R’ Gil Student, in his article entitled “On the Authorship of the Torah” relays the ideas of certain authorities that there were pre-existing manuscripts that contained the recorded histories of our forefathers, Eg Adam, Noah, Abraham, etc. (See the section Scrolls of the Forefathers). R’ Student wishes to propose that these manuscripts served as the source for much of our text of Genesis, although they were edited summarized and collated by G-d himself.
“Most importantly, G-d had to edit the scrolls in order to perfect the exact wording and phrasing of the Torah so that many meanings can be found in it. While a good writer can insert two or three layers of meaning into a text, only a divine Author can insert dozens of meanings. Despite all this editing, the inspired scrolls of the patriarchs form the basis of the book of Genesis”
Now this theory may be well and true, with authoritative sources to support it. However, I think the following quote from the Rambam in his letter “The response to Joseph Ibn Gabir” seems to dismiss this theory. The “scrolls of the forefathers” if they existed, had no role in the composition of the Torah. The revelation at Sinai was an original creation, the content only being revealed to Moshe “for the first time” (i.e he did not get a ‘sneak preview’ from previous manuscripts)
This is my understanding of what the Rambam is saying in this letter. If anyone feels I have misinterpreted this letter, please feel free to leave a comment or email me.
“You mention further an objection made against my judgment that the rite of circumcision we are commanded to observe is Mosaic law rather than a tradition of Abraham. My opponents argue that, inasmuch as on the occasion of that Commandment, the Lord made a thirteen-fold covenant of that Commandment, the Lord made a thirteen-fold covenant with Abraham, we may assume that the obligation to observe the rite of circumcision dates back to Abraham. The argument is inadmissible and their alleged evidence demonstrates that they do not understand the very foundation of our religion. My judgment, I assure you, is correct without any doubt.Included in the six hundred thirteen precepts that were commanded at Sinai are the injunction of circumcision and the prohibition of the sinew which, although they existed in earlier times as recorded in scripture, have been in force as prescriptions only since the time of Moses. You ask those blind people – who pretend to be seers and cite as evidence against me the thirteen-fold covenant with Abraham – to tell you if Abraham himself had perhaps written the thirteen fold covenant with all the verses contained in that portion, and Moses simply copied them, as some people are wont to copy ancient works of another author, or whether the verses have been composed by Moses for the first time under inspiration? Whoever does not believe that these verses, together with the whole Torah, were composed by Moses under inspiration denies that the Torah is of Divine origin.
How would one indeed know what was communicated to Abraham, were it not for the account communicated by Moses? Hence, the foundation and the injunction of that precept, as well as the thirteen-fold covenant stem from Moses. This matter is obvious except to those who do not posses the capacity to reflect and who do not concentrate on the roots of religion but on its branches. The Torah enjoined by Moses is in its totality a revelation of God. If it contains ancients laws, as the Noahide law and the sign of the covenant, we are not bound by them because they were observed in ancient times but because of the later Sinaitic legislation vouchsafe exclusively to us.”
[The Response to Joseph Ibn Gabir, Letters of Maimonides – Leon D Stitskin (Pg 88-89) ]