PENTATEUCH (nernArcirxos, from wirre, "five," and rsCxes," a volume") Is the Greek name of the first five books of the Old Testa ment, which are' called in Hebrew r1;11n, " the law." The Hebrew copies of the Pentateuch form one volume ; the division of it into five books is first mentioned by Josephue, and seems to have been made either by the Septuagint translators, or before their time, and after the return of the Jews from Babylon.
The five books of the Pentateuch have been treated of under GEsrais, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NT-TIMERS, and DEUTEIIONOXY.
With regard to the Pentateuch in general, it has never been doubted, till at a recent period, that Moses was its author. The following are the chief arguments for its genuineness :-1. It is repeatedly asserted in the book itself that Moses was the author, and that be wrote it at the command of God. This assertion is made with regard to the whole book (Deut. i. 5; xxxi. 9.13, 22, 24-26), and to separate parts of it (Exod. :sit 14; xxiv. 4, 7; xxxiv. 27; Numb. :milli. 1, 2). And in the recapitulation of the law which Moses makes in the book of Deuteronomy, he frequently speaks of "the law," "this law," "the book of the (or this) law," .‘ the book of religion ;" by which expres sions we cannot fairly understand anything except either the whole Pentateuch, or that part of it which was already composed. (Deut. i. 5; iv. 44-45; xvii. 18, 19; xxviii. 58.61 ; xxix. 19, 20, 27, 29; xxx. 10.) 2. In all ages of the Jewish history, from the time of Joshua down wards, the Pentateuch was received as the divinely inspired compo sition of Moses. Thus we read repeatedly in the Old Testament of "the law," "the law of Moses," "the law of Jehovah," "the law which Clod gave by Moses," " the book of the law." (Josh. i. 7, 8 ; xxiii. 6 ; xxiv. 26; 1 Kings ii. 3; Psalms i. 1; and many other pasa.lgea, which are collected in Rosenmtiller's `Scholia; and Jahn's Introduction.') Besides these direct testimonies, the existence and authority of the Pentateuch among the Israelites are proved by the fact that the insti tutions which it contains were always observed as the laws of their nation, and that the sentiments of the Psalmists, the maxims of the Book of Proverbs, and the reproofs and exhortations of the prophets, are all exactly in agreement with the spirit of those institutions.
3. The internal evidence is strongly in favour of Moses being the author. The language of the book of Deuteronomy is that of an aged man addressing the people whom he had governed for forty years, appealing to their past experience, and speaking with all the earnest ness of a man on the verge of death. If these characteristics are of any weight to show that the speaker and the writer of this book were the same, then we are supplied with an argument for the genuineness of the whole Pentateuch ; for the book of Deuteronomy supposes the previous composition of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, as these do that of Genesis. The information contained in the Pentateuch on subjects of history and geography (especially with reference to Egypt and Arabia), on natural history, diseases, the arta, and military science, agrees with all the notions we can form of the state of things at that remote period, and with what we should expect from a man who, like Moses, had been liberally educated at the Egyptian court, and had been engaged for forty years in leading a whole nation through the wilderness. The language of the Pentateuch is the most ancient known form of Hebrew. The style of the songs which are contained in it possesses that plain sublimity which generally characterises the first stage of a nation's poetry. The style of the narrative ie better than that of any other Hebrew work, as we might expect from a highly educated man like Moses ; and it is not snore varied than can be accounted for by the different subjects treated of, and the intervals at which the different parts were written. The arrangement of the matter is not that which would be adopted by a person digesting nto ens book previously existing tales and laws; but it is such as we might expect from ono exposed to frequent interruptions in his work, anti who recorded each event as it occurred, which answers to the position of Moses. The selection of the materials appears to have been made on the principle of recording those things which were connected with the legislation which was the chief work of Moses; while ofth() laws themselves, some are repeated more than once, and others altered in the courao of the work; all indicating that the legislator and historian were the same person.