who wrote the pentateuch

The arguments of modern critics in derogation of the Mosaic authority of the Pentateuch are not of such weight as to set aside the internal evidence of the sacred books themselves, which supports the constant conviction of the Jewish people and uninterrupted Church tradition. These books have Moses for their author and have not been put together from sources for the most part of later date than his time.

Moses did not write every thing in the Pentateuch with his own hand, or dictate the whole to secretaries. But to such he entrusted the editing of his work, and they gave faithful expression to his thought, without addition or omission. After obtaining Moses' approval of it they published in his name the work so framed by them.

Moses in composing his work made use of sources — written documents or oral traditions — under Divine inspiration, and conformably to the purpose which he had in view, so as either to adopt the wording or only the sense, abridging or amplifying as required.

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.

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.

The death of Moses is an historic event. It occurred in the early part of the year 1405 B.C., some weeks before the passage of the Jordan. The mission of Moses, whatever it was, was complete. His work was finished. He leaves it as a legacy to his successors. But what was his work? The answer of the word of God is nowhere equivocal. It uniformly maintains that the law was given by Moses. Moses, while he was alive in the world, not only acted as a mediator between God and the generation of Israel of his day, but by divine authority established the covenant relationship under which they and their successors were to be the people of God and enjoy His blessing. Now, the history of the children of Israel under these covenant relationships is to be distinguished from the establishment of the relationships. Moses is not the author of their history under the covenant, but the author, under God, of the covenant under which their history occurred. He gave by divine direction all the laws by which their conduct was to be regulated. He promulgated all the divine communications in regard to the establishment of the covenant. He wrote the history of the communication of the covenant. When he died, the work of communicating the covenant was finished. He left thus a body of writings which ever after was referred to under specific names, such as, The Law, The Law of Moses, This Book of the Law. These terms do not apply simply to the testimony — the tables of the law, put into the ark — but to the entire body of the writings of Moses, i.e., the authorised copy of the history of the establishment of the covenant.

Such then is the true explanation of the duplicate accounts, as they have been styled. If difference of authors or of documents had any real evidence, it in no way covers the facts; it really introduces mere imagination to set aside the positive declarations of the Lord and the apostles, who attribute to Moses expressly what a groundless fancy distributes among 2, 3, 5, 10 or even more imaginary writers of the disjecta membra of the Pentateuch severed from each other by considerable intervals of time.

Such then is the true explanation of the duplicate accounts, as they have been styled. If difference of authors or of documents had any real evidence, it in no way covers the facts; it really introduces mere imagination to set aside the positive declarations of the Lord and the apostles, who attribute to Moses expressly what a groundless fancy distributes among 2, 3, 5, 10, or even more imaginary writers of the disjecta membra of the Pentateuch severed from each other by considerable intervals of time.

Again, no one alleges that "Christ and His apostles came into the world to instruct the Jews in criticism."* But does not faith in Christ bind us to accept His authority as superior to any criticism? He declares both during His ministry and in the risen state that Moses wrote of Him, that the books commonly called the law, the Pentateuch, are Moses' writings. Was He in this fostering an error of the day, and supporting it by His authority? Certainly it was no part of Christ's mission to prove that the Pentateuch did not proceed from Moses! But it is impossible to believe Christ's words and to deny that He declares those books to be written by Moses, which the rationalist declares are not, and distributes between Moses and perhaps earlier hands the primitive Elohist after the expulsion of the Canaanites, the junior Elohist in the days of Elisha, the Jehovist in the reign of Uzziah, the still later redactor who was not Ezra,† and the unfortunate Deuteronomist in the reign of Manasseh who employed the "innocent fiction," "which an uncritical age rendered easy," of attributing to the legislator the utterance of the contents of Deuteronomy as well as the authorship of the first four books, in both of which Dr. Davidson (i. 118) deliberately imputes to him what is a fraud.

In the third place, it is to be observed, that our Lord and His apostles taught that the Pentateuch was given by Moses, that he was the penman and wrote the laws as given him by God. Thus the word "Moses" is frequently put instead of "the Law." So St. Luke says (24:27), "Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." Again, our Lord says (Luke 16:29), "They have Moses and the prophets — if they hear not Moses and the prophets." In these places the name of Moses is put for what Moses wrote, as "the prophets" for their writings. Still stronger is what the Lord says (John 7:19), "Did not Moses give you the law?" In Luke 2:22, and Acts 15:5, it is called "The Law of Moses." Our Lord Himself says, "All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses" (compare Acts 28:23, and Acts 13:39).

Moses therefore was the historian; and therefore our Lord says to the Jews (Mark 7:10), "Moses said, Honour thy father and mother," and again, when speaking of divorce (Mark 10:5), "For the hardness of your heart, he wrote you this precept;" and, in like manner (John 5:46-47), "Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" (Compare John 1:45-46; Acts 3:22). St. James says in like manner, "Moses is read in the synagogue every Sabbath day" (Acts 15:21), St. Paul says (Rom. 10:5), "Moses writeth (graphei) the righteousness of the law," referring to Lev. 18:5. It is evident therefore that our Lord and His apostles regarded the Pentateuch as the law of Moses, the book of Moses as the writings of Moses.