The Testimony of the Bible Concerning the Assumptions of Destructive Criticism Part 2

_"Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." Acts i. 8._

_"I speak the truth in Christ and lie not." Paul in 1 Tim. ii. 7._

_"Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth." The Apostle John in Rev. i. 5._

_"We know that thou art a teacher come from G.o.d, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except G.o.d be with him," Nicodemus, in John iii. 2._

_"If I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?" Christ, in John viii.

46._

_"I am the way, the truth and the life." Christ, in John xiv. 6._

The opinions and testimony of the apostles are certainly worth something. They had three years of instruction under our Lord, and the promise from him that the Holy Spirit should guide them into all truth.

(John xvi. 13.)

A study of the writers of the New Testament proves that they are in absolute harmony with the writers of the Old Testament as to the Mosaic authors.h.i.+p of the five books of the Pentateuch. Luke ii. 22 informs us that the mother of Jesus, "when the days of her purification were accomplished according to the _law of Moses_," brought the child "to present him to the Lord." This was done, according to Leviticus xii.

2-6, and accredits that book to Moses, and not to some imaginary author.

The Apostle John informs us that "the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John i, 17). If he has misled us in reference to Moses and the law, can we trust him in reference to grace and truth by Jesus Christ?

When Peter made his address to the people who were surprised at the healing of the cripple, he said: "_Moses truly said_ unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your G.o.d raise up unto you of your brethren,"

(See Acts iii. 22.)

This saying of Moses is recorded in Deut xviii. 15, the contents of which book are introduced to us in these words; "These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red Sea" (Deut. i. 1), referring to the whole books spoken by Moses, the learned man, mighty in words and deeds, but not recorded, the critics say, until after the exile, about a thousand years! This you are asked to believe on the basis of the professed or a.s.sumed ac.u.men of the critics!

Further, in his great speech before the Sanhedrim at his martyrdom, Stephen quotes Moses as having received full and complete directions from G.o.d concerning the tabernacle. (Acts vii. 44.) In the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus, the book in which Moses was commanded to write and did write, these directions are recorded. We accept Stephen's testimony, added to that of Exod. xxv., rather than the testimony of the critics.

When Paul was writing to the Corinthians of the blindness of the Jews (2 Cor. iii. 15) he said: "Even unto _this day, when Moses is read_, the veil is upon their hearts."

Moses must have written something if he was read. What has become of his writings? Is it not the Pentateuch which the Scriptures everywhere call the writings of Moses? Undoubtedly, yes.

In Paul's missionary sermon at Antioch in Pisidia, he declared to his audience that through Christ "all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified _by the law of Moses_"

(Acts xiii. 39).

Why does Paul refer to the ceremonial of the Jewish ritual as the law of Moses? It must be answered that Paul was a Jew. He was familiar with the Jewish scriptures. He had read the following pa.s.sages and believed them, and was grounded in the truth which they declare, that "by the hand of Moses" they were given to the people.

To satisfy the reader that they were "given by the hand of Moses" the following Scriptures are furnished:

1. "Aaron and his sons did all things which were commanded _by the hand of Moses_." (Lev. viii. 36.)

2. "That ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them _by the hand of Moses_." (Lev. x. 11.)

3. "These are the statutes and judgments and laws which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai, _by the hand of Moses_." (Lev. xxvi. 46.)

4. "These were they that were numbered of the families of the Kohathites, all that might do service in the tabernacle of the congregation, which Moses and Aaron did number, according to the commandment of the Lord _by the hand of Moses_." (Num. iv. 37.)

5. "These ... whom Moses and Aaron numbered, according to the word of the Lord _by the hand of Moses_." (Num. iv. 45.)

6. "According to the commandment of the Lord they were numbered _by the hand of Moses_." (Num. iv. 49.)

7. "They kept the charge of the Lord, at the commandment of the Lord, _by the hand of Moses._" (Num. ix. 23.)

8. "And they first took their journey according to the commandment of the Lord _by the hand of Moses_." (Num. x. 13.)

9. "Even all that the Lord hath commanded you _by the hand of Moses_, from the day that the Lord commanded Moses." (Num. xv. 23.)

10. "That no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the Lord, that he be not as Kora and his company, as the Lord said to him _by the hand of Moses_." (Num. xvi. 40.)

11. "And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord commanded _by the hand of Moses_." (Num. xxvii. 23.)

12. "These are the commandments and the judgments which the Lord commanded _by the hand of Moses_." (Num. x.x.xvi. 13.)

13. "By lot was their inheritance, as the Lord commanded _by the hand of Moses_." (Joshua xiv. 2.)

14. "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you _by the hand of Moses_."

(Joshua xx. 2.)

15. "The Lord commanded _by the hand of Moses_ to give us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle." (Joshua xxi. 2.)

16. "And the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these cities with their suburbs, as the Lord commanded _by the hand of Moses_." (Joshua xxi. 8.)

17. "And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Mana.s.seh returned, ... according to the word of the Lord _by the hand of Moses_." (Joshua xxii. 9.)

18. "And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers _by the hand of Moses_." (Judges iii. 4.)

19. "Thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest _by the hand of Moses, thy servant_." (1 Kings viii. 53.)

20. "There hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised _by the hand of Moses his servant_." (1 Kings viii. 56.)

21. "So that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances _by the hand of Moses_." (2 Chron. x.x.xiii. 8.)

22. "To kill the pa.s.sover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the Lord, _by the hand of Moses_." (2 Chron. x.x.xv. 6.)

23. "Thou ... madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath, and commandedst unto them precepts, statutes and laws, _by the hand of Moses thy servant_." (Neh. ix. 14.)

24. "Thou leddest thy people like a flock _by the hand of Moses and Aaron_." (Psa. lxxvii. 20.)

Paul was familiar with these statements of the Jewish Scriptures. He believed them. (2 Cor. iv. 13.) He believed that G.o.d gave "the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances _by the hand of Moses_" (2 Chron.

x.x.xiii. 8), who was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds. (Acts vii. 22.) Hence he called the Scriptures "The Law of Moses."

Some of the critics will concede that many things were done by Moses, but not recorded until after the exile. Think of it! The laws, statutes, and ordinances which were vital to the life of the Jewish nation, which had been given at Sinai, and were announced with the sanctions of life or death, were not recorded by G.o.d's appointed leader, whom he had trained in all the learning of the times, but were left for almost a thousand years to uncertain tradition!

Paul had not forgotten the above statements concerning Moses' personal connection with the giving of the law. Before Felix he was arraigned, and testified "what the prophets and Moses did say." (Acts xxvi. 22.)

To the Jews at Rome "he expounded and testified the kingdom of G.o.d, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the laws of Moses and out of the prophets." (Acts xxviii. 23.)

In his Epistle to the Roman Christians he says (quoting from Lev. xviii.