(G.) It is alleged that in the Pentateuch there are dis- tinct tntces of an age hder than that of Moses; and cer- tainh', if tliis can be establislied, it follows either that Mosas did not write the book, or else that it has been interpolated.
(r;.) There are caiain ffengraph'cal names, paTticulaT- \y Bethel and Hebron, which are supposed not to have been in use till the Israe itcs took possession of the land, and so displaced the ancient names Luz and Kirjath- arba. But there is no real difficulty in sucli cases, nor in another, for which see Hormah. The only truly difficult case is that of Dan (Gen. xiv, 14, comp. Judg. xviii, 29). Even of this several jiLiusible solu- tions can be offered, and there is another mode of deal- ing with it to which we have adverted. See also Dax.
(J>.) There are sentences which are said to benr evidence that they icere not written by Moses. There are but one or two of these that lend much plausibility to this argument; and deferring wliat maj' be said of them, if this be true, till we revert to the case of Dan just noticed, we reply at present that we see no serious difficulty in the way of attributing them to the pen of Moses. It is written (Exod. xvi, 35), " And the chil- dren of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited: they did eat manna until they came unto tlie borders of the land of Canaan." Tliere is no reason why Moses should not have written all this, except on the unwarrantable and erroneous assumption that we m;ike the middle books of the Pen- tateuch a kind of journal written at the time when each event occurred, and not even remodelled before the work was finished. Just as little do we see diffi- culty in attributing to Closes himself the observation (Numb, xii, 3), " Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." It is no more a difficulty than that David should plead his righteousness and integrity as he often does ; or Paul speak of his not being a whit behind the very chiefest apostles, and of his laboring more abun- dantl}' than all of tliem ; or that John should habitu- ally name himself "the disci|ile whom Jesus loved," or "the beloved disciple." Such language is due to the fact that the "holy men of old," who "spake as thej' were moved by the Holy Ghost," thought so lit- tle of themselves when they were writing, that they were equally readj^to tell the defects of their own character and the graces bestowed on them by God, when it was fitting that such a statement should be made. In tliis particular case there was such a fitness, as well to sliow plainly how unreasonable the conduct of the brother and sister of Moses was, as to give point to the statement that Jehovah himself suddenlv inter- posed to vindicate his faithful and honored servant, who might probably never have spoken in his own vindication.
(r.) A phrase 1ms been thought to betray a more recent date than the age of Moses, vhen something is said to have occurred the results of which crmtinve "unto this day." But this is a phrase which by no means ueces*
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• saril}' indicates any great length of time ; which indi- cates occasionally a pretty short time, so far as we can , infer from the probabilities of the case ; and which sometimes must be understood of a short time, as in Josh, vi, 25 (for it is frequent in Joshua as well as in the Pentateuch, and the same inference has been drawn in regard to both these books), "And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's house- hohl, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this daj'." In fairness we mention one pas- sage Vi'hich maj' occasion serious difficulty to some minds, and we know of no other ; it is Deut. iii, l-t : '' Jair the son of Manasseh took all- the country of Ar- gob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi, and called them after his own name, Bashan-havoth-jair, unto this day." Yet even in this case, referring to an interval of no more than a few months, we ought to recollect how difficult it is to change the name of an entire district; if Jair succeeded in this at first, secur- ing for the first six months both his position in the land and his new name for it bj' way of a memorial of himself, there was less risk of the name being subse- quently' lost. In general, as well as in reference to this particular case, we ought to take into account the marvellous revolution — religious, social, and political — which was involved in the transition occurring at the end of the life and administration of Moses, from the patriarchal period of wandering to that of Israel set- tled in the Land of Promise ; and though a few months might be all that separated two events in point of time, yet within that little period were compressed transac- tions more remarkable and important than are often witnessed in whole ages of connnon history. At such a turning-point in the history of the Church and people of Israel, it does not surprise us that Moses should use the expression that events occuri'ed and changes were ushered in which continued " unto this day."