written, the 'omer' had gone out of use, and was not likely to be known to the ordinary reader. In fact, this word 'omer,'

y, is found nowhere else in the Bible as the name of a measure. The homer,', which contained ten ephahs, Ez.xlv.11, and, therefore, a hundred 'omers,' (as appears from the text above quoted,) was quite another vessel.

HENGSTENBERG, p.211-213, supposes that the 'omer' was not a measure, but a vessel of some kind, which everybody carried with him for the collection of the manna, and which, therefore, might be used as a measure. Still, if used as a measure, it must have been a vessel of a certain determinate magnitude; and, as KALISCH observes, Exod.p.226,—

Granted even that every Israelite was possessed of such an utensil, it is difficult to suppose that they were all of precisely the same size.

276. So, too, in Deuteronomy, there are little pieces of information given, about the ancient history of the land of Canaan, which we cannot conceive to have been spoken or written down by Moses, but must ascribe to the pen of a later archæologist.

'There are eleven days' journey from Horeb, by the way of Mount Seir, unto Kadesh-Barnea.' D.i.2.

This seems to have been introduced to remind the Israelites that their own misconduct alone had occasioned their tedious wanderings; otherwise they might long ago have been settled in peaceable possession of Canaan, as in eleven days they might have marched from Horeb to the borders of the land. It does not appear that the march of Israel from Horeb to Kadesh-Barnea at first took up much time. N.x.12,13.

One glance, however, at the connexion, in which this verse stands, will show that it cannot have been inserted for the reason assigned by SCOTT, but is simply a note of distance, which interrupts awkwardly the course of the narrative, and never certainly could have been introduced by Moses himself into the story.

277. Again we have the following notices of a similar kind.

'And Jehovah said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle. For I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession. The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims. The Horims also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them.' D.ii.9-12. 'I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. That also was accounted a land of giants; giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites called them Zamzummims, a people many, and great, and tall, as the Anakims; but Jehovah destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead; as He did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when He destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them and dwelt in their stead, even unto this day: and the Avims, which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.' D.ii.19-23.

278. Here again SCOTT says:

These fragments of ancient history were introduced to encourage the Israelites. If the Lord destroyed these gigantic people before the posterity of Lot and of Esau— what cause had the posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, his chosen servants and friends, to fear the Anakims or the Canaanites ?- especially as Israel acted by commission from God, and had His promise as their security of success, and the pledge of it in His Presence, and the wonders which He had already wrought for them, and as they were the only nation of worshippers of the Lord, in the ordinances of His institution, which could be found on earth. 'This is so often repeated, to possess the minds of the Israelites with a sense of God's Providence, which rules everywhere, displacing one people, and settling another in their stead, and fixing their bounds also, which they shall not pass without his leave.' PATRICK.

Again it will be plain to an unprejudiced reader that this is not the special reason, for which these notices of ancient times are introduced. They occur only as pieces of interesting information on the points in question, without a word to intimate that they are expressly meant for the encouragement of the people.

279. It is generally admitted that D.xxxiv, which relates the death and burial of Moses, must have been written by a

later hand. But there have not been wanting some, who have maintained the contrary.

JOSEPHUS, Ant.iv.8.48, and PHILO De vit. Mos. iii.39, go so far as to ascribe the composition of this section also to Moses, who wrote it, they say, in a prophetical spirit; and these have been followed by many others. However, by far the greater number, who otherwise ascribe the whole Pentateuch to Moses, regard this chapter, as a later addition. Most earlier commentators were of the opinion that it was Joshua, who inserted it as a conclusion to the law-book after the death of Moses. But, that this section also could only have been written at a considerably later time, is shown at once by the expressions, v.6, 'but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day,' and v.10, and there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses.' BLEEK, p.207.

6

280. But so, too, the blessing of Moses,' contained in D.xxxiii, bears on its very face unmistakable signs of having been inserted, at all events,—if not originally composed,— by a later writer. For we read, v.1, This is the blessing, wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death.' And the expressions here used, 'Moses, the man of God,' and 'before his death,' are sufficient to satisfy us, unless we have recourse to some forced interpretation, that this 'blessing,' even if originally composed and spoken by Moses, could not have been inserted by himself into the narrative.

281. Also such passages as the following could hardly have been written by Moses himself:

:

'Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of his people.' E.xi.3.

'Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.' N.xii.3.

'These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom Jehovah said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies. These are they which spake to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron.' E.vi.26,27.

'And, if ye have erred and not observed all these commandments, which Jehovah hath spoken unto Moses, even all that Jehovah hath commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that Jehovah commanded Moses, and henceforward among your generations,' &c. N.xv.22,23.

Such passages as the above give, surely, plain signs of having been written by some one who lived in an age after that of Moses. HENGSTENBERG, p.173-178, observes that the above laudations of Moses are in keeping with the context. This may be quite true, without its being therefore true that they were written by Moses. It would only tend to show that the context also was written in an age later than that of Moses.

223

CHAPTER VII.

WAS SAMUEL THE ELOHISTIC WRITER OF THE PENTATEUCH?

282. THUS in all these different ways we have a corroboration of the result, to which we had already arrived on quite other grounds, viz. that the greater portion of the Pentateuch, at all events,-if not, indeed, the whole of it, (a point which we shall consider more at length hereafter,)—must have been written at a time later than the age of Moses or Joshua.

283. But, if so, there is no one mentioned in the whole history, before the time of Samuel, who could be supposed to have written any part of it. We have no sign of any other great Prophet in that age, except Deborah, nor of any 'School of the Prophets' existing before his time. That Samuel did occupy himself with historical labours we are told expressly in 1Ch.xxix.29, -Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold they are written in the Book of Samuel the Seer, and in the Book of Nathan the Prophet, and in the Book of Gad the Seer.' This, it is true, is from the pen of the Chronicler, and, from the experience which we have already had of the inaccuracy of his data (113), we cannot rely upon his statements, when unsupported by other evidence. And even here, in point of fact, very little of David's life, and none whatever of the acts of David as king,' could possibly have been written by Samuel, since he died three years after anointing David, and five years before David came to the throne of Israel.