The Testimony of the Bible Concerning the Assumptions of Destructive CriticismWishard, S. E. (Samuel Ellis)
Religion
The Testimony of the Bible Concerning the Assumptions of Destructive Criticism
Wishard, S. E. (Samuel Ellis)
Bible -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
The reader will be interested to know what Christ has to say of the
critics' denial of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. For he who
"spake as never man spake," he of whom the Father said, "This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, _hear ye him_," this same Jesus
had some very positive opinions on the subject before us. He has spoken
clearly and definitely. We may not turn away from his testimony.
1. After healing the leper, our Lord said to him: "Go thy way, show
thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that _Moses commanded_ for a
testimony unto them." (See Matt. viii. 4, Mark i. 44, Luke v. 14.)
Our Savior here quotes from Lev. xiv. 2-8. Moses had been commanded to
write the words that God had given him. (Exod. xxxiv. 27.) "And Moses
wrote all the words of the Lord" (Exod. xxiv. 4), hence our Lord quotes
the passage in Leviticus _from Moses_.
2. The Pharisees, always captious and controversial, sought to entangle
the Savior in a discussion on the subject of divorce. Replying, "He
saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered
you to put away your wives." (Matt. xix. 8.) Our Lord here quotes from
the Mosaic law (Deut. xxiv. I-4), recognizing Moses as the author of the
same.
3. He rebuked the scribes and Pharisees also for turning from the word
of God to the traditions of men. "For Moses said, Honor thy father and
thy mother." (Mark vii. 10.) This quotation is from Exod. xx. 12, and
Deut. v. 16. They had made the command of Moses of no effect, had
violated the law which Christ taught had been given by Moses.
4. The Sadducees came to him with their controversy concerning the
resurrection. They presented to him an unanswerable argument, as they
supposed, against the doctrine, questioning as to whose wife she should
be in the resurrection, who has had seven husbands in this life. Christ
replied (Mark xii. 26, 27): "As touching the dead, that they rise; have
ye not read in the _book of Moses_ how in the bush God spake unto him,
saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living."
This quotation by our Lord is from Exod. iii. 6, and he calls the book
from which it is made "the book of Moses." Did Christ know whether it
was the book of Moses or of some unknown author who had so artfully
palmed it off under false colors as to deceive the entire Jewish nation?
Or, as certain of the critics teach, did Christ know that the pretense
that it was the book of Moses was a fraud, but, in view of public
opinion, was unwilling to expose the deception? To ask these questions
is to uncover the animus of the critical assumptions which logically
attack the character of Christ himself.
Christ knew who was the author of the book, and knowing, he affirmed
that it was "_The Book of Moses_."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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