Verses Added to the Torah at a Later Date: The Phenomenon and its Ramifications

Certain places mentioned in the Torah are called by names that are only given to them many years after the death of Moshe. Spinoza claimed that such examples indicated that the Torah as a whole was written at a much later date than is traditionally assumed. Medieval commentators make several suggestions to solve this question.

In modern times Yehuda Elitzur suggested a different approach. In many places the Torah alludes to the fact that the division of the land existed and was known in general form from ancient times, going back to the blessings of Yaakov. Therefore, the familiarity of the writer of the Torah with the division of the land, which would only occur later on, cannot serve as proof of later authorship of the Torah, since the division of the land is frequently presented as ancient knowledge.