It is not a vain thing to suppose that the history of creation, and all following events, as briefly re lated by Moses, were taken from ancient docu ments in the possession of the Israelites : this opinion is maintained by Calmet (Commentaire Lit/di-al, vol. i. part i. p. 13). The gifts of inspir ation, like those of nature, are never superfluous. When God had once revealed to the Patriarchs what was in the beginning,' there was no further need for a new revelation ; and the Hebrew his torian might compile from previous records what was sufficient for mankind to know respecting the origin of things which are seen.' In the fifth chapter of Genesis it is said, This is the book of the generations.' If there had been merely a traditionary recollection of the genera tions of Adam,' preserved only by transmission from one memory to another for more than a thousand years, the term book would have been most inapplicable, and could not have been used ; and to suppose that a written document had been referred to cannot be deemed as forcing the con struction of the word in this instance, more than when it is also believed that the book of the gener ation of Jesus Christ' (Matt. i. 1) was likewise copied from a national register, and not given by a new revelation or old tradition, for the genealogies in the N. T. were not of less importance than those of the sons of Shem (Gen. xi.), and yet the former were taken from public records. Why, then, should a miracle have been wrought to pre serve the latter ? The Book of Job is considered to be the most ancient written document extant, and is deemed an authmtic narrative and not an imaginative poem (James v. I I). By some persons it is thought to be the work of Moses (see Mason Good's Diss. to Translation of .7Ob); but this is denied by Bishop Lowth (Lectures on Hebrew Poetry). Lightfoot and others think Elihu was the author. This is the more credible opinion ; for it is scarcely possible to believe that long conversations between several persons in the land of Uz should have been orally preserved for perhaps several centuries, and then recorded with minute accuracy by an individual who spoke a different language, and who received it from the lips of strangers and. foreigners.
Hales asserts that Job lived at most two hun dred years before the Exode. Our version of the Scriptures fixes the time of Job at B.C. 1520, which allows but twenty-nine years between his era and that of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. Be that as it may, the declarations of Job prove that letters and books were known to him and his countrymen, who vvere a people quite distinct from the Hebrews.
In tile nineteenth chapter of Job (ver. 23, 24) it is said, Oh, that my words were now written ! Oh, that they were printed in a book./ that they were graven with an iron /Sat Also Job xxxi. 35, 'mine adversary had written a book.' Such expressions could not have been used, and would have had no meaning, if the art of writing had been unknown ; nor could there have been such terms as book andisen, if the things themselves had not existed.
If, then, it be granted that the Book of Job was written, and such expressions were current before the Exode, it becomes evident from sacred history that writing was not only in use before the law was given on Mount Sinai, but that it was also known amongst other patriarchal tribes than the children of Israel. The supposed writer, Elihu, the son of
Barachel the Buzite (Job xxxii. 2), was a descend ant of Nahor, the brother of Abraham (Gen. xxii. 2o, 21), and might thus be possessed of whatever arts the family of Terah had inherited from Noah. Another singular phrase is found in Job : My days are swifter than a post' (ix. 25). This would imply the regular transmission of intelligence by appointed messengers from place to place ; and although it does not follow as a necessary conse quence that such a person on all occasions carried letters, it is more than probable that such a mode of conveying important communications was estab lished in civilised countries, where books, pens, and writing were known.
Mfore the law was given by God to Moses, he had been commanded to write the important transactions which occurred during the progress of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan ; for in Exod. xvii. 14, it is recorded, And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book.' An account of the discomfiture of the Amalelcites is the first thing said to have been written by Moses. This battle was fought ere the people left Rephi dim (Exod. xvii. 13), from whence they departed into the wilderness of Sinai (Exod. xix. 2) ; and, therefore, that writing was drawn up before the events on the mount took place. The law was written by the finger of God ' (Exod. xxxi. 18), B.C. 1491, and since that time there is no question as to the existence of the art of writing. The commandments were written on two tables of stone (Exod. xxxiv. 1) ; but immediately after wards, when Moses was interceding with God fot the sinning idolaters, lie says, Blot me out of thy book which thou bast written ' (Exod. xxxii. 32). If writing in alphabetical characters had been seen by Moses for the first time on the tables of stone,' he could not from these have had the faintest con ception of a book, which is a thing composed of leaves or rolls, and of which the stones or slates could have given him no idea.
Forty years after the law was written, the Israel ites took possession of the land of Canaan, where the cities were walled and very great' (Num. xiii. 28). Amongst other places which were conquered was one called by them Debir, but whose original name was Kirjath-sepher, or the City of Books, or Kirjath-sannah, the City of Letters (Josh. xv. 49 ; Judg. r). The Canaanites could not have gained their knowledge of letters or of books from the Hebrews, with whom they were entirely un acquainted or at war, and must, therefore, have derived them from other sources. The Canaanites being the descendants of Canaan, a son of Hani, had probably preserved and cultivated the same arts and sciences which Misraim, another son of Ham, carried into Egypt (Gen. x. 6).
The Book of Jasher' (Josh. x. 13) is mentioned by Joshua, but whether as a chronicle of the past or present is uncertain.