Who told Moses to write the Bible?

The first mention of writing in the Bible is when “the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book” (Ex. 17:14). And from this small beginning of God communicating His thoughts in writing to man, we get the full development in the Bible, in which all God’s counsels and glories are made known.

In the books themselves we find that the Lord commanded Moses to write an account of the doings of the children of Israel and the words of the Lord in a book: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book" (Ex. 17:14): "And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord" (Ex. 24:4): "And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words" (Ex. 34:27).

In turning to the earliest books of the Bible, we read on one occasion that "Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah;" that Jehovah said unto Moses, another time, "Write this law for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua." Again, we read that Moses was commanded to write, and "Moses wrote this song according to the commandment of Jehovah, and taught it the children of Israel," and that he also "wrote their goings out according to their journeyings, by the commandment of Jehovah." (Ex. 24:4; 17:4; Deut. 31:19-22; Num. 33:2.)

Moreover, it is clear that Moses was conscious that the word he gave Israel had divine authority. He said, "It shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and do all the commandments which I command thee this day, that Jehovah thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth." His writings, therefore, are called "the book of this law," and "the covenant," and "his statutes which are written in this book of the law." "And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests." (Deut. 28:1, 61; 29:21; 30:10; 31:9.)

We find in the books of Moses such words as "Jehovah said unto Moses," over and over again. Sometimes it is added, "Speak unto Aaron thy brother," or "to the children of Israel," or to the priests; and afterward we read it was done, and it is frequently said, "as Jehovah commanded Moses."

Joshua also having been assured by direct communication from Jehovah of the divine origin and authority of the writings of Moses, was also taught that his own success in the service of God would be connected with his observing to do all that Moses commanded. He was told to "turn not from it, to the right hand or to the left." "… The book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to that which is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." (Joshua 1:7-9.) Thus the writings of Moses were not only authenticated by Jehovah, but Joshua was held responsible by God to obey them "according to all that is written therein." It was all the scripture that he had, and yet how careful he was to carry out its directions.

Secondly, he committed to writing the words that had been uttered. Unbelievers used to assert that he did nothing of the kind, inasmuch as the art of writing was unknown in the age in which he lived. It is now proved that the art existed long before his day. God intended His law to be authoritatively recorded for all time. Putting the law thus on record, Moses instinctively felt that the condemnation it inevitably brought could only be expiated by sacrifice, hence next is recorded the building of an altar, and the twelve pillars as a memorial of the tribes. Young men acted as the priests, while as yet Aaron and his sons had not been formally inducted to the priest's office.

All Scripture has come to us as writing from God, the Old Testament writings being spoken of as “the oracles of God” (Rom. 3:2). Sometimes there was a divine command for the writing, as when the Lord said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book” (Ex. 17:14), but whether it was by direct command, or in some other way, the different books of the Old Testament and the New are the writings of the Spirit of God, a human pen being used to convey God’s message to men. Because of this the words of the Old Testament are spoken of as the word or witness of the Holy Spirit (Heb. 3:7; 10:15). There are however direct references to God Himself writing, and some of these we shall consider.

The early history of the written Word may profitably be considered here. The first recorded command to put Jehovah's commandments to His people into writing is found in Ex. 17:14 "Jehovah said to Moses, write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua; for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." Soon after this, Jehovah Himself put something into writing. The tables of stone, containing the ten commandments were written with the "finger of God." These (the second tables were called "the testimony," for in them God spoke to men, and they were deposited in the Ark of the Covenant (Ex. 25:16; Ex. 31:18). When Moses completed his fifth book he "commanded the Levites, which bare the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah, your God that it may be there for a witness against thee" (Deut. 31:25). We learn from this that the book of the law was preserved in the house of God, in the Most Holy place. Thus Hilkiah found the sacred book just where it might be expected to be found. But it was evidently very little known for many years prior to the reign of Josiah. It appears to have been lost, covered over with rubbish in the very house of God, and so little valued that no search was made for it! What a picture of what has happened in Christendom! The house of God as established on the Day of Pentecost is "the Assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15). In the days of the Apostles the truth was loved, and earnestly propagated in every direction; but as the centuries passed, "the Church" became so grossly unfaithful and worldly that the truth was well-nigh lost. Priestly pretensions and ecclesiastical ordinances governed the whole situation, displacing the Word of God almost entirely. For all practical purposes the Word was buried under accumulations of rubbish, very much as in the days of King Josiah.

In Exodus 24:4 we read, "And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord." In Chapter 34:27 another command to write is given, "Write thou these words." The Hebrews speak of the Pentateuch as "the law," and "the law of Moses." The book of the law, the law of Moses, now divided into five parts, was in existence at the time of Joshua (Joshua 1:8).

The Lord then told Moses to write these words of the covenant (v. 27). The writing of Moses was not on the tables of stone, for God had said that He would write on these (the ten commandments), but Moses was to write what was told him in verses 10 to 26. For a second time Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights, neither eating or drinking. In not drinking at all, he would have to be miraculously sustained by God. Then God wrote on the tables the ten commandments.

Upon this, Moses was again called to the mountain-summit that the tablets might be renewed. But in this case Moses was to prepare the materials (Ex. 34:1), and though God again undertook to write His words upon them, it was with the hand of Moses He would write them. "The Lord said unto Moses, write thou these words" (v. 27). Yet, though the hand of Moses, on this occasion, penned the words, they were just as truly the words of God Himself as when His own finger had written them; so Moses could say, "These are the words which, the Lord has commanded" (Ex. 35:1).

A very important feature in the ways of God with man now appears: Moses put "all the words of Jehovah" (Ex. 24:4) into writing. "It is written" was henceforth to mark the authority of the divine communications. Tradition and legend had developed into the grossest abominations on the earth. These were no longer to rule, but a written authority was to speak in unchangeable words. From that date to the present hour, "It is written" has been the rule for faith. "The book" mentioned in which Moses wrote, was at this particular time the Book of Exodus.

God Himself wrote "the law and the commandment" upon the stone tables, and Moses received these divinely-written words expressly from God, that he might teach them. (Ex. 24:12.) We may well imagine with what anxious care these sacred writings would be held by those to whose keeping they were entrusted. These written words are now before us in our Bibles, and their authority is unchangeable.