There is absolutely no reason to believe Moses is the author of the current “Torah” Jews and Christians believe as the word of God. Christian point out to selected verses from the texts which say’s “Moses wrote down the entire law from start to end”. Just for the record all those selected verses speak of Moses writing down the “Law” e.g. Exodus 24:3-7, Deuteronomy 31:9, Deuteronomy 31:24 etc. Notice how the text says Moses wrote the law, not the stories found in Genesis or later books. Christians still insist Mosaic authorship, this is usually defended on the ground on just a few verses such as Exodus 17:14, where God is telling Moses to write the event of what the Amalekites did so it could be read out to Joshua. This however does not fit the certainty that Moses was the author of the entire Torah. In fact there is not such statement made in the Torah where it says Moses was the author of the 5 books of the Torah known as the Pentateuch.
What evidence is there that Moses was the author of the 5 books known as the Torah? It’s easy to say Moses wrote down what God said, but can Jews or Christians prove this to be true by providing the actual scrolls which Moses on wrote on? Where are those scrolls of Moses which can prove the authorship of his writings? The fact they have a good 1300 year gap between the time of Moses’s writing and the earliest manuscripts shows they have no ground to base their argument on.
According to Midrash The Midrash (Devarim Rabba 9:4) tells us: Before his death, Moses wrote 13 Torah Scrolls. Twelve of these were distributed to each of the 12 Tribes. The 13th was placed in the Ark of the Covenant (along with the Tablets). If anyone would come and attempt to rewrite or falsify the Torah, the one in the Ark would "testify" against him.
Similarly, an authentic "proof text" was always kept in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, against which all other scrolls were checked. Following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the Sages would periodically perform global checks to guard against any scribal errors.
“Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. There it will remain as a witness against you. 27 For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you have been rebellious against the Lord while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die!28 Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officials, so that I can speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to testify against them. 29 For I know that after my death you are sure to become utterly corrupt and to turn from the way I have commanded you. (Deuteronomy 31:26-29)
From the above statements we read that, Moses not only wrote “13 scrolls” he also had one put in the Ark of the Covenant. The “Torah scroll” which was put in the Ark of the Covenant, was a proof test that would verify if the Torah which was in the hand of that individual was the exact same as the one put in the “Ark of the Covenant”.
Here’s the problem, where is the Ark of the Covenant now? How is one supposed to verify if he has the original Torah which Moses commanded to be placed in the “Ark of the Covenant” What about those other “12 scrolls” given to the 12 tribes of Israel, where are they? Why was the “Torah scrolls” placed in the Ark of the Covenant in the first place, so they can be protected from any tampering. What was the point of placing the Torah Scrolls in the Ark of the Covenant when the object itself is missing, how absurd!
