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books of the Pentateuch are received as sacred by the Samaritans ; and it is impossible to conceive they would adopt anything from the Jews later than the eighth century before Christ, in which the mutual enmity of the two nations became intense. Nor is it likely that the ten tribes would have done so later than the disruption under Rehoboam, which was early in the tenth century before our era. Here is, therefore, nearly a thousand years before Josephus, with hostile evidence concurring for the genuineness of the Pentateuch as a whole. But again, although the Jews have little high tradition external to the Bible, yet the diflferent books of the Bible, being written in diflfcrent ages, are so hi external to each other, that they supply a balance of mutual testimonies. All the historical books, and also that of the Psalms, refer back to the law or the commandments of the Lord*, as to a thing well known in the times of their authors. No one can pretend that these books are not of a strictly his- torical kind, for they have a care^ order of persons and events, with references to documents from which they are drawn. Under the entire period of the kings it is clear that there were scribes and recorders t, whose business it was to keep a chronicle of events. Even if we suppose them not to have been free from natural prepossessions, they still set down events with an ap- pearance of general fidelity. They shew no sign of flattering kings, and often blame even the priestly order. Nor is there reason to doubt, that in the time of the judges similar records must have been kept, though perhaps in a less formal manner. When then all these historical books refer back to the law, as to something known, they prove the great antiquity of that law by an evidence external to it. Nor is the farther evidence of customs and rites to be overlooked. For certainly the building of the temple, and the still earlier reverence for the ark, point back to an ancient Mosaic law, and to a Levitical system, • Judges iii. 4, 5 ; Kings xviiL 11, xxi. 7, 8 ; Psalm xl. 8 ; Joshua viii. 34 ; Jahn, IntroductiOf &c. t 2 Barn. XX. 24, 25. PENTATEUCH. 399 whether this was so strictly observed as in later times, or pos- sibly not. It is by no means necessary to deny a play of human struggle between the elements of the state, or tlie occasional neglect of the law, which yet may have been handed down. For the conduct of > nations never reaches their professed standard. We are told expressly, that the law of Moses was neglected by king and people ; but if we believe that Hilkiah gave a book to Shaphan, we should believe also that he found it, as is said ; especially since the Samaritans admit the whole Pentateuch to be older than that time. " If we look at the Pentateuch itself, the difference of style in Deuteronomy is fairly ascribed by scholars to the old age of Moses*, going over with the confidence of a great leader all the deliverance he had wrought for his people, and the precepts of which he had a right to demand their observance. But even if every part of the Pentateuch should not be from the hand of Moses, it all expresses one law, and so far one mind. If only half the five books had been written by Moses, and as much as half by later captains or high priests, no important consequence to our religion would ensue. The history, the ritual, the framework of the Hebrew polity, would be sub- stantially the same. " As to the quotations from popular poetry in the book of Numbers, there is no reason why Moses should not have em- bodied the sayings of his contemporaries, which would give them an interest in his more formal record ; or, even if these should betoken some later compilation, they would still be fiug- ments of very venerable tradition. Again, the book of Genesis is remarkable for its Egyptian words, which are just what might be expected from the contact of Moses with Egypt. If a later writer had written this book, and inserted such things, he would have inserted them also in the later books, where they do not appear. All the description of Egyptian society is just what all ancient accounts of Egypt, and the monumental stones, would * Jahn, as before. 400 PENTATEUCH. COMPILATION OF DOCUMENTS. lead ns to expect. Do ancient writers speak of sacred caste in Egypt? So does Moses. Do they speak of shepherd conquerors from Syria and Arabia? In harmony with this Moses tells us every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians. Do the Egyptian dynasties mount up to a high antiquity ? So Moses tells us of kings, priests, soldiers, body-guards, the use of fine linen, and a settled trade with other countries, from 2000 to 1500 B.C. As to the ancient genealogies in Genesis, there is no attempt to conceal them. How can they then be made a fault? Such ancient records give a value to the book. They both attest the good faith of the writer, and enable him to extend his range of credibility backward. It is not only Moses we are reading, but some of the most venerable and trustworthy records of that early age of the human race. Nor is the historical chronology of Moses necessarily shorter than it ought to be. We may make it so, if we draw inferences from men's lives. But Moses has only in few places given a number of years ; and he gives no intimation that the aggregate of such years comprehended all the world's history. In the tenth chapter of Genesis the most learned critics think that we were intended to understand races or nations rather than individuals, and the plural terminations of the names put this beyond fair doubt. As to the genea- logies of men, Moses is only answerable for inserting them as he found them ; and we have no reason to doubt that he did so. Any difficulty which arises from comparing such tables should be ascribed, either to our want of data for solving it, or to the variety of tradition in the families whose documents he transmits to us. He does not represent it as part of the Hebrew faith, much less of the Christian, that we should have a certainty of the genealogy in every patriarchal tent having been kept scien- tifically. The duty of the Jew was to keep the statutes and judgments of the Lord ; that of the Christian is to walk after the mind of Christ ; any historical information may be usefiil for our instruction ; but the force of ancient traditions is not to be strained beyond the intention or the means of information of SPIRIT OF HEBREW HISTORY. 401 the writers who hand them down. The period of the history most important to the Hebrew commonwealth begins with Abraham. From his time to that of Joshua, there may be room for grave consideration, how far the human element, within which in a way the Divine wisdom manifests itself, is also reflected in the sacred narrative ; for we expect the thoughts of men to appear in their words, and the imagination even of a nation under Divine guidance, to be mirrored in its writings; but certainly we see a great Providence working, and the Divine promise to the patriarch's faith coming wonderfully to ftdfilment. It is hardly too much to say, that the subsequent history of the Israelites is a proof of the general authenticity of the Penta- teuch. For no one doubts their living in Canaan, their belief in Jehovah, their festivals and ritual, or their ark and temple. These things arose in some way ; and no account of their origin can be given more probable than that recorded in these five books, which we have seen to be of such high antiquity. This argument is both true generally, and will bear special appli- ca?on to the more wonde^ events of the earlier h^ry. L there runs through the Hebrew mind in many generations a belief in supernatural interposition on a national scale, or in the special manifestation to Hebrews of the Divine government of the world. I would lay less stress on this, if it belonged only to some dim traditional age, or came out only in poetry (though poetry too has a truth of its own) ; but it is very striking in conjunction with that prosaic habit of chronicling things year by year, which we find among the Jews, as well as with the literal veneration for documents, which they carried afterwards to excess. Considered in this conjunction with historical accu- racy, the unshakeable belief among the Jews of wonderfdl displays of Divine Providence becomes more significant*.