered to God. By way of example, under the final system described in the Book of Leviticus, all religious worship was concentrated at Jerusalem. It is now regarded as the result of a series of religious reformations, its whole framework being constructed by a school of Priestly writers in Babylon during the Exile. An exception is noted by Canon Barnes and referred to below. Now, modern scholars are convinced that in the Pentateuch there is very little that goes back to Moses. ![]() The Torah or Law was probably promulgated by Ezra soon after he came to Jerusalem from Babylon and was quickly deemed authoritative and sacred. However, there is now almost complete agreement among scholars that the Torah or Pentateuch did not take its present and final form until after the Exile of the Jews in Babylon and before the return of Ezra: that is to say some time between about 600 BCE and 450 BCE. Indeed, this was the general lay consensus during my youth. Until about two hundred year ago, the consensus among scholars was that the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, was completely written by Moses.
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