MOSAIC ORIGIN OF THE PENTATEUCH. 



47 



the account of what passed on Sinai, and during the two periods 

 of forty days (including the whole " Book of the Covenant/' 

 and the instructions about the Tabernacle) ; a great part of 

 the laws in Leviticus and Numbers ; the colloquy in Num. xi ; 

 the intercession after the return of the Spies, Num. xiv ; Moses' 

 prayer to be allowed to enter the Promised Land, Deut. iii, 

 23-25 ; the further account of the stay in the Mount, Deut. ix, 

 9-29 ; and the final summons to ascend Nebo to his death ; 

 who but Moses could have known anything about any of these ? 

 Yet unless all of them (and they form a considerable part of the 

 Pentateuch, afiecting all the alleged " sources ") were derived 

 from Moses himself, they can only be imaginative fabrications. 



Is that credible ? Can we believe, for instance, that anyone 

 who was merely inventing could have imagined the tender, 

 self-sacrificing intercession in Exod. xxxii, 31, 32, " Oh, this 

 people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of 

 gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin — ; and if not, 

 blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou has written " ; 

 or the wondrous proclamation (xxxiv, 6), " The Lord, the 

 Lord, a God full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, 

 and plenteous in mercy and truth '' ? Do not utterances like 

 these bear on the face of them the stamp of truth ? Can we 

 even suppose that accounts so minutely detailed could have 

 been handed down by tradition ? 



(e) Matters only suitable to Moses. 



There are intimate matters, — the meeting with Jethro's 

 daughters, the incident " at the lodging-place,'' Jethro's rebuke 

 of Moses, — little likely to be generally known or to be preserved 

 by tradition. There are also little personal touches in 

 Deuteronomy only appropriate in the mouth of Moses. 



Then there is the evidence of the " Blessing of Moses," Deut. 

 xxxiii. 



In this, the most noticeable features are the omission of 

 any mention of Simeon, — an omission so marked that a few 

 of the Septuagint MSS.* have inserted the name in v. 6, — 

 and the lengthy eulogies of Levi and Joseph (with Ephraim 

 given the predominance, v, 17). 



The omission of Simeon may be due to the leading part taken 

 by that tribe in the turning aside after Baal-peor (Num. xxiv, 



* The three uncials A, M, N, and five cursives. 



