40 



EEV. A. H, FINN^ ON THE 



could possibly have been combined into so compact and coherent 

 a whole ? 



That would indeed be a stupendous miracle. 



§ 2. Indications of Antiquity. 



If, then, the Pentateuch be a unity, to what age can we assign 

 it ? Can we attribute it to the literary activity said to have 

 prevailed in the days of the early monarchy ? or to the dawning 

 of the prophetic era ? or to the religious revival under Josiah ? 

 or must we bring it all dovm to the period after the Exile ? 



Here the admissions of opponents will not assist us. They 

 do admit that parts of the Pentateuch (notably some of the 

 poetry) are very ancient, and that Moses was " the ultimate 

 founder of both the national and religious life of Israel/'* But 

 they look upon the more ancient elements as mere fragments 

 preserved in works of much later date, just as stray boulders 

 may be found embedded in strata of more recent formation. 

 We turn then to the evidence. 



(a) External Evidence. 



(i) In the LXX version there are many indications that the 

 translators have not understood (or misunderstood) the Hebrew 

 words. For instance, in Gen. vi (where the context determines 

 the sense) the word for "Ark'' (Hlil) is rendered Ki/Scorov^f 

 a wooden chest, but in Exod. ii, 3 is simply represented by 

 Ol^Lv, and the material of which it was composed (^^^ 

 papyrus) is altogether omitted. So in Gen. xxii, 13 the word 

 for "thicket" ("flD) is represented by <^fTw aa^eK, which 

 combines a not very accurate translation with a transliteration. 

 The words for " ephah " and " shekel " are occasionally rendered 

 by a Greek word, but more commonly are simply turned into 

 Greek letters. 



The word "Shittim," — acacia, — is represented by a word 

 which seems to mean "not liable to rot," except in a proper 

 name, where it is transliterated. 



The renderings fjuovoKepcof; (one-horned, possiblv = rhino- 

 ceros) for the wild ox. Rem CQ^^"^) and KafjurfK-oirdphakL^; 

 (giraffe) for Zamer (^^T, a kind of deer, K.V. chamois) suggest 



* Driver, LOT, 152. 



t This word is also used, Exod. xxv, 10, etc., for the "Ark" (p-i{<) of 

 the Covenant. 



