Pentateuch
The Pentateuch is considered to be the most important part in the Old Testament. ... (C) Background of Genesis and Yahwists The origin and authorship of the Pentateuch has been discussed over past few centuries. ... As we read through Pentateuch, the books seem to telling its readers that there are one and only one God ruling over the Earth. ... Rolf Rendtorff rejected the idea of the traditional source criticism (JEDP) but he regarded the Pentateuch as basically the composition of Deuteronomists together with some priestly contribution. ... Blum then drew a conclusion that the Pentateuch was a postexilic compromise between the thought of Deuteronomists and Priestly Reformers. ... Together with the monotheism presented in the books mentioned above, the writer supports the viewpoint of Rendtorff and Blum that the Pentateuch we have now was actually finished in postexilic period. ... Deuteronomy and Genesis is quite different literally and the way the witness was made, the writer agrees to the point of view of Van Seters that “Yahwist “did exist and participate in the composition of the Pentateuch. ... One strong evidence showing that the Pentateuch was a post-exilic composition was that some story in Genesis is similar to Babylonia stories but with modification. ... Under the hypothesis of Pentateuch being exilic or post-exilic composition, ideas such as Yahweh was defeated by gods of Babylon and that Yahweh was powerless in protecting them would by all means appear in the mind of the Israelites. ... Guinan explained in his book “The Pentateuch” that the living God of Israel can be imaged only by living beings who do what God does. ... (I) Conclusion Genesis 1 - 11 sometimes is classified as prologue of the Pentateuch.