'The Books of Moses Revisited' by Paul Lawrence

I would like to take this opportunity to commend a new book that has just been published by Wipf and Stock (https://wipfandstock.com/store/The_Books_of_Moses_Revisited). It is available directly through the publisher but also via Amazon directly in the coming time. I met Paul briefly in connection to some Bible translators meetings back in 2006 (not that I am a translator) and he has been working on this important book for quite a while, in order to refute an entrenched theological position on Old Testament studies called 'The Documentary Hypothesis'. This hypothesis, and this is what it is, basically denies that the authorship of the first five books of the Bible should be attributed to Moses. Paul Lawrence ably refutes this hypothesis but also in the process he offers some very helpful material on OT Hittite treaties and covenants. This how the publishers describe the book:

Who wrote the first five books of the Bible? Does it really matter who did? The Books of Moses Revisited explores this question by comparing the covenants of Exodus/Leviticus and Deuteronomy with the inter-state treaties of the late second millennium BC. Some compelling similarities come to light, both in the pattern adopted and in many small details. Lawrence clearly demonstrates this with many examples and diagrams, yet without assuming that readers possess a detailed knowledge of ancient history and linguistics. Despite the entrenchment of the widely held theory—the so-called Documentary Hypothesis—that the first five books of the Bible were the product of an anonymous editor living many centuries after Moses, this book argues that the first five books of the Bible bear many hallmarks of being late second millennium BC compositions and that Moses should not be ruled out as being the author. The book also explores how several ancient texts—the Egyptian Story of Sinuhe, the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey—were transmitted in antiquity and suggests that a similar process also lies behind the transmission of the first five books of the Bible.

My aim in publicising this book is manifold but one reason is that Christians need a closer relationship to the Old Testament. The God of the Old Testament is identical to the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. This book can enrich the church, refute false ideas, provide valuable historical material to the Old Testament scriptures and in way that is accessible. I commend this book, most especially for ministers of the gospel.

Then he [the Lord Jesus Christ] said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24: 44-50.

Preachers need to be thoroughly equipped in the Old Testament scriptures in order to be able to competently proclaim the gospel!