1. (a) It was the opinion universally held among Jews and Christians in Apostolic times, that Moses
was the author of the Pentateuch. (On our Lord's acceptance of this opinion, see below).
Mk 12^. The passage in E.xodus relating God's appearance in the bush is said to occur 'in the book of Moses.' And in I Lk 20"" Moses ' pointed out ' (£ii>,>:,5-=>) the truth of a resurrec tion of the dead in the passage about the bush, 'when h? ealleth the Lord the God of Abi-aham ..." It was God Himsell who used these words (E.x 36), but Moses is spoken of as the author of tlie passage.
Mk 1-219 , Lk20-^. The Sadducees, in referring to the Levirate law, claim that • Moses wrote unto us.' On Mt 22^1 see below.
Jn 1-15. PhUip siJeaks of ' him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote.'
Lk 16-'- SI 242T. Moses being the author of the Pentateuch, his name stands as synonjTuous with that which he wrote.
To these must be added the passages which speak of 'the law of Moses' : Lk 2~ (the offering after childbirth), 24*^ (' the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms '), Jn 7— (circumcision ; cf. Ac 151-5). See also Ac 1339 26-!2 2fe-3, Ro o'-" 105, 1 Co 99, 2 Co 315, He 102S.
(b) Besides this somewhat impersonal use of the name of Moses, there are passages which invest him with a more conscious responsibility and authority in connexion with the Law.
Mt S^ Mk 1«, Lk oi'i. Tlie healed leper is told to offer the gift which ' Moses enjoined.'
Mt 19" I Mk 103f-. The Pharisees, ' tempting ' Jesus, argue on the assumption that " Moses commanded ' a man to give his wife a writ of divorcement. And our Lord answers them — 'Moses allowed you to put away your wives (Mt.), he v\TOte you this commandment (Mk.), with a \'iew to (t^o;) your hard- ness of heart.' Moses is here conceived of as looking out with a prophetic eye over the ages, and seeing that all future genera- tions of Israel would aUke harden their hearts against God ; and that it would therefore be advisable to permit divorce as a necessary evil under certain circumstances, in order to limit and check man's sinful disposition. Tlie words ' recognize the validity of the husband's act, but do not create the situation ' (Swete). In Mk. our Lord anticipates the appeal to Jloses by saying, 'What did Moses command you?' Mt. misses this, putting the t< Ufri.Xx.Ta into the mouth of the Pharisees (see Swete on the whole passage, Mk 101-6).
ilt 2224. In citing the Levirate law, the Sadducees claim that ' Moses said " — for which the other Synoptists have the less personal ' Moses wrote.'
Mk TK*. Our Lord quotes the Fifth Commandment of the Decalogue, together with Ex 21i", with the words 'Moses said.' I Mt 154 has 'God said.'
Mt 1Z-. Moses, as the great teacher of the Law, used to sit (cf. Ex ISlf), and deliver ex cathedra decisions. And the recog- nized teachers of the nation, the scribes and Pharisees, took up the same authoritative position (Iti ■rrj M. xaBih^a.; ixa.bira.t) when the\' became the exponents of the traditional rules b\- which the old Law was 'hedged.' Jesus does not find fault with the position ; He says, in effect, 'as interpreters of the Law of God, show them all due reverence ; as keepers of the Law of God, beware of following their example ' (see Hastings' DB iii. 74a).
In the Fourth Gospel this view of Moses' authority appears no less prominently. —
Jn 117. ' The Law was gnven through Moses.' But this very fact places him and it on a lower plane than Christ and the Gospel. Moses was merely a channel, through whom the Law — which was something separate from himself — was given ; whereas 'grace and truth came into being (iyinrc) through Jesus Christ,' because He Himself was, and is, grace and truth ; so that we received the fulness of grace and truth ' because we all sceived of his fulness' (see Hort, The Way, the Tnith, and thf Life, p. 43 f.).
Jn 545. The national adherence to the Law is the resting of the national hopes upon Moses ('Moses on whom ye have placed your hope'). But (v.46f.) this adherence on your part ought to mean a loyal acceptance of his words, even though their true meaning is at variance with national expectations. Moses' words accuse you, for belief in his writings really involves belief in My words. ''He wrote of me.'
There are two senses in which it mav be said that Moses wrote of Christ. Christ said (ilt 2236-w, cf. "Dt 65, Lv 19is) that on the two commandments — love to God, and love to man — ' all the Law is hung, and the prophets.' So that the true underlying meaning and motive of the whole Law was reflected in the spirit of Christ (see ' Christ the Interpreter of Prophecy,' by Kennett, Interpreter. Jan. 1906). But the Pentateuch contains more than the laws. A further sense in which Moses WTote of Christ is indicated in the whole of 5 2 of the present article. Moses was quite unconscious that he wTote of Christ when he ' hung ' the Law u]->on love ; and he was similarly unconscious of it when he related events which were afterwards to receive a spiritual fultihiient in the religion of Christ.