I had read in the bible that Prophet Moses received the 10 commandments on a tablet and there was also some other revelations which were not nailed on the tablet which constitute the Torah. Hence I was curious to know how and exactly when the Pentateuch we have in our hands was canonized in a book form and by whom.
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I think it would do you well to read the wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanakh.– jakeMar 4, 2013 at 14:20
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Wikipedia says about torah :Also It has a range of meanings: it can most specifically mean the first five books of the Tanakh, it can mean this, plus the rabbinic commentaries on it, it can mean the continued narrative from Genesis to the end of the Tanakh, it can even mean the totality of Jewish teaching and practice.– knowitMar 4, 2013 at 14:31
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1 Answer
Aside from a slight ambiguity about who wrote the final verses of the Torah that discuss the death of Moses, the Torah itself addresses its own authorship. It was written in its final form by Moses.
24 And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,
25 that Moses commanded the Levites, that bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying:
26 Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.
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2This is slightly over-simplified, as even in the Gemara's time they claim to not know certain spellings for sure. Our current text of the Torah was canonized (pretty much) only around 1000 years ago.– Double AA ♦Apr 18, 2013 at 16:24
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@DoubleAA, you're referring to the Aleppo and Leningrad Codeces? Even if so, I'm not sure that's an accurate statement. But that might depend on your definitions of "our current text" and "canonized".– Seth JApr 18, 2013 at 17:16
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1Moses writes the words of this law in a book. It may be a different book that by now might have been gone. I mean if we see it just from the text.– user4951Mar 17, 2014 at 7:28