THE LAST FOUR BOOKS OF THE PENTATEUCH:
THEIR METHOD OF ARRANGEMENT AND SUBJECT-MATTER.
THE manner in which the last four of the five books of Moses are made
up is peculiar and should have a moment’s special attention. Their
striking peculiarity is the blending of matters pertaining to the
religious system, to the civil code, and to the national history with
no well defined order or method――the historic facts taking their place
probably as they occurred and came before the writer, and the other
topics being arranged quite miscellaneously. This method obviously
indicates that the writer was not an author by profession――a mere
writer and nothing else; but one who was pressed with the cares and
burdens of public office; bearing the chief responsibilities for
the constitution of the religious system with its elaborate ritual
observances; for the civil code――its exact record and its judicial
administration; and for the general government of the people――quelling
disturbances; answering their complaints; supplying their wants;
guiding their desert march, and directing their wars in defense against
assailants. These books answer so perfectly to the circumstances
of Moses as to leave no rational doubt that he was their author.
Incidentally and most inadvertently they write out his daily history,
showing us how he was occupied during those years when the events he
narrates were transpiring. For the most part the record in these four
books pertains to the first two years after Moses entered upon his
great mission and the last two years before his death. There was a
long interval between these periods of which nothing special is said.
Passing the first twenty chapters of Exodus which are history and
follow the natural order of the events; and passing also the thrilling
and solemn scenes of Sinai――the great work of Moses was to receive and
record the statutes of the civil code, and the directions respecting
their religious system, including the construction of the tabernacle;
the services of the priests and Levites; the sacred festivals, and the
whole ritual of worship. We are told how the long sessions of Moses
with the Lord on the Mount were interrupted (Ex. 32–34) by the sin of
the people in the matter of the golden calf; after which the record of
the tabernacle――its construction, etc., is resumed and continued to the
close of Exodus.
* * * * *
_Leviticus_, takes its name from Levi whose tribe furnished the line
of priests and the servants for all the religious ritual. The first
nine chapters record ritual observances and sacrifices; then the death
of Nadab and Abihu, occurring, is recorded in its chronological place
(chap. 10); after which the author resumes his main subject――things
clean and unclean; purifications; the case of leprosy, etc. In
connection with the consecration of the High Priest and his duties, we
have (chap. 16) the very interesting description of the great day of
atonement. Statutes of a civil character are interspersed with those
which are religious (chap. 19, and 20, and 24); the great feasts are
described (chap. 23); the Sabbatic year and the Jubilee (chap. 25);
a chapter of moral warnings and admonitions (26); closing with one on
special vows and consecrations (27).
_The book of Numbers_ is named from the theme of its first two
chapters――the census of the tribes. Another census was made during the
last year of their wandering, viz. on the plains of Moab (chap. 26).
It has also an _itinerary_ of the journeyings of the people during
their entire wilderness life (33). Several chapters are devoted to the
religious ritual (none to the civil code); and several (more than in
Leviticus) to historic events; _e. g._ the murmuring and the consequent
plague at Taberah and Kibroth-hattaavah (chap. 11); the envy and
sedition of Miriam (chap. 12); the case of the spies and the doom of
the unbelieving (13 and 14); Korah and his doom (16). Then passing over
to the last year of the wandering, we have the scenes at Kadesh――the
murmuring for water and the sin of Moses for which God forbade his
entering Canaan (20); a conflict of arms with Arad the Canaanite;
the fiery serpents; the overthrow of Sihon and Og (21); Balaam and
his prophecies (22–24); and other matters of miscellaneous character
(25–36).
* * * * *
_Deuteronomy_――the name meaning the second law, _i. e._ the law
repeated――takes this name from the fact that the book repeats portions
of the civil code and also of the religious system. It also gives a
resume (a brief summary) of the leading historical events of the Exodus,
of Sinai, of the golden calf, and of the murmurings of the fathers in
the early years of their wanderings. This book was manifestly written
within the last one or two years of Moses’ life, when the scenes of the
desert wandering were drawing to a close. Moses stood before the people,
almost the only old man of the nation at the age of one hundred and
twenty years, while all the rest (Caleb and Joshua excepted) were under
twenty when they came out of Egypt, and not exceeding sixty at the
writing of this book. “The fathers――where were they”! Fallen in death;
smitten with the swift judgments of the Almighty for their murmurings
or cut off in middle life during their wanderings, to which they were
doomed for their unbelief upon the report of the spies. The nation,
as they stood before Moses, were truly his children. How had he borne
them on his parental heart for forty years; given them line upon line
of statute and of ritual; shaping their civil life and their religious
life; watching with the interest of a patriarch every development of
their character; devoted with the deepest love of his heart to their
moral culture.――――Such was Moses and such were the people whom he
addressed on the plains of Moab, with the words of sublime moral power,
recorded in this book.
It is not my purpose to repeat the points of this history from Egypt
and Sinai onward to that hour, which form the staple of Deut. 1–11.
Let it suffice to say that Moses brings them forward here with more or
less expansion of the details for the sole purpose of _enforcing their
moral application_. He makes those historic facts the text for this
most impressive sermon――the basis of a series of exhortations to holy
living which well up from the depths of his parental, loving heart, and
testify how deeply he sympathized with God and with the true interests
of his covenant people. Most solemnly does he exhort them against
the great sin of their times――idolatry; and implore them to remember
the God of their fathers; the Giver of all their mercies; the God
of their national salvation. As a specimen of the historic sermon,
nothing can be more admirable, complete, and effective. Coming from
such a patriarch, from one who had done and suffered so much for his
countrymen; who had been admitted so freely into the deep counsels
and sympathies of Israel’s God; who had been honored of God not only
as the great law-giver, but also as the Savior and Deliverer of his
nation――these words ought to have been listened to with profoundest
attention. Let us hope they were truly wrought into the very souls of
this generation. No one can read them attentively at this day without
a quickened sense of the solemn relations which God establishes between
himself and his covenant people in every age of time.
* * * * *
Of the statutes, mostly civil, in small part religious, which chiefly
fill chap. 12–26, there is little occasion for special remark here.
They have chiefly come under consideration in my treatment of the civil
code of Israel. Some points are much more fully expanded here than in
the previous books, _e. g._ the year of release (chap. 15: 1–11), the
case of female captives (21: 10–14). There is some new matter; _e. g._
the war-law (20); the expiation for murder by unknown hands (21: 1–9);
the case of partiality toward sons (21: 15–17) and to mention no
more, the form of announcement and consecration with which the Hebrew
worshiper was to bring before the Lord the first-fruits of his land,
and also his tithes of the third year (chap. 26). These forms are
instructive as giving us a just idea of the solemnities of Hebrew
worship. Let us think of the Israelite coming up to Shiloh or to
Jerusalem, say from the mountains of Ephraim or the pasture lands of
Gilead, after the conquest and possession of Canaan, in obedience to
the law here recorded, thus:
“That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the
earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God
giveth thee, and shall put _it_ in a basket, and shall go unto
the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name
there. And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those
days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy
God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto
our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket
out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD
thy God. And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God,
A Syrian[46] ready to perish _was_ my father; and he went down
into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there
a nation, great, mighty, and populous: and the Egyptians
evil-entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard
bondage: and when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers,
the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our
labor, and our oppression: and the LORD brought us forth out
of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an out-stretched arm, and
with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: and
he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land,
_even_ a land that floweth with milk and honey. And now, behold,
I have brought the first-fruits of the land, which thou, O LORD,
hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God,
and worship before the LORD thy God: and thou shalt rejoice in
every good _thing_ which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee,
and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger
that _is_ among you” (vs. 2–11).
This offering, put so impressively upon its great historic grounds――the
preservations and mercies with which God had crowned their nation
in fulfilling the promises made to the national fathers, became no
unmeaning service. All is instinct with life. Those children of the old
patriarchs reposing under their vine and fig-tree in the land flowing
with milk and honey had a wonderful history, and God meant to have
their ritual of worship link itself continually with that history and
take quickening impulses from those impressive associations.
Not less pertinent and impressive is the form of announcement and
protestation for the service of “tithing the tithes of their increase
the third year”――on this wise:
“When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine
increase the third year, which _is_ the year of tithing, and
hast given _it_ unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless,
and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled;
then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have brought away
the hallowed things out of _mine_ house, and also have given
them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless,
and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou
hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments,
neither have I forgotten _them_: I have not eaten thereof in my
mourning, neither have I taken away _aught_ thereof for _any_
unclean _use_, nor given _aught_ thereof for the dead: _but_ I
have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done
according to all that thou hast commanded me.” (Deut. 26: 12–15).
――――We must note with pleasure the fraternal and liberal spirit
which this service cherished so effectively, remembering kindly the
Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow: the Levite as
the religious servant of the nation; the stranger as one but too often
neglected and forsaken according to the impulses of man’s selfish
nature, but one whom God remembered out of the depths of his fatherly
care for the neglected and forlorn; the fatherless and the widow as
those whose cup of affliction is sore and should commend them to every
humane sympathy of the heart. Such treatment of the stranger would
naturally bring most of them into the Hebrew communion as proselytes.
Where else in all the earth could they expect such kindness and such
inducements to build their family home?――――This inside view of the
institutions and usages of Hebrew thanksgiving worship remind us that
God’s religion has a social side; forgets not man’s social nature, but
provides for fraternal sympathy and for the ministrations of kindness
and relief to all the children of want and sorrow.
This chapter (26) closes appropriately with the mutual relations
between God and his people――they having solemnly declared [“avouched”]
the Lord to be their God, and he on his part having in like manner
declared them to be his people.
“_The Prophet like unto Moses._”
From this point we turn back to consider a special prophecy (Deut.
18: 15–22), passed without notice in the rapid and general view taken
of those chapters.
Moses is contemplating the state of the people located in Canaan;
frequently brought into contact there with diviners, soothsayers, and
magicians. The devoted nations of Canaan, he tells them, were rotten
with those abominations; and for these sins the Lord drove them out
before Israel. Addressing the Israelites, he tells them they shall
not have the least occasion to resort to magic arts for superhuman
knowledge or help.
“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the
midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall
hearken; according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy
God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not
hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see
this great fire any more, that I die not. And the Lord said unto
me, They have well _spoken that_ which they have spoken. I will
raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto
thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak
unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to
pass, _that_ whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he
shall speak in my name, I will require _it_ of him. But the
prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I
have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name
of other gods, even that prophet shall die” (Deut. 18: 15–20).
Here the great question will be――_Is Jesus the Messiah predicted here?_
The supposable theories are three:
1. That the passage treats of the Hebrew prophets only, and not of the
Messiah;
2. Of the Messiah only, and not of the Hebrew prophets;
3. Of the Messiah primarily, yet not excluding the Hebrew prophets.
The reasons for including the Hebrew prophets lie in the connection
of thought in which the passage stands; its relation to the magicians
of Canaan, and to false prophets. The Lord says to the people through
Moses: I do not leave you dependent on magicians; I give you prophets
as I have given you Moses; they shall teach you my words from time
to time as ye may need words from your God. Moreover, there will be
counterfeit prophets coming up; but I will give you tests of their
character, take heed to prove and reject them.――――This close connection
of thought demands some reference to the succession of Hebrew prophets.
On the other hand, the reasons for including the Messiah, and in
fact for assuming a primary reference to him, lie in the use of the
singular――“a prophet; one great Prophet;” and in his being compared
to Moses――“like unto me.” Moses stood in many respects quite above
the grade of the future Hebrew prophets, having none like him in the
obvious sense of this comparison except Jesus.――――This construction is
greatly strengthened by the authority of the New Testament writers and
of Jesus himself, who manifestly found here the real Messiah. See his
words (Jn. 5: 46). “He [Moses] wrote of me.” (Compare Luke 24: 44.)
Christ’s allusion to his words as having authority (Jn. 12: 48, 49)
seem to refer to this passage (vs. 18, 19). “He that receiveth not my
words hath one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same
shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself, but
the Father who hath sent me, he gave me a commandment what I should
say,” etc.――――The Lord said unto Moses――“I will put my words into his
mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him, and
whosoever shall not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my
name, I will require it of him.”――――The current opinion of the men
taught by Christ finds in these words a prophecy of him. Philip (Jn. 1:
45) said: “We have found him of whom Moses in the law did write――Jesus
of Nazareth.” Peter (Acts 3: 22, 23) cites this very passage as having
been spoken truly by Moses and as being fulfilled in Christ. So also
does Stephen (Acts 7: 37). The Samaritans also (as appears from Jn.
4: 25) found the Messiah here, since they received of the Old Testament
scriptures the Pentateuch only. The circumstance that the Christ whom
they expected would “_teach them all things_” points certainly to
this prophecy rather than to prophecies from Genesis (_e. g._ 3: 15
or 49: 10).――――Finally, the voice from the cloud at Christ’s
transfiguration――“Hear ye him” (Mat. 17: 5) corresponds to the
prominent point of this prophecy――“Unto him shall ye hearken” (v. 15).
Moses (present at the transfiguration) must have recognized this
identity.――――These considerations compel us to find here a primary
reference to the Messiah.
The full answer to the question: How can these words cover both the
one great Prophet――the Messiah; and also the succession of Hebrew
prophets?――will be found in these facts: That the spirit of Jesus
was in all the old prophets; that they were his servants, bearing
his messages; that he and they were parts of the same great system of
divine revelation to men; and that Christ’s mission was at once the
guaranty and pledge of theirs――their work being linked in with his as
the natural consequent and adjunct. Comprehensively spoken of, the one
great prophet included all the lesser prophets; the promise of the one
embracing and implying the promise of all.
* * * * *