The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 70

emcmcipation nnd resnscitntion could not be far to seek. Still further, in the third pince, Moses enjoyed the leisure which was indispensable for the composition of such n work ns the Pentateuch. The forty years' retirement to the land of Midian, carry- ing with him probably the ancient records of his people, must have afforded him, if ho desired it, ample opportunity for the commencement of bis literary enterprise by the composition of Genesis ; while the forty years of wandering in the same Arabian desert with which his career closed would enable him to carry forward at stated intervals the work he had begun, leaving, perhaps, the account of his last hours and death (Deut. xxxiv.) to be added by the hand of Joshua, And lastly, in the fourth place, Moses could not want a motive for undertaking even so arduous a ta9k a.~ tho composition of tho Pentateuch supposes. Bleek (' Introd.,' vol. i. § 92) deems it highly improbable that Moses should have left behind him an historical work of such extent and purport. While admitting that he might have bequeathed to his country- men "a complete series of legal precepts, full of minute details, since he wished them to be minutely observed by his people," the German critic cannot understand why he should have wished to compose an elaborate history of events with which his people were as well acquainted, and were as little likely to forget, as himself. But not even Bleek, we imagine, supposes this to be conclusive reasoning. What might have been a pertinent observation, had Moses written solely for the inform- ation of his contemporaries, is totally deprived of force when it is remembered that he wrote for posterity. Besides, since it is acknowledged that Moses gave his people written laws, and conferred on them a nationality, 'is it not highly probable that he should have tried to call out their national spirit by giving them a history of their ancestry, and of their own assertion of their national independence?" ('Speaker's Commentary,' Introduction to the Pentateuch, p. 4). Altogether differ- ent from Bleek,. we regard it as extremely likely that a wise and patriotic leader such as Moses should have wished, if it was in his power, to compose such a book as the Pentateucb. 2. AN EXAMINATION 011' THE PENTATEUCH DISCOVERS AT LEAST A PRESmIPTION THAT rr WAS COMPOSED DY MosEs. In the first place, it is certain that Moses was commanded to prepare a book or historical writing of some sort (vide Exod. xvii. 14). Now, whether we read 1~!;)~, in the book, i. e. which thou hast, or which thou shalt prepare, or 1~P.f, in a book, it is clearly implied that Moses was expected to prepare a writing in which the account of Amalek's opposition to Israel and of Jehovah's determination concerning Amalek should be recorded for the benefit of after generations, and it is scarcely likely that this would be the only communication which such a writing would contain; In the second place, it is admitted that Moses did prepare a book or writing while in the wilderness. Even Professor Smith, though regarding it as doubtful whether anything has proceeded from the pen of Moses except the commandments on the tables of stone(' Ency. Brit.,' art. Hebrew Language and Literature), is con- strained to recognise that these did ; but the majority of critics are considernbly more liberal towards the Hebrew law-giver in this respect, Bleak, for instance, ascribing to Mosaio authorship the laws in Leviticus and the songs in the Pentateuch, with perhaps the list of camping stations in Numbers. The Pentateuch itself, however, distinctly assigns to Moses the authorship of certain well-defined portions: as, e. g., the Book of the Covenant mentioned in Exod. xxiv. 3-7, the contents of which were Exod. xx. 2-14; xxi.-xxiii. ; the list of camping stations already referred to in Numb. xxxiii. 2-49; and the Deuteronomic law contained in the book of that Mme (Dout. xxxi. D-11 ). Now even should we reject the contention of Hii,·ernick, that the ijoolt of the Covenaµt IIJl~ tl~e boo!~ containini the ljst of stations were not scp:rn,te  TH~ AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH.