WHY DO WE WRITE MOSES? REFLECTIONS ON THE WRITING AND THE PSEUDEPIGRAPHY IN THE PENTATEUCH

In this essay on pseudepigraphy in the Old Testament, especially the Pentateuch, Dany NOCQUET shows that the act of writing, which is at the very heart of biblical revelation, has deep roots in mental representations of the Ancient Near East according to which writing is of divine origin. This assumption explains why the biblical authors portray Moses or God as authors. The phenomenon of pseudepigraphy is intimately tied to written revelation and communication. Thereby the emergence of the book of the Torah is a pseudepigraphic advent: the biblical authors withdraw from their own work to compel their reader to face the Word of someone else who is granted undisputable authority.