HEXATEUCH

A term derived from the Greek, meaning six-roll, and applied to the first six books of the Old Testament. Literary analysis suggested the continuation of the four sources of the pentateuch into the book of joshua. Also, since the theme of the promise of the land is predominant throughout the Pentateuch, a theological truncation would result if those books were isolated from Joshua, where the theme of promise finds its fulfillment in the conquest. More recent studies have cast serious doubts on the theory of a Hexateuch.

Bibliography: d. n. freedman, The Interpreters' Dictionary of the Bible, ed. g. a. buttrick (Nashville 1962) 2:597–598. Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible, tr. and adap. by l. hartman (New York 1963) 996.

[e. h. maly]

Hexateuch (Gk., hex, ‘six’, + teuchos, ‘book’). A name given by J. Wellhausen to the first six books of the Hebrew Bible, supposing that Joshua was compiled from the same sources as the Pentateuch.

Hexateuch the first six books of the Bible (Genesis to Joshua) collectively.