The Testimony of the Bible Concerning the Assumptions of Destructive Criticism Part 3

5): "For Moses writeth that the man that doeth the righteousness which is of the law shall live thereby." (Rom. x. 5, R.V.)

To the Corinthian Christians he says: "It is written in the _law of Moses_. Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox when he treadeth out the corn." (1 Cor. ix. 9.) Here again he quotes from Deut. xxv. 4, and repeats the quotation in 1 Tim. v. 18. But the critics deny that it was written until after the exile, at least nine hundred or one thousand years later.

The Apostle James adds his testimony to that of Paul, while addressing the a.s.sembly of the apostles at Jerusalem, saying: "For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, _being read_ in the synagogues every Sabbath." (Acts xv. 21.)

We have learned in these quotations from Matthew, Luke, John, Stephen, Peter, and Paul, their repeated testimony, their unvarying faith that _Moses both spoke and wrote_ the scriptures contained in the Pentateuch.

We have seen that their faith was founded on twenty-four inspired declarations that these five books were given "_by the hand of Moses_."

These statements are found in the books themselves, from Leviticus to the Psalms. If inspired testimony is worth anything, the case is closed, and the critics' case goes out of court, more than disproved.

WAS CHRIST MISTAKEN?

The reader will be interested to know what Christ has to say of the critics' denial of the Mosaic authors.h.i.+p of the Pentateuch. For he who "spake as never man spake," he of whom the Father said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, _hear ye him_," this same Jesus had some very positive opinions on the subject before us. He has spoken clearly and definitely. We may not turn away from his testimony.

1. After healing the leper, our Lord said to him: "Go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that _Moses commanded_ for a testimony unto them." (See Matt. viii. 4, Mark i. 44, Luke v. 14.)

Our Savior here quotes from Lev. xiv. 2-8. Moses had been commanded to write the words that G.o.d had given him. (Exod. x.x.xiv. 27.) "And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord" (Exod. xxiv. 4), hence our Lord quotes the pa.s.sage in Leviticus _from Moses_.

2. The Pharisees, always captious and controversial, sought to entangle the Savior in a discussion on the subject of divorce. Replying, "He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives." (Matt. xix. 8.) Our Lord here quotes from the Mosaic law (Deut. xxiv. I-4), recognizing Moses as the author of the same.

3. He rebuked the scribes and Pharisees also for turning from the word of G.o.d to the traditions of men. "For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother." (Mark vii. 10.) This quotation is from Exod. xx. 12, and Deut. v. 16. They had made the command of Moses of no effect, had violated the law which Christ taught had been given by Moses.

4. The Sadducees came to him with their controversy concerning the resurrection. They presented to him an unanswerable argument, as they supposed, against the doctrine, questioning as to whose wife she should be in the resurrection, who has had seven husbands in this life. Christ replied (Mark xii. 26, 27): "As touching the dead, that they rise; have ye not read in the _book of Moses_ how in the bush G.o.d spake unto him, saying, I am the G.o.d of Abraham, and the G.o.d of Isaac, and the G.o.d of Jacob? He is not the G.o.d of the dead, but the G.o.d of the living."

This quotation by our Lord is from Exod. iii. 6, and he calls the book from which it is made "the book of Moses." Did Christ know whether it was the book of Moses or of some unknown author who had so artfully palmed it off under false colors as to deceive the entire Jewish nation?

Or, as certain of the critics teach, did Christ know that the pretense that it was the book of Moses was a fraud, but, in view of public opinion, was unwilling to expose the deception? To ask these questions is to uncover the animus of the critical a.s.sumptions which logically attack the character of Christ himself.

Christ knew who was the author of the book, and knowing, he affirmed that it was "_The Book of Moses_."

5. In our Lord's parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Dives is represented as pleading that some one be sent from the dead to warn his brothers, lest they also come into this place of torment. The reply to his request was: "They have Moses and the prophets.... If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." (Luke xvi. 29, 30.) "Moses and the prophets" was the name for the Jewish Bible. If Moses did not write the Pentateuch, the name of their Bible was false, and the Savior indorsed a falsehood. We believe "the faithful and true Witness," and reject the critics who dishonor his character.

6. After Christ's resurrection he walked and communed with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. He instructed them concerning the Messiah's death, and, "beginning at Moses" (Luke xxiv. 27), informed them that it was G.o.d's plan, foretold in the Old Testament. He appeared to his apostles and declared to them that "all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and the prophets." (Luke xxiv.

44.) The critics deny Moses' authors.h.i.+p, but Christ affirms it, using the language that means the Pentateuch. _We believe him_.

7. In our Lord's conversation with Nicodemus he recognizes Moses in connection with the book of Numbers. He refers to the historical incident, if our critical friends will leave us any Biblical history, in Numbers xxi. 8, 9. He says: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up," (John iii. 14.)

Recurring to the pa.s.sage in Numbers, we learn that, in the dire distress of the people for their sins, G.o.d commanded Moses to make a brazen serpent, and lift it up before the people, that they might look and live.

Certain of the critical school consent that Moses, was connected with the event, but did not record it. Indeed! And what proof that he failed to make the record? It was personal to himself. It was symbolically prophetic of the crucifixion of Christ, as our Savior used it, an event toward which all prophecy moved. And we have already learned that nine times it has been stated in the book of Numbers that the acts, precepts, and statutes of this book were done and given by "_the hand of Moses_."

8. To the Jews, seeking to murder their Messiah, he said; "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me, _for he wrote of me_." (See John v. 45, 46.)

When and where did he write of Christ? He wrote of him in the five books which are ascribed to Moses by all the Old Testament Scriptures, and by Christ and his apostles. He wrote of him in Gen. iii. 15, when G.o.d promised that "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head."

He wrote of Christ in Gen. xii. 3, when G.o.d promised Abraham: "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." He wrote of the Messiah when he recorded Jacob's prophecy in Gen. xlix. 10: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until s.h.i.+loh come." Moses wrote of Christ, when under divine direction he inst.i.tuted the pa.s.sover, as recorded in the twelfth chapter of Exodus.

He wrote of Christ in the Levitical ritual, when under G.o.d's instruction he set up the system of types, for the tabernacle and the temple service, which taught the fundamentals of the New Testament gospel--_redemption by the blood_.

The whole tabernacle and its furniture was necessary to complete the symbolism that should represent the Messiah. The altar, the laver, the shew bread, the golden candlestick, the mercy seat, and the officiating high priest. For "Moses was admonished of G.o.d when he was about to make the tabernacle," and received positive direction as to how he should construct it, that redemption should echo from every part of the service. Beautiful and glorious was the service that proclaimed "Christ and him crucified." Christ's testimony here is twofold: That "Moses wrote," and that he "wrote of me," of Christ, the witness of these things.

9. It was at the feast of tabernacles, in the year 29 A.D., that the Jews attacked the Savior in a fierce controversy, because he healed on the Sabbath day. He was teaching in the temple when they charged him with violating the Sabbath.

To that charge he replied: "_Did not Moses give you the law_? Yet none of you keepeth the law." (See John vii. 19.) He affirms in most positive terms, that can not be twisted into the shadow of a negation, that Moses gave them the law. The interrogative form of his statement is rhetorically the strongest possible affirmation.

10. Once more, in the twenty-third verse of the same chapter, Christ refers to the fact that their children received circ.u.mcision on the Sabbath day, that "the law of Moses be not broken."

The sum of Christ's testimony to the Mosaic authors.h.i.+p of the Pentateuch is before us. Ten times our Lord a.s.serts in the pa.s.sages quoted that the law given in the Pentateuch was the "law of Moses." He affirms that in that law "he wrote of me." From Genesis to Revelation there is continued affirmation by prophets, apostles, and by Christ, who can not lie, that the five books of the Pentateuch are the books of Moses, under the guiding hand of the Spirit of G.o.d.

A recent writer, who has gone over the testimony of the Bible itself against the critics, says: "We find in them (the writers of the Old Testament) more than eight hundred quotations from, or references to, the first five books of the Bible, and not a hint is given that Moses is not their author," but he is everywhere recognized as the author, under G.o.d.

Witnesses multiply with every restudy of the book, proving the Mosaic authors.h.i.+p of the first five books of _The Book_. "What shall we say, then, to these things? If G.o.d be for us, who can be against us?"

V. THE ATTACK ON THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS.

_"The Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd and of the flock." Lev. i. I, 2._

_"And when any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon." Lev. ii. 2._

_"And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, ... he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about," Lev. iii. 1, 2._

_"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, ... let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering." Lev. iv. 1, 2, 3._

_"His truth endureth to all generations." Psa. c. 5._

Having considered the critical a.s.sault on the Pentateuch as a whole, attention should be called to the special criticisms on the book of Leviticus. A prominent representative of the school of critics affirmed in his recent lectures at Long Beach, California, that the Hebrews had no literature until their connection with the Babylonians while in captivity, that their literature was developed during their agricultural life while in Babylon. He affirmed that the sacrificial ritual of the book of Leviticus had its roots in the heathen sacrifices growing out of their false conception that their deities must be appeased by the shedding of blood. The Levitical ritual was, therefore, never written nor given by Moses. If this gentleman and the critics that hold with him are correct, we must conclude with them that Moses never saw or heard of our book of Leviticus.

In reply let it be said:

1. The denial of the existence of Hebrew literature prior to the exile is thoroughly answered and set aside by the records discovered on the Egyptian monuments and writings before and during Israel's bondage. Many of the critics have found this criticism untenable, and have abandoned it. They have been obliged to concede that Egyptian and Babylonian literature existed long before the time of Moses. The best scholars.h.i.+p of to-day affirms that "the discovery and first use of writing is certainly as old as the time of Abraham." (See Schaff-Hergoz, Enc. Art.

Writing.)

2. If the Bible itself is not a fraud, writing was constantly in use in the time of Moses. See:

(1) Exod. vii. 14: "The Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book."

(2) Exod. xxiv. 4: "And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord."

(3) Exod. x.x.xiv. 27: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words."

(4) Exod. x.x.xiv. 28: "And he (G.o.d) wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant."

(5) Num. v. 23: "And the priest shall write these curses in a book."

(6) Num. xi. 26: "They were of them that were written."