MOSAIC ORIGIN OF THE PENTATEUCH. 



49 



(/) Plan. 



The whole Pentateuch contains 187 chapters occupying 

 166 J pages in the Kevised Version. 



The period from Adam to the call of Abram is represented 

 as extending to about 2000 years ; that from the call of Abram 

 to Moses' flight from Egypt, about four centuries ; from Moses' 

 flight to his death, 80 years. Yet the first period is dismissed 

 in 11 chapters (7| pages), the second in 40| chapters (34 pages), 

 while to the third are devoted no less than 135| chapters (125 

 pages). This striking arrangement is worth setting out in 

 tabular form : — 



Period. 



Years. 



Chapters. 



Pages. 



From Adam to Abram 



2000 



11 





From Abram to Moses' flight 



400 



40| 



34 



From Moses' flight to his death 



80 



135^ 



125 



The Patriarchal age, only one-fifth of the previous period, 

 occupies nearly five times as much space ; the Mosaic part, 

 one-thirtieth of the two previous periods, occupies three times 

 the space allotted to the two together. Three-quarters of the 

 whole work deal with matters which came within the personal 

 knowledge of Moses. 



That is exactly what might be expected if Moses was the author. 

 For the earliest ages he could only have had remote traditions, 

 and accordingly that period is merely sketched in, excepting 

 the three great subjects of the Creation, the Fall, and the Deluge. 

 The patriarchal histories would probably be handed down in 

 much fuller detail, even if some documentary records were not 

 preserved. The events of his own life, especially of the forty 

 years from his call to his death, would provide the amplest 

 material of all. 



Is it within the bounds of any reasonable probability that 

 this proportion, so closely corresponding to what would obtain 

 in a work of which Moses was the author, could have resulted 

 from the combination of three sources, all of much later date ? 



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