GRAVES ON THE FOUR LAST BOOKS 1 OF THE PENTATEUCH. BOOK I.-CHAPTER I. ON THE GENUINENESS AND AUTHENTICITY OF THE HISTORY. "The Jewish Nation has received the Pentateuch, as containing the only authentic history of their Lawgiver and his Institutions, from the very era when these institutions commenced, to the present day." Ir is an undoubted fact, that the Jews have acknowledged the authenticity of the Pentateuch, from the present time, back to the era of their return from the Babylonish captivity, upwards of 2,400 years ago. The five books of Moses have, during that period, been constantly placed at the head of the Sacred 1 The Book of Genesis is not here treated of; because the Four last Books of the Pentateuch form one distinct subject; from them alone, the divine original of the Mosaic Law may be clearly exhibited: and, in the natural order of reasoning, the divine mission of Moses must be proved before the truth of the antecedent accounts can be decidedly admitted. Volume, and stated portions read and explained every Sabbath, in their synagogues. Every Jewish sect, not excepting the Sadducees, (who questioned the inspiration of the other books of the Old Testament,) have uniformly received them as divinely inspired. The translation of the Pentateuch, and afterwards of the other books of the Old Testament, into Greek, for the use of the Alexandrian Jews, 270 years B.C., disseminated the Sacred Volume over a great part of the civilized world; and thus precluded all possibility of its alteration, by either Jews or Christians, to support their respective tenets. But it has been asked, "Might not the Pentateuch have been first compiled after the Babylonish captivity, from traditional accounts,—the regular historical records having been lost during their seventy years' absence ?" Various considerations may be adduced, to show that this could not, by any possibility, be. I. The period of absence was not long enough to lose all public records. Nineteen years of the captivity had elapsed, before the burning of the Temple, and the carrying away the last of the people; many of whom, "ancient men that had seen the first House," survived till the return, and witnessed its rebuilding (Ezra 3-12.) Now these could not have been practised upon by so gross an imposition, as the fabrication of a public code of national religion and government, which had never before existed. Moreover, we find that less important documents were preserved; e. g. private genealogies. These were examined, after their return, to settle the question of title to the priestly office; none being allowed to remain therein, who could not trace their descent back to Aaron, and the Levites contemporary with Moses (Ezra ii. 62); and also to establish their claim to private property, from which those were excluded who "could not show their father's house and their seed, whether they were of Israel." Now it seems impossible, that the whole nation should lose all public records of their public law, whilst the private records were preserved, to which the public law alone could give any value. And, moreover, when we read, that the identical vessels used before the captivity in the Temple, were restored, (Ezra vi. 5) it seems still more incredible, that not a single copy of their code of laws, regulating the worship of the Temple, should be preserved. Neither does it follow, that because (as is objected) the Jews had lost their language, they therefore lost all records therein. Their original language had become corrupted by foreign dialects; but the learned understood it well, and interpreted it to the people'. In 1 Ezra-passim. I |