Who wrote the first five books of the Old Testament?

I need not say that the books of the Bible are grouped together in an orderly way, evidently not thrown together haphazardly. Take for instance the Old and New Testaments. You find that they treat of two distinct subjects. We come however to our particular subject tonight, the five books of Moses, the first part of the Bible. They are all held fast together. It is one coherent whole; you could not take one of them away without mutilating this whole portion of scripture. Rob us of Genesis, for instance, and we would be without the very foundation as to God's ways and works in this world. Rob us of Deuteronomy or put it with another part of the Bible and we would be without the conclusion as to God's ways.

Moses was the author of all these books, the single author. At their close we see him laying down his life with his pen in token of a completed work. We shall find as we go on in the study of Scripture, that this Pentateuch as it is called, (which simply means five volumes) gives us the model upon which the whole word of God is written, a key by which we can understand something of His purpose in giving us such a full revelation. I have said that they are one whole that you could not take one of them away without mutilating the rest.

We have however to look at the other side also, which is, that they are entirely distinct one from the other. People might say Why did not Moses write just one book. If he is the author of the whole as he evidently is, why did he write it in five volumes instead of one? Simply to emphasize the fact that here we have a diversity, a divine progress and that God has a lesson to teach us in the fact that there are five books, just as well as in the fact that it is one division of Scripture. Now what is the lesson that is upon the very surface of this? There are five books. The subject of Genesis is creation, and the life of individual saints. When you come to Exodus, you get an entirely new thought. The prominent thing there is redemption, the redemption of a people to be in association with God. Come again to Leviticus and there is a distinct line of truth that underlies the whole book, the truth of access to God, of holiness. Passing into Numbers is like passing into another room. You find an entirely different thought. It is now the pathway of God's people along the wilderness journey, and when Numbers closes and we get to Deuteronomy, it seems to return as it were to the very beginning. There you have God's summary of His ways with the people.

That Moses was the writer of the first five books of the O.T., called the Pentateuch, there are many proofs in scripture; such as "have ye not read in the book of Moses?" Mark 12:26; "If they hear not Moses and the prophets," Luke 16:31; Luke 24:27; "When Moses is read," 2 Cor. 3:15. Of course the section where his death is recorded was added by a later hand. When the inspiration of scripture is fully held, God is known as the author of His word, and it becomes a secondary question who was the instrument that God used to write down what He wished to be recorded. Respecting some of the books of scripture we know not who wrote them; but that in no way touches their inspiration. It is plain, however, from the above and other passages that Moses was the writer of the Pentateuch, which is often called "the law of Moses."

The Greek name given to the first five books of the O.T., which are also called 'the five books of Moses.' The many references to and quotations from them in other parts of the scripture, and allusions to them by Christ under the name of Moses, show plainly that Moses was the inspired writer of them, except of course the small portion that records his death and burial. See MOSES.

When the Pentateuch was completed Moses directed it to be placed in the side of the Ark (Deut. 31:24, 26). Was this the identical copy of the law found by Hilkiah the high priest seven hundred and fifty years afterwards, amongst the rubbish in the Temple (2 Kings 22:8); or was it a copy transcribed from the original by one of the early kings (Deut. 17:18)? We believe it was the very copy of the law or Pentateuch written by the hand of Moses (2 Chron. 34:14). That Moses was the writer of these five inspired records is evident from the testimony of the books themselves (Deut. 31:9, 24), by Joshua (Joshua 1:7), by Samuel (1 Sam. 12:6-8), by David (1 Kings 2:3), by Solomon (1 Kings 8:53, 56), by Jehovah (2 Kings 21:8), by Josiah (2 Kings 23:2-3, 25) by Jehoiada (2 Chron. 23:16-18), by Hezekiah (2 Chron. 30:16), by Ezra (Ezra 7:6), by Nehemiah (Neh. 13:1), by Daniel (Dan. 9:11-13), by Malachi (Mal. 4:4), by Christ (John 5:45-47), by Peter (Acts 3:22-26), by Stephen (Acts 7), by Paul (1 Cor. 9:9), by all the Jewish writers, ancient and modern, and by the Jewish nation in all ages, by apostates as Mahomet and Julian, by heathen writers as Longinus and Tacitus. Yet in the face of this overwhelming testimony, Divine, Christian, Jewish, and Heathen, men will be found bold enough and bad enough to impugn the authority of the Pentateuch, and deny, too, its Mosaic authorship!

There can be no question either that these first five books were written by Moses. This does not raise the question of whether other writings more or less connected may have been used by him, for instance in the book of Genesis; but we have evidently there, as a continuous narrative with a distinct object, from the first chapter to the close of the book, that which is the product of one inspired person, whatever material he may have used in the preparation of his work; just as an author now may quote largely and use much material gathered by others in the preparation of a work which is distinctly his own.

Of course by this nobody means — except Jews perhaps — that Moses wrote the last chapter about his death and burial. I do not say it is impossible, and that God might not have revealed these things to him. But there is no need to assume any such anticipation. There is an evident break after the closing and crowning song of Moses; and the last chapter is clearly, in my judgment, added by an inspired person who took up and thus continued the record of the enlarging and developing purposes of God. No need therefore, for any bit of superstition — as I conceive it is — in supposing that Moses necessarily wrote the account of his own death. There are in Scripture evident traces of the hand of an inspired editor — of one raised up by God to put the books of the Bible together. You must remember they came out separately. Not only have they been combined since, but there are, here and there, what one may call inspired insertions. God can give an inspired editor as well as an inspired writer. Every Scripture is inspired, and so was the person who edited it and added these joints and bands when the time came to close the canon of Scripture. It is only unbelief that makes difficulties out of that which is plain enough.

According to an old tradition, not only Genesis (also called the first book of Moses), but the whole Pentateuch (from Greek pente - five and teuchos - container for scrolls) were written by Moses. As far as Exodus to Deuteronomy is concerned, Moses was an eyewitness and partly even main character. When writing Genesis, apart from direct revelations of God (for example the report on the creation of the world in Genesis 1-2), he could possibly have referred to documents from the time of the patriarchs (for example the genealogies of Genesis 5:10-11 and 36). Under the direction of the Holy Spirit of God Moses wrote everything down. As he was a prophet, the words of 2 Peter 1:21 apply to him as well: "Holy men of God spake under the power of the Holy Spirit."

But the theorists further assume, without warrant, that the "law of Moses" was the only name under which the Pentateuch would have been recognized; so that the Lord was obliged to speak thus in order to be understood. "Jesus must have alluded to the books of the Old Testament by their recognized names, just as men will always speak of the poetry of Homer, even if the composite origin of the Iliad and the Odyssey comes to be universally recognized." Unless He had violated the whole principle of the Incarnation by anticipating the slow development of natural knowledge, He must have spoken of the 'Deuteronomist' as Moses (John 5:46-47) as naturally as He spoke of 'the sun rising.'" Now, it is not necessary to refer again to the applicability of the allusion in this passage to the "man Moses," and not to a fictitious "Deuteronomist." But it is quite an error for Mr. G. to assume that He must have spoken in this way, as if no other term were intelligible.* A very slight examination of the Gospels would have revealed that the single word "law" was well understood by the Jews to refer to the first five books, and not merely to the decalogue. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets" (Matt. 5:17). "Have ye not read in the law etc." (Matt. 12:5). "This people who knoweth not the law are cursed" (John 7:49). If the addition of "Moses" was not necessary in these and other instances, neither was it at all necessary for purposes of distinctness. So that, if our Lord merely wished to avoid anticipating "the results of scientific inquiry or historical criticism," He might, when referring to the Pentateuch, have uniformly made use of the word "law," and thereby left the question of authorship unaffected by His words, and escaped the condemnation of the critics. Neither would He, by this means, have been impaled on the other horn of Mr. G.'s dilemma; for silence on the point in question could not "have violated the whole principle of the Incarnation by anticipating the slow development of natural knowledge." Therefore the simple truth can only be that Moses wrote the law, and the Lord confirmed the belief in the same by His authority, using such words as could leave no other impression on the minds of those who heard Him.

They call this kind of criticism scientific. It surely has all the marks of so-called science. Speculation, uncertainty and complicated statements are the leading characteristics of this criticism. They claim now that the Pentateuch (the five books written by Moses) was never written by him, but that these books consist of four diverse documents. These they designate as follows: 1. The Jehovist. 2. The Elohist. 3. The Deuteronomist. 4. The Priestly Code. The authorship of Moses has been completely given up and it is claimed that the earliest part of the Pentateuch was written perhaps six hundred years after Moses' death. They put the date of the greater part of these five books after the Babylonian captivity.

Numbers is closely linked with Leviticus, though it differs greatly from it. Moses wrote the record of the events in the wilderness as he wrote the instructions Jehovah gave concerning the worship of His people. Only a person who was contemporaneous with the events recorded in Numbers could have been the author of this book. In chapter 33:2 we find a statement to the effect that Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys. If Moses did not write the book, who then was the author? If the Mosaic authorship is denied the genuineness and trustworthiness of the entire book must be given up. Higher criticism, so called, claims that Moses did not write Numbers and that the book itself was not contemporary with the events it describes. They call attention that throughout the book Moses is referred to in the third person. They make much of chapter 12:3, as bearing definite testimony against Moses as the author. (For the explanation see our annotations on that chapter.) The same documents, compilers and redactors, etc., which, as it is claimed, composed the other books of the Pentateuch, and put them into shape in which we have them, centuries after Moses lived, are also brought into play in connection with Numbers. It would be more than unprofitable to follow these foolish theories which have laid the foundation to the most serious denials of the revelation of God.