Westminster Theological Journal 53 1991 241 261 Copyright 1991 by Westminster Theological Seminary cited with permission digitally prepared for use at Gordon College THE MOSAIC LAW AND THE THEOLOGY OF THE PENTATEUCH JOHN H SAILHAMER I Introduction THE purpose of this article is to raise the question of the role of the Mosaic Law in the theology of the Pentateuch By theology of the Pentateuch I mean the major themes and purposes that lie behind its final composition 1 The Final Composition of the Pentateuch Much has been written in recent years about the final composition of the Pentateuch 1 In an earlier paper I attempted to demonstrate the influence of prophetic hope and eschatology in its composition 2 The Pentateuch I argued represents an attempt to point to the same hope as the later prophets namely the New Covenant 3 The narrative texts of past events are presented as pointers to events that lie yet in the future Past events foreshadow the future 4 Along similar lines though working from quite different assumptions Hans Christoph Schmitt has argued that the Pentateuch is the product of a unified compositional strategy that lays great emphasis on faith 5 According to Schmitt the same theme is found within the composition of the prophetic books like Isaiah and ultimately can be traced into the NT e g the Book of Hebrews Schmitt s approach differs from many critical approaches in that he treats the Pentateuch as one would the later historical books that is as the 1 Erhard Blum Studien zur Komposition des Pentateuch Berlin Walter de Gruyter 1990 Rolf E Knierim The Composition of the Pentateuch in SBLSP 1985 395 415 Erhard Blum Die Komposition der Vatergeschichte Neukirchen Vluyn Neukirchener Verlag 1984 RolfRendtorff Das Uberlieferungs geschichtliche Problem des Pentateuch BZAW 147 Berlin Walter de Gruyter 1977 2 John H Sailhamer The Canonical Approach to the OT Its Effect on Understanding Prophecy JETS 30 1987 307 15 3 This does not necessarily imply that the final composition of the Pentateuch is later than that of the prophetic books On the contrary if the composition of the Pentateuch were dated before that of the prophetic books it would help explain the origin of the message of those books In the discussion which follows the date of the final composition of the Pentateuch as such is taken to be Mosaic 4 Sailhamer The Canonical Approach 311 5 Hans Christoph Schmitt Redaktion des Pentateuch im Geiste der Prophetie VT 32 1982 170 89 241 242 WESTMINSTER THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL product of an intentional theological redaction or composition One must start from the final form of the book and ask what each part of the whole contributes to its theological intention Schmitt argues that each major unit6 of narrative in the Pentateuch shows signs of a homogeneous theological redaction A characteristic feature of this redaction is the recurrence of the terminology of faith e g b Nymxh 7 At crucial compositional seams throughout the Pentateuch Schmitt is able to find convincing evidence of a faith theme that is a consistent assessment of the narrative events in light of the rule of faith b Nymxh 8 According to Schmitt this redaction represents the final stages in the composition of the Pentateuch later even than the so called priestly redaction According to Schmitt it does not reflect an emphasis on keeping the priestly law codes viz the Mosaic Law but rather on preserving a sense of trust in God and an expectation of his work in the future It is in light of this eschatological expectation of God s future work that the redaction lays great stress on faith 9 Schmitt s study goes a long way in demonstrating an important part of the theological intention and orientation of the Pentateuch as a narrative text Put simply Schmitt shows that the Pentateuch is intended to teach faith in God 10 An important question raised by Schmitt s study is whether the concept of faith in the Pentateuch is intended to stand in opposition to the 6 The largest literary units grosseren Einheiten which are linked in the final redaction of the Pentateuch according to Schmitt are the Primeval History the Patriarchal Narratives the Exodus Narratives the Sinai Narratives and the Wilderness Narratives See Rendtorff Das Uberlieferungs geschichtliche Problem 19ff 7 It is important to note that according to Schmitt the terminology of faith b Nymxh occurs only at the redactional seams See n 8 8 The key texts of that redaction are Gen 15 6 And Abraham believed in b Nymxh the Lord and he reckoned it to him for righteousness Exod 4 5 In order that they might believe vnymxy that the Lord the God of their fathers has appeared to you Exod 14 31 And they the people believed in b Nymxh the Lord and in Moses his servant Num 14 11 How long will they the people not believe in b Nymxh me Num 20 12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron Because you did not believe in b Nymxh me See also Deut 1 32 and 9 23 Schmitt has not discussed Gen 45 26 the only occurrence of the term for faith outside of Schmitt s redactional seams because it does not show other signs of belonging to the Glaubens Thematik 9 So steht am Ende der Pentateuchentstehung nicht die Abschliessung in ein Ordnungsdenken theokratischen Charakters Vielmehr geht es hier darum in prophetischem Geiste die Offenheit fur ein neues Handeln Gottes zu wahren und in diesem Zusammenhang mit dem aus der prophetischen Tradition entnommenen Begriff des Glaubens eine Haltung herauszustellen die spater auch das Neue Testament als fur das Gottesverhaltnis zentral ansieht Schmitt Redaktion des Pentateuch 188 89 10 It is important to note that such a reading of the Pentateuch as a lesson on faith can be found throughout the subsequent canonical literature Pss 78 and 106 two psalms that look at the meaning of the whole of the Pentateuch both read the events of the Pentateuch as evidence of the Israelites faith or faithlessness cf Ps 78 22 32 37 106 12 24 A similar reading is found in Nehemiah 9 which is a rehearsal of the pentateuchal narrative in its present form cf Neh 9 8 The example of Hebrews 11 has already been pointed out THE MOSAIC LAW 243 Mosaic Law or whether this faith is to be understood simply as keeping the law 11 To say it another way can we find evidence in the composition of the Pentateuch that the author is concerned with the question of faith versus works of the law It is well known that this issue surfaces a number of times in other OT texts In Ps 51 18 19 English vv 16 17 for