04.13 - Revelation and Mosaism
(13) Revelation and Mosaism
Whatever views we may hold as to the date and authorship of the books of the Pentateuch, we are assured there is in them a large Mosaic clement, and that the facts and truths of Divine revelation found therein will remain virtually unchanged by the ultimate conclusions reached on these points. Modern critics say: “ That the actual body of permanent revelation given in the ToraJi remains entire!} unchanged by the different views entertained as to the historical character, origin, and composition of the Pentateuch.”
Critics of a more conservative type refuse, however, to accept this assurance. They hold that the Pentateuch, if not written by Moses, was a forger; and if so, it is discredited as a record of Divine revelation.
Whether it be finally concluded that the record was made by Moses or by another in his name at a much later date, the main facts of Israel’s history and the revelation embodied therein will be verified, and will remain as the basis of those greater and future revelations of God to Israel in later times. Whoever wrote the narrative, the facts of the history, the miracles, and revelations recorded arc historical and true, and arc recognised as such throughout the Scriptures. If we admit that editorial touches of a religious character appear in the Pentateuch, which arc the reflections of the prophetic or pot-exilic period, those I ouches were introduced to make more clear and vivid the religious teaching and meaning of the documents themselves; and did not then intro duce a revelation and a religious element which previously had no existence. The repeated references made in the Scriptures to Israel’s sojourn “in Egypt, and to their deliverance” there from by a mighty hand and stretched out arm, are explicable only on the ground of historical reality. Moreover, the whole of Egyptology testifies to the presence and influence of Moses and Israel in Egypt, and supplies corroborative evidence of the truth of the Scripture narrative respecting the sufferings, plagues, and wonderful acts of God connected with Israel’s sojourn in the land and at the Red Sea. Not only so, but the incidents of the Egyptian bondage and the sojourn in the Wilderness were part of the divine discipline and training of Israel for their future mission, and enter into all their songs, ordinances, institutions, and subsequent revelations, and so witness to the historical veracity and divine inspiration of the Pentateuch.