The Testimony of the Bible Concerning the Assumptions of Destructive Criticism | Page 4

ever craving the human instead of
the divine, turns away from the truth that confronts the conscience of
the reader with God and his claims.
For the defense of truth we have the example of prophets, apostles, and
Christ himself. Much of the work of the prophets of the Old Testament
was devoted to the exposure of the "New Thought" of their times.
Moses dealt thoroughly with the new theology that asserted: "These be
thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."
The heresy was ended as suddenly as it was introduced.
The Epistle to the Galatians was Paul's reply to the Judiazing teachers
who would substitute ceremonials for the doctrine of justification by
faith. His Epistle to the Ephesians was a constructive work, in answer
to Jewish prejudice and teaching, in which he set forth the unity of
Jews and Gentiles in one Church, which is the body of Christ. In his
Epistle to the Corinthians he answered their false views of marriage. He
shamed their partisan spirit, in which some claimed to be of Paul, some
of Apollos, some of Christ. He labored most earnestly to convince them
of their false views concerning the resurrection, and dealt faithfully
with the errorists concerning the inquiry that was coming to the Church
through their magnifying and perverting the use of the gift of tongues.
He showed them a more excellent way.
There should be no turning aside from preaching a full and free gospel,
nor should there be any halting in its defense, or against the effort to
eliminate the supernatural from the Word of God. The critical work that
logically leaves us a Savior ignorant of the Scriptures, or, if knowing
them, afraid to meet Jewish prejudice by correcting their mistakes,
should be kindly, candidly, and manfully met by those to whom the
truth has given life.

III. WAS MOSES "A LITERARY FICTION"?
_"God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses,
Moses. And he said, Here am I.... Come now, therefore, and I will send
thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children
of Israel, out of Egypt!' Exod. iii. 4, 10._
_"And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus

saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go." Exod. v. 1._
_"Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw
out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the
passover.... And the children of Israel did according to the word of
Moses.... And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to
Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, besides
children" Exod. xii. 21, 35, 37._
_"And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the
tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel."
Exod. xxxiv. 27._
_"And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the
words of this law in a book, until they were finished, that Moses
commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord,
saying, Take this book of the law and put it in the side of the ark of the
covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness
against thee" Deut. xxxi. 24-26._
We turn now to the assumption that Moses was not the author, under
God, of the Pentateuch. The destructive critics do not agree among
themselves as to the origin of the Pentateuch. Dates and authors are
variously adjusted among those claiming to be experts. There is,
however, agreement on one point, that Moses did not write the
Pentateuch. It is affirmed that his name has been attached to it to give it
authority, because many of the events recorded and much of the history
took place during the period of Moses' life and in connection with his
influence. But the critics place the record of those events almost
altogether after the exile, between nine hundred and a thousand years
after the time of Moses.
It was once affirmed that writing was not used in the days of Moses,
and therefore he could not have written the five books that claim him as
their author. But the fact now brought to light, and conceded by the
critics and all well-informed scholars, that writing antedated Moses by
many centuries, has swept out of existence that objection. But the
question is still raised as to the Mosiac authorship of the Pentateuch. It
is said in reply:
_First_--The Holy Spirit declares by the mouth of Stephen that "Moses
was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in
words and deeds." Acts vii. 22.

Writing was long