Moses the author

"The Bible’s first five books—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—are known as the Torah, Law, or Pentateuch. 

The Torah has long been ascribed to Moses. Indeed, the books’

internal evidence points to Moses, claiming his authorship, e.g., Exodus 17:14; 24:4–7; 34:27; Numbers 33:2; Deuteronomy 31:9, 22, 24.

Other Old Testament books affirm Moses’ authorship, e.g., Joshua 1:7–8; 8:32–34; Judges 3:4; 1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 14:6; 21:8; 2 Chronicles 25:4; Ezra 6:18; Nehemiah 8:1; 13:1; Daniel 9:11–13. New Testament writers likewise with John 1:17; Acts 6:14; 13:39; 15:5; 1 Corinthians 9:9; 2 Corinthians 3:15; Hebrews 10:28.

Finally, Jesus cited Moses as the author, frequently speaking of Moses’ writings or the Law of Moses without any disclaimer, e.g., Matthew 8:4; 19:7–8; Mark 7:10; 12:26; Luke 24:27, 44; John 7:19. 

Indeed, Jesus stressed the seriousness of denying Moses several times, including:

If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say? (John 5:46, 47).

Similarly, today’s liberal theologians who doubt Moses often doubt what Jesus said (aside from selective and twisted use to support their agreements with politically correct causes).

Genesis’ real sources are eleven family documents headed by toledots. 

The phrase ‘ēllĕh tôləḏôṯ (אֵ֚לֶּה תּוֹלְדֹ֣ת) is usually translated as “these are the generations of …”. This takes the preceding section’s results and propels it forward in the narrative. Genesis’ toledots tell us what followed from the named person. 

There is also a repeated historical pattern moving from blessings to curses. For example: Toledot of the heavens and earth, Genesis 2:4–4:26. ‘What followed from creation’, particularly what became of creation’s crowning point (man and woman), their fall from perfection into sin, and the curse on the cosmos.

Toledot of Adam, Genesis 5:1–6:8. ‘What followed from Adam’ continues the further degeneration of man into utter wickedness. We see the two main lines of descendants: Cain’s and Seth’s. This toledot starts in 5:1–2 with blessing but ends in God’s intention to blot out mankind in 6:7.

Toledot of Noah, Genesis 6:9–9:29. ‘What followed from Noah’. God’s curse on the wicked earth in the Flood, but the blessing of saving Noah’s family on the Ark. But then the righteous Noah becomes drunk, leading to Canaan’s curse.
Toledot of Noah’s three sons, Genesis 10:1–11:9. ‘What followed from Shem, Japheth, and Ham’, the descendants of these patriarchs founding nations. This account starts with the blessing of the population expansion and ends with the curse of the confusion of languages at Babel “in the days of Peleg” (10:25). This confusion led to the dispersion into nations.

Why the toledots are not endings or colophons

A popular view among creationists, consistent with a high view of Scripture, is that toledots were author signatures at the documents’

end. Thus the toledot would state the author of the section which preceded rather than followed the toledot. The toledot is thus alleged to be analogous to the colophon at the end of Babylonian tablets.

Air Commodore P.J. Wiseman first proposed this theory. His son, Professor of Assyriology D.J. Wiseman, has updated and revised his father’s work. However, there are a number of things wrong with this idea.

Old Testament scholar Dr Jason DeRouchie explained that the toledot’s grammar shows the toledot pointing to the subsequent text, not a closing statement of prior text:

"[A]s Gordon J. Wenham has observed, in the clause “these are the toledot of X,” the very meaning of תּוֹלְדֹ֖ת (tôlēḏôṯ) requires that the statement point to that which X produces and not to X’s origins. תּוֹלְדֹ֖ת derives from the Hiphil verb הוֹלִיד [hôlîḏ], of the root ילד [yld], meaning “to beget, bear.”  For this reason, a text such as Gen 2:4, “These are the toledot of the heavens and the earth,” cannot refer backwards to the description of the heaven and earth’s beginnings."

Rather, it must point ahead to that which immediately derived from the heavens and the earth––that is, humanity, shaped out of the ground and by the breath of God (Gen 2:7); a crafty serpent as a personification of all that is evil and created by God (3:1); toil, growing out of a world cursed by its Creator due to sin (3:17–19; cf. Romans 8:20, 21); and a human offspring of hope, considered a gift of God and a sure sign that the promised deliverer would come (Gen 4:25; cf. 3:15; 4:1). 

Similarly, the toledot of Adam (5:1) describes through genealogy that which came forth from the first man, and the toledot of Jacob (37:1) recounts through narrative what came of Jacob’s immediate descendants.

Q: Why is there no toledot at Genesis’ beginning? 

A: Because the toledot is designed to explain what became of the results of the preceding section, and nothing precedes Genesis 1:1." 

CMI