A few rationalistic critics, however, have gone so far as to deny the very possibility of Moses having given the contained in the Pentateuch. chiefly founding their objections upon the ground that he was not likely to have been vensed in the art of writing to an extent which the composition of these laws would presuppose. Egyptian characters, with which he might have been familiar, could not have been used for'Hebrew composition; and the Hebrews themselves, uncultivated as they were, did not possess any characters of their own. There has only, in reply to these objections, that fact to be stated, that a soberer criticism of more recent date has found itself obliged, in deference to certain paleographical and other scientific truths, to g'7e up most of these points, or, at all events, to found no such sweeping condemnation upon those which sin remain. On the contrary, whichever of the hypotheses enumerated it the beginning is sumed, the groundwork of the legislation is traced Lack, by almost unanimous con sent, to the historical person of Moses, who is no longer the mythical demigod of bar barous hordes, hut a man. The final redaction of these laws—of which many of kilo date are found to be wholly inconsistent with the earlier corresponding laws—as of the whole of the Pentateuch, is almost as unanimously placed in ages long after him.
In the contemporary " moderate" school in England, so far us we have been able to glean from their writings, the following seems to be the prevalent opinion on the point of the Mosaic authorship: It is allowed that Moses did not write the whole of the Penta teuch, but portions of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and the whole of Deuteronomy, with the exception of the account of his death, and such portions as palpably show an author who points to the imminent dissolution of the empire. That even the fundamen tal law (Decalogin!) should be found in two varying versions, they hold, strengthens rather the assumption of their genuine Mosaic authorship in some shape. The later editor, finding two different recensions made by contemporaries, or in subsequent nges, embodied them both, on account of their paranionnt importance, literally. Gen esis was worked up from ancient documents, composed by various writers, living at various "prehistoric" periods, either by Moses himself, or under his supervision, by some of the elders. The first redaction of the five books as a whole took place after the conquest of Canaan, thronedi Joshua and the elders; the second and final redaction, how p ever, in which it received its present shape, is to be dated from the time of Ezra, after the return from efsile.
The majority of continental modern critics of the more moderate stamp—who repu diate the notion of their belonging to the adVaneet1 rationalistic party—hold opinions of very different kind; and since they have found professed partisans in England, the foremost of whom is Dr. Davidson, we will make use of his own words (introduction, b. the Old Testament): "There is little external evidence for the Mosaic authorship; and what little there is, does not stand the test of criticism. The 'succeeding writers of the Old
Testament do not confirm it. The venerable authority of Christ himself has no proper , bearing on the question. The objections derived from internal structure are conclusive against the Mosaic authorship. Various contradictions are irreconcilable. The traces of a later date are convincing. The narratives of the Pentateuch are usually trustworthy, though partly mythical and legendary. The miracles recorded were the exaggerations of a later age. The voice of God cannot, without profanity, be said to have uxternally 'uttered all the precepts attributed to him. Moses's hand laid the foundation of the edi fice of God's word, which has grown into the proportions in which we now possess it; hut he was not the first writer who penned parts of the national legends and history. He was emphatically a lawgiver, not a historian, a grand spiritual actor in the life-drama of the Israelites, who founded their theocratic constittition under the direct guidance of the Supreme." A few words must be added respecting the use of the Pentateuch. According to Dent. xxxi. 24 seqq., it was preserved in the ark of the covenant. Every seventh year it had to be read to the people in public; and probably the schools of prophets, instituted at the time of Samuel, propagated its use by copies. Moreover. certain priestly, sani tary, and other laws required constant reference to it, so that certain portions of it seem to have been widely in use at an early period. Every synagogue is, according to the tradititional law, to possess a roll of the torah, written on parchment, and under certain strictly-insisted-upon regulations, out of which roll certain portions are read on Sabbath and feast-days; and, according to the ancient custom in Palestine, when Monday and Thursday were the the country-people came to town and the judges sat—also on those days. A smaller portion (parasha) is read on these and on the after noon service of the Sabbath than on the Sabbath morning service, when a whole sidra is read, or rather chanted, accorded to the Neginah, which is note and accent at the same time. The Samaritans have, of all biblical books, only adopted the Pentateuch, with siight variations (see SAMARITANS), their book of Joshua being a very different work from ours; and certain very recent accounts of their possessing also other adaptations of our biblical books, require confirmation. For the different translations of the Penta teuch. ancient and modern, see BIBLE. Thefirst printed edition of the Pentateuch dates Bologna, 1482, fol. The name of commentators and writers on the whole of the Penta teuch, both in and out of the church, is legion. We mention among the foremost, besides the church fathers (Augustine, Jerome, Ephraim, Syrtis, etc.) and the mediaeval Jewish commentators (Haspi, D. Kimehi, Alien Ezra), Calvin, Luther, Grothis, Nre Simon, Le Cleve, Michaelis, Eiehhorn, Jahn, De Wette, Ilitvernick, Bleek, hlengstenberg, Hanke, Kurtz, Stithelin, Ewald, Bertheau, Colenso, Graves, Stuart, Bush, etc.