Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
The five-fold volume, consisting of the first five books of the Old Testament. This word does not occur in Scripture, nor is it certainly known when the roll was thus divided into five portions Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Probably that was done by the LXX. translators. Some modern critics speak of a Hexateuch, introducing the Book of Joshua as one of the group. But this book is of an entirely different character from the
other books, and has a different author. It stands by itself as the first of a series of historical books beginning with the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan. (See JOSHUA.) The books composing the Pentateuch are properly but one book, the “Law of Moses,” the “Book of the Law of Moses,” the “Book of Moses,” or, as the Jews designate it, the “Torah” or “Law.” That in its present form it “proceeds from a single author is
proved by its plan and aim, according to which its whole contents refer to the covenant concluded between Jehovah and his people, by the instrumentality of Moses, in such a way that everything before his time is perceived to be preparatory to this fact, and all the rest to be the development of it. Nevertheless, this unity has not been stamped upon it as a matter of necessity by the latest redactor: it has been there from the beginning, and is
visible in the first plan and in the whole execution of the work.”, Keil, Einl. i.d. A. T. A certain school of critics have set themselves to reconstruct the books of the Old Testament. By a process of “scientific study” they have discovered that the so-called historical books of the Old Testament are not history at all, but a miscellaneous collection of stories, the inventions of many different writers, patched together by a variety of
editors! As regards the Pentateuch, they are not ashamed to attribute fraud, and even conspiracy, to its authors, who sought to find acceptance to their work which was composed partly in the age of Josiah, and partly in that of Ezra and Nehemiah, by giving it out to be the work of Moses! This is not the place to enter into the details of this controversy. We may say frankly, however, that we have no faith in this “higher criticism.” It
degrades the books of the Old Testament below the level of fallible human writings, and the arguments on which its speculations are built are altogether untenable. The evidences in favour of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch are conclusive. We may thus state some of them briefly: (1.) These books profess to have been written by Moses in the name of God (Ex. 17:14; 24:3, 4, 7; 32:7-10, 30-34; 34:27; Lev. 26:46; 27:34; Deut. 31:9, 24, 25).
(2.) This also is the uniform and persistent testimony of the Jews of all sects in all ages and countries (comp. Josh. 8:31, 32; 1 Kings 2:3; Jer. 7:22; Ezra 6:18; Neh. 8:1; Mal. 4:4; Matt. 22:24; Acts 15:21). (3.) Our Lord plainly taught the Mosaic authorship of these books (Matt. 5:17, 18; 19:8; 22:31, 32; 23:2; Mark 10:9; 12:26; Luke 16:31; 20:37; 24:26, 27, 44; John 3:14; 5:45, 46, 47; 6:32, 49; 7:19, 22). In the face of this fact, will any
one venture to allege either that Christ was ignorant of the composition of the Bible, or that, knowing the true state of the case, he yet encouraged the people in the delusion they clung to? (4.) From the time of Joshua down to the time of Ezra there is, in the intermediate historical books, a constant reference to the Pentateuch as the “Book of the Law of Moses.” This is a point of much importance, inasmuch as the critics deny that there is
any such reference; and hence they deny the historical character of the Pentateuch. As regards the Passover, e.g., we find it frequently spoken of or alluded to in the historical books following the Pentateuch, showing that the “Law of Moses” was then certainly known. It was celebrated in the time of Joshua (Josh. 5:10, cf. 4:19), Hezekiah (2 Chr. 30), Josiah (2 Kings 23; 2 Chr. 35), and Zerubbabel (Ezra 6:19-22), and is referred to in such
passages as 2 Kings 23:22; 2 Chr. 35:18; 1 Kings 9:25 (“three times in a year”); 2 Chr. 8:13. Similarly we might show frequent references to the Feast of Tabernacles and other Jewish institutions, although we do not admit that any valid argument can be drawn from the silence of Scripture in such a case. An examination of the following texts, 1 Kings 2:9; 2 Kings 14:6; 2 Chr. 23:18; 25:4; 34:14; Ezra 3:2; 7:6; Dan. 9:11, 13, will also plainly
show that the “Law of Moses” was known during all these centuries. Granting that in the time of Moses there existed certain oral traditions or written records and documents which he was divinely led to make use of in his history, and that his writing was revised by inspired successors, this will fully account for certain peculiarities of expression which critics have called “anachronisms” and “contradictions,” but in no way militates
against the doctrine that Moses was the original author of the whole of the Pentateuch. It is not necessary for us to affir
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
the five books of Moses
Schaff's Bible Dictionary
PENTATEUCH, THE, is the collective name for the first five books of the O.T., the books of Moses. The name is of Greek origin, meaning "five volumes," and was probably introduced by the Alexandrian translators of the O.T. As also the names of the separate books - Genesis, Exodus, etc. - are of Greek origin, referring to the contents of the books, and as, in the Jewish manuscripts, these books form only one roll or volume, it has been conjectured
that the division itself is due to the Greek translators. In Scripture the Pentateuch is called "a book of the law of the Lord given by the hand of Moses," 2 Chr 34:30; "the book of the law of the Lord," 2 Chr 17:9; "the book of the law," 2 Kgs 22:8; "the book of the covenant," 2 Chr 34:30; 2 Kgs 23:2, 2 Kgs 23:21; "the law of Moses." Ezr 7:6; "the book of the law of Moses," Neh 8:1; "the book of Moses," Ezr 6:18; Neh 13:1; 2 Chr 25:4; 2 Chr
35:12; or simply "the law," Matt 12:5; Luke 10:26; John 8:5, 2 Sam 21:17. Among the Jews the several books are designated by their initial letters - Bereshith ("in the beginning"), Shemoth ("names"), etc.; among the Christians, with reference to their subject-matter - Genesis giving the primitive history, as a preparation for the theocracy, from the Creation to the death of Jacob; Exodus, the foundation of the theocracy, by the legislation from
Mount Sinai; Leviticus, the inner organization of the theocracy by the ceremonial laws on the Levitieal worship; Numbers, the actual establishment of the theocracy by the march through the wilderness and the conquest of Canaan; and Deuteronomy, the final and comprehensive recapitulation of Mosaic legislation. The whole is one compact and complete representation of the Hebrew theocracy, the first and the last books having a more universal
character, the three intermediate ones a more specifically Jewish character, Exodus giving the prophetic, Leviticus the priestly, and Numbers the kingly, aspect of the theocracy. With respect to the authorship of this work, various circumstances have during the last two centuries caused some doubt whether it can legitimately be ascribed to Moses. Moses is always spoken of in the third person, and in the last passages of Deuteronomy his death and
burial are related. Names of places occur, though we know that they did not come into use until after the conquest of Canaan - such as "Dan," Gen 14:14; Deut 34:1; comp. Josh 19:47, and "Hebron." Gen 13:18; Gen 23:2; comp. Josh 14:15; Judg 1:10. The names of the Lord, "Jehovah" and "Elohim," alternate in such a way as to indicate a double authorship, and alleged differences in style and language and repetitions seem to point the same way. On
these grounds a school of modern critical scholars contends that the Pentateuch, at least, in its present shape, was not written by Moses, or by any single author, but is a compilation of much later date and from very different sources. However ingenious many of the arguments against the Mosaic authorship may be, the collected evidence in its favor is nevertheless overwhelming. The unity of the composition, as set forth above, is so strong that
no attempt at breaking it has ever succeeded, and the book itself, directly and indirectly, bears testimony to its essential Mosaic origin. In Deut 31:9-12, Deut 31:24-26 we are told that Moses wrote "this law," and when he was done with it he placed it in the hands of the Levites, to be kept in the ark of the covenant and to be read to the people every seventh year on the feast of the tabernacles. "This law" may mean Deuteronomy alone, and not
the whole Pentateuch; but other passages refer in exactly the same manner to other parts of the work. He wrote, by divine command, the book of the covenant and the ten commandments, Ex 24:3-7; Ex 17:14, and also the camping-stations of the Israelites in the wilderness. Num 33:2 ff. The presumption is that he wrote the rest, unless there are convincing arguments to the contrary (as in the account of his death at the close of Deuteronomy, which is
evidently added by a later hand). The Mosaic authorship of the great body of the Pentateuch is sustained by uninterrupted and unanimous tradition of the Jewish Synagogue and the Christian Church, and by the internal evidence of the work itself. Moses was, of all men, best qualified to write it. He had the best preparation, he knew all about the events in which he figured so prominently. The book contains so many and so close references to Egypt -
the land, the people, and the civilization - that its author must not only have lived for a long time in Egypt, but also have received the benefit of a thorough Egyptian education and partaken in Egyptian life from a superior position; see, for instance, the references to irrigation, Deut 11:10; to war, Deut 20:5; to mining, Deut 8:9; to criminal punishment, Deut 25:2, etc. Next, the narrative of the passage through the desert gives so correct
and so fresh a description of the event that it could never have been made by any one who had not taken part in that long trial, and hardly by any other than by him who was the leader. The language, also, and the theology (especially the eschatology) of the Pentateuch are archaic, and antedate the compositions of the Davidic, and still more of the post-Exilian, period. There is no man in the whole subsequent history of Israel, as far as we know,
who could at all account for the peculiarities of the Pentateuch near so well as the great lawgiver, who is the central figure of the book. Ezra, for instance, to whom some ultra-critics assign the authorship, never was in Egypt nor in the wilderness, and lived in the reproductive period of reconstruction or restoration of the theocracy founded by Jehovah through Moses centuries before. Thus from various sides we are led to feel not only that
Moses has written the Pentateuch, but also that he was the only one who could have written it; and the objections have so much the less power, as a Mosaic authorship by no means excludes either the use of earlier documents or the addition of later notes. For further details see the special articles on the separate books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.