Bibliotheca Sacra (Volume 20)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1863. Excerpt: ... ARTICLE V. AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH. BY REV. S. C. BABTLETT, D.D., PROFESSOR IN CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. It is the object of the present Article to set forth some of the reasons which justify intelligent men in holding the firm belief that Moses, the great leader of Israel, was the author of the Pentateuch. In maintaining this proposition, it is not asserted, (1) that the present text is free from all errors of transcription; nor (2) that the volume has never received any minor modification, made by inspired, and therefore competent, men; nor (3) that Moses incorporated into his work no pre-existing materials, handed down by valid tradition or written record; nor (4) that the account of Moses's own death and character (Deut. xxxiv.) was written by himself. There are reasons, both general and special, for admitting that the text of the Pentateuch, though preserved with extraordinary care, yet contains some minor blemishes. It is, moreover, so far from being intrinsically probable that the oldest portion of the scriptures should have passed, for a thousand years through the hands of inspired men without any explanatory modification whatever, that a few surfacemarks of revision would not offer the slightest objection to evidence, otherwise conclusive, of the early origin of the volume as a whole. It does not require a tradition that the prophet Ezra revised the earlier scriptures, to render plausible a procedure which now yearly takes place in some form in the editing of old books. That Moses may have used, with or without change, other oral or written narratives, at the same time endorsing them, is no more incompatible with his proper authorship, than a similar course invariably pursued by modern historians is inconsistent with their claims as authors. We may, in due time, ...