Editing Hexateuch

The '''Hexateuch''' ("six scrolls") is the first six books of the [[Hebrew Bible]]<sup>[1]</sup> (the [[Torah]] or ''[[Pentateuch]]'' and the [[book of Joshua]]). Some scholars propose that Joshua represents part of the northern [[Yahwist]] source (''c'' 950 BC), detached from  JE document by the [[Deuteronomist]] (''c'' 650-621) and incorporated into the [[Deuteronomic history]], with the books of Judges, Kings, and Samuel.

Reasons for this unity, in addition to the presumed presence of the other documentary traditions, are taken from comparisons of the thematic concerns that underlie the narrative surface of the texts. For instance, the ''Book of Joshua'' stresses the continuity of leadership from [[Moses]] to Joshua. Furthermore the theme of ''Joshua'', the fulfillment of God's promise to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land, complements the thematic material of the Pentateuch, which had ended with the Israelites on the border of the Promised Land ready to enter.

The theory that ''Joshua'' completes the Torah in a 'Hexateuch' is advanced by critical scholars in the new field of "history of traditions", but the majority of traditional scholars follow the older rabbinic tradition, as it was expressed by the compilers of the [[Jewish Encyclopedia]] a century ago, that the Pentateuch is a complete work in itself. The [[Torah]] has always consisted of only the first five books of the [[Hebrew Bible]].

==References==
* 1. Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985.

== See also ==
*[[Pentateuch]]
*[[Heptateuch]]: the Hexateuch, plus the [[Book of Judges]]
*[[Octateuch]]: including the [[Book of Ruth]]
*[[Documentary hypothesis]]
*[[Martin Noth]]
*[[Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses]]

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[[Category:Biblical criticism]]
[[Category:Hebrew Bible]]