A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

Introduction to the Old Testament

J >> John Edgar McFadyen >> Introduction to the Old Testament




(_b_) Besides the local courts there is to be a supreme central
tribunal, xvi. 18-20, xvii. 8-13. No idolatrous symbols are to be
used in the Jehovah worship; idolatry is to be punished with death,
xvi. 21-xvii. 7. The character and duties of the king are defined,
and his obligation to rule in accordance with the spirit of Israel's
religion, xvii. 14-20; the revenues and privileges of the Levitical
priests are regulated and the high position and function of the
prophets are defined in opposition to the representatives of
superstition in heathen religion (xviii.). Following the laws
affecting the officers of the theocracy are laws--which finely
temper justice with mercy--concerning homicide, murder and false
witness[1] (xix.). A similar combination of humanity and sternness
is illustrated by the laws--whether practicable or not--regulating
the usages of war, xx., with which may be taken xxi. 10-14.
[Footnote 1: Kindred in theme is xxi. 1-9, dealing with the
expiation of an uncertain murder.]

(_c_) The laws in xxi-xxv. are of a more miscellaneous nature
and deal with various phases of domestic and social life--such as
the punishment of the unfilial son, the duty of neighbourliness, the
protection of mother-birds, the duty of taking precautions in
building, the rights of a husband, the punishment of adultery and
seduction, the exclusion of certain classes from the privilege of
worship, the cleanliness of the camp, the duty of humanity to a
runaway slave, the prohibition of religious prostitution, the
regulation of divorce, the duty of humanity to the stranger, the
fatherless and the widow, and of kindness to animals, the duty of a
surviving brother to marry his brother's childless widow, the
prohibition of immodesty, etc.

By two simple ceremonies, one of thanksgiving, the other a
confession of faith, Israel acknowledges her obligations to
Jehovah[1] (xxvi.), and the great speech ends with a very impressive
peroration in which blessings of many kinds are promised to
obedience, while, with a much greater elaboration of detail,
disaster is announced as the penalty of disobedience (xxviii.). In
chs. xxix,, xxx., which are of a supplementary nature, Moses briefly
reminds the people of the goodness of their God, and warns them of
the disaster into which infidelity will plunge them, though--so
gracious is Jehovah--penitence will be followed by restoration. In a
powerful conclusion he sets before them life and death as the
recompense of obedience and disobedience, and pleads with them to
choose life.
[Footnote 1: Ch. xxvii., which, besides being in the 3rd person,
interrupts the connection between xxvi. and xxviii., can hardly have
formed part of the original book. It prescribes the inscription of
the law on stones, its ratification by the people, and the curses to
be uttered by the Levites.]

The speeches are over, and the narrative of the Pentateuch is
resumed. In a few parting words, Moses encourages the people and his
successor Joshua, who, in xxxi. 14, 15, 23, receives his divine
commission, and finally gives instructions for the reading of the
law every seven years, xxxi. 1-13. Verses 16-30 (except 23)
constitute the preface to the fine poem known as the _Song of
Moses_, xxxii. 1-43, which celebrates, in bold and striking
words, the loving faithfulness of Jehovah to His apostate and
ungrateful people.[1] This poem, after a few verses in which Moses
finally commends the law to Israel and himself receives the divine
command to ascend Nebo and die, is followed by another known as the
_Blessing of Moses_ (xxxiii.). In this poem, which ought to be
compared with Gen. xlix., the various tribes are separately
characterized in language which is often simply a description[2]
rather than a benediction, and the poem concludes with an
enthusiastic expression of joy over Israel's incomparable God. The
book ends with an account of the death of Moses (xxxiv.).
[Footnote 1: The song must be much later than Moses, as it describes
the effect, _v_. 15ff., on Israel of the transition from the
nomadic life of the desert, _v_. 10, to the settled
agricultural life of Canaan, and expressly regards the days of the
exodus as long past, _v_.7. It is difficult to say whether the
enemy from whom in _vv_. 34-43, the singer hopes to be divinely
delivered are the Assyrians or the Babylonians: on the whole,
probably the latter. In that case, the poem would be exilic;
_v_. 36 too seems to presuppose the exile.]
[Footnote 2: These descriptions--to say nothing of _v_.4 (Moses
commended _us_ a law)--are conclusive proof that the poem was
composed long after Moses' time. Reuben is dwindling in numbers,
Simeon has already disappeared (as not yet in Gen. xlix). Judah is
in at least temporary distress, and the banner tribe is Ephraim,
whose glory and power are eloquently described, _vv_.13-17.
Levi appears to be thoroughly organized and held in great respect,
_vv_. 8-ll. The poem must have been written at a time when
northern Israel was enjoying high prosperity, probably during the
reign of Jeroboam II and before the advent of Amos (770 B.C.?).]

Deuteronomy is one of the epoch-making books of the world. It not
only profoundly affected much of the subsequent literature of the
Hebrews, but it left a deep and abiding mark upon Hebrew religion,
and through it upon Christianity.

The problem of its origin is as interesting as the romance which
attached to its discovery in the reign of Josiah (621 B.C.).
Generally speaking, the book claims to be the valedictory address of
Moses to Israel. But even a superficial examination is enough to
show that its present form, at any rate, was not due to Moses. The
very first words of the book represent the speeches as being
delivered "on the other side of the Jordan"--an important point
obscured by the erroneous translation of A.V. Now Moses was on the
east side, and obviously the writer to whom the east side was the
other side, must himself have been on the west side. The law
providing for the battlement on the roof of a new house, xxii. 8,
shows that the book contemplates the later settled life of cities or
villages, not the nomadic life of tents; and the very significant
law concerning the boundary marks which had been set up by "those of
the olden time," xix. 14, is proof conclusive that the people had
been settled for generations in the land.

The negative conclusion is that the book is not, in its present
form, from the hand of Moses, but is a product, at least several
generations later, of the settled life of the people. But it is at
once asked, Do the opening words of the book not commit us expressly
to a belief in the Mosaic authorship, in spite of the resultant
difficulties? Is it not explicitly said that these words are his
words? The answer to this question lies in the literary freedom
claimed by all ancient historians. Thucydides, one of the most
scrupulous historians who ever wrote, states, in an interesting
passage, the principles on which he composed his speeches (i. 22):
"As to the various speeches made on the eve of the war or in its
course, I have found it difficult to retain a memory of the precise
words which I heard spoken; and so it was with those who brought me
reports. But I have made the persons say what it seemed to me most
opportune for them to say in view of each situation; at the same
time I have adhered as closely as possible to the general sense of
what was actually said." This statement represents the general
practice of the ancient world; the conditions of historical veracity
were satisfied if the speech represented the spirit of the speaker.
And this, as we shall see, is eminently true of the book of
Deuteronomy, which is an eloquent exposition and application of
principles fundamental to the Mosaic religion. If, on the other
hand, it be urged that the book contains deliberate assertions that
it was written by Moses--e.g., "when Moses had made an end of
writing the words of this law in a book," xxxi. 24, cf. 9--the
simple reply is that this very phrase, "all the words of this law,"
is elsewhere used of a body of law so small that it can be inscribed
upon the memorial stones of the altar to be set up on Mount Ebal,
xxvii. 3.

We are free, then, to consider the date of Deuteronomy by an
examination of the internal evidence. The latest possible date for
the book, as a whole, is determined by the story of its discovery in
621 B.C. (2 Kings xxii., xxiii.). There can be no doubt that the
book then discovered by the priest Hilkiah, and read by the
chancellor before the king, was Deuteronomy. It is called the book
of the covenant (2 Kings xxiii. 2), but it clearly cannot have been
the Pentateuch. For one thing, that was much too long; the book
discovered was short enough to have been read twice in one day (2
Kings xxii. 8, 10). And again, the swift and terrible impression
made by it could not have been made by a book so heterogeneous in
its contents and containing romantic narratives such as the
patriarchal stories. Nor again can the discovered book have been
Exodus xxi.-xxiii., though that is also called the book of the
covenant (Exod. xxiv. 7); for some of the most important points in
the succeeding reformation are not touched in that book at all. It
is clear from the narrative in 2 Kings xxii. ff. that the book must
have been a law book; no other meets the facts of the case but
Deuteronomy, and this meets them completely. Point for point, the
details of the reformation are paralleled by injunctions in
Deuteronomy--notably the abolition of idolatry, the concentration of
the worship at a single sanctuary (xii.), the abolition of
witchcraft and star-worship, and the celebration of the passover.
Some of these enactments are found in other parts of the Pentateuch,
but Deuteronomy is the only code in which they are all combined. 621
B.C. then is the latest possible date for the composition of
Deuteronomy.

It is possible, however, to fix the date more precisely. The most
remarkable element in the legislation is its repeated and emphatic
demand for the centralization of worship in "the place which Jehovah
your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there,"
xii. 5. Only by such a centralization could the Jehovah worship be
controlled which, at the numerous shrines scattered over the
country, was being stained and confused by the idolatrous practices
which Israel had learned from the Canaanites. This demand is
recognized as something new, xii. 8. In the ninth and eighth
centuries, when the prophetic narratives of Genesis were written,[1]
these shrines, which were the scenes of an enthusiastic worship, are
lovingly traced back to an origin in patriarchal times. As late as
750-735 B.C., Amos and Hosea, though they deplore the excesses which
characterized those sanctuaries, and regard their worship as largely
immoral, do not regard the sanctuaries themselves as actually
illegal; consequently Deuteronomy must be later than 735. But the
situation was even then so serious that it must soon have occurred
to men of practical piety to devise plans of reform, and that the
only real remedy lay in striking the evil at its roots, i.e. in
abolishing the local shrines. The first important blow appears to
have been struck by Hezekiah, who, possibly under the influence of
Isaiah, is said to have removed the high places (2 Kings xviii. 4),
and the movement must have been greatly helped by the immunity which
the temple of Jerusalem enjoyed during the invasion of Judah by
Sennacherib in 701 B.C. But the singular thing is that no appeal was
made in this reformation to a book, as was made in 621, and as it is
natural to suppose would have been made, had such a book been in
existence. Somewhere then between Hezekiah and Josiah we may suppose
the book to have been composed.
[Footnote 1: See below]

The most probable supposition is that the reformation of Hezekiah
gave the first impulse to the legislation which afterwards appeared
as Deuteronomy. But in the terrible reign of his son Manasseh, the
efforts of the reformers met with violent and bloody opposition.
Judah was under the iron heel of Assyria, and, to the average mind,
this would prove the superiority of the Assyrian gods. Judah and her
king, Manasseh, would seek in their desperation to win the favour of
the Oriental pantheon, and this no doubt explains the idolatry and
worship of the host of heaven which flourished during his reign even
within the temple itself. It was just such a crisis as this that
would call out the fierce condemnation of the idolatrous high places
which characterizes Deuteronomy (cf. xii.) and create the imperative
demand for such a control of the worship as was only possible by
centralizing it at Jerusalem. During this period, too, such a book
may very well have been hidden away in the temple by some sorrowing
heart that hoped for better days. It is improbable in itself (cf.
xviii. 6-8), and unjust to the narrative in 2 Kings xxii., xxiii.,
to suppose that the book was written by those who pretended to find
it. It was really lost; had it been written during the earlier part
of Josiah's reign, there was nothing to hinder its being published
at once. In all probability, then, the book was in the main written
and lost during the reign of Manasseh (_circa_ 660 B.C.). It
has been observed that in some sections the 2nd pers. sing, is used.
in others the pl., and that the tone of the plural passages is more
aggressive than that of the singular; the contrast, e.g., between
xii. 29-31 (thou) and xii. 1-12 (you) is unmistakable. We might,
then, limit the conclusion reached above by saying that the passages
in which a milder tone prevails probably came from Hezekiah's reign,
and the more aggressive sections from Manasseh's.

This date agrees with conclusions reached on other grounds
concerning other parts of the Pentateuch. The prophetic narratives J
and E were written in or before the eighth century B.C., the
priestly code (P) is, broadly speaking, post-exilic.[1] Now if it
can be proved that Deuteronomy knows JE and does not know P, the
natural inference would be that it falls between the eighth and the
sixth or fifth century. But this can easily be proved, for both in
its narrative and legislative parts, Deuteronomy rests on JE. As an
illustration of the former, cf. Deuteronomy xi. 6, where only Dathan
and Abiram are the rebels, not Korah as in P (cf. Num. xvi, 12, 25);
as an illustration of the latter, cf. the law of slavery in Exodus
xxi. 2ff. with that in Deuteronomy xv. 12-18, which clearly rests
upon the older law, but deliberately gives a humaner turn to it,
extending its privileges, e.g., to the female slave.
[Footnote 1: See below.]

Again in many important respects the legislation of Deuteronomy
either ignores or conflicts with that of P. It knows nothing, e.g.,
of the forty-eight Levitical cities (Num. xxxv.); it regards the
Levite, in common with the fatherless and the widow, as to be found
everywhere throughout the land, xviii. 6. It knows nothing of the
provision made by P for the maintenance of the Levite (Num. xviii.);
it commends him to the charity of the worshippers, xiv. 29. Above
all it knows nothing of P's very sharp and important distinction
between priests and Levites (Num. iii., iv.); any Levite is
qualified to officiate as priest (cf. the remarkable phrase in
xviii. 1, "the priests the Levites"). Deuteronomy must, therefore,
fall before P, as after JE.

A not unimportant question here arises: What precisely was the
extent of the book found in 621 B.C.? Certainly the legislative
section, xii.-xxvi., xxviii., possibly the preceding hortatory
section, v.-xi., but in all probability not the introductory
section, i. i-iv. 40. These three sections are all approximately
written in the same style, but i. i-iv. 40 has more the appearance
of an attempt to provide the legislation with a historical
introduction summarizing the narrative of the journey from Horeb to
the borders of the promised land. Certain passages, e.g. iv. 27-31,
seem to presuppose the exile, and thus suggest that the section is
later than the book as a whole. The discrepancy between ii. 14,
which represents the generation of the exodus as having died in the
wilderness, and v. 3ff. hardly makes for identity of authorship; and
the similarity of the superscriptions, i. 1-5, and iv. 44-49, looks
as if the sections i.-iv. and v.-xi. were originally parallel.
Whether v.-xi. was part of the book discovered is not so certain.
Much of the finest religious teaching of Deuteronomy is to be found
in this section; but, besides being disproportionately long for an
introduction, it repeatedly demands obedience to the "statutes and
judgments," which, however, are not actually announced till ch.
xii.; it seems more like an addition prefixed by one who had the
commandments in xii.-xxvi. before him. Ch. xxvii., which is
narrative and interrupts the speech of Moses, xxvi, xxviii., besides
in part anticipating xxviii. 15ff., cannot have formed part of the
original Deuteronomy. On the other hand, xxviii. was certainly
included in it, as it must have been precisely the threats contained
in this chapter that produced such consternation in Josiah when he
heard the book read (2 Kings xxii.). The hortatory section that
follows the legislation (xxix., xxx.), is also probably late, as the
exile appears to be presupposed, xxix. 28, xxx. 1-3. On this
supposition, too, the references to the legislation as "this book,"
xxix. 20, 21, xxx. 10, are most naturally explained.

The publication of the book of Deuteronomy was nothing less than a
providence in the development of Hebrew religion. It was
accompanied, of course, by incidental and perhaps inevitable evils.
By its centralization of worship at the Jerusalem temple, it tended
to rob life in other parts of the country of those religious
interests and sanctions which had received their satisfaction from
the local sanctuaries; and by its attempt to regulate by written
statute the religious life of the people, it probably contributed
indirectly to the decline of prophecy, and started Israel upon that
fatal path by which she ultimately became "the people of the book."
But on the other hand, the service rendered to religion by
Deuteronomy was incalculable. The worship of Jehovah had been
powerfully corrupted from two sources; on the one hand, from the
early influence of the Canaanitish Baal worship, practically a
nature-worship, which set morality at defiance, xxiii. 18; and on
the other, from her powerful Assyrian conquerors. Idolatry not only
covered the whole land, it had penetrated the temple itself (2 Kings
xxiii. 6). The cause of true religion was at stake. There had been
sporadic attempts at reform, but Deuteronomy, for the first time,
struck at the root by rendering illegal the worship--nominally a
Jehovah, but practically a Baal worship--which was practised at the
local sanctuaries.

Again Deuteronomy rendered a great service to religion, by
translating its large spirit into demands which could be apprehended
of the common people. The book is splendidly practical, and formed a
perhaps not unnecessary supplement to the teaching of the prophets.
Society needs to have its ideals embodied in suggestions and
commands, and this is done in Deuteronomy. The writers of the book
legislate with the fervour of the prophet, so that it is not so much
a collection of laws as "a catechism of religion and morals."
Doubtless the prophets had done the deepest thing of all by
insisting on the new heart and the return to Jehovah, but they had
offered no programme of practical reform. Just such a programme is
supplied by Deuteronomy, and yet it is saved from the externalism of
being merely a religious programme by its tender and uniform
insistence upon the duty of loving Jehovah with the whole heart.

The love of Jehovah to Israel--love altogether undeserved, ix. 5,
and manifested throughout history in ways without number--demands a
human response. Israel must love Him with an uncompromising
affection, for He is one and there is none else, and she must
express that love for the God who is a spirit invisible, iv. 12, by
deeds of affection towards the creatures whom God has made, even to
the beasts and the birds, xxv. 4, but most of all to the needy--the
stranger, the Levite, the fatherless and the widow. Again and again
these are commended by definite and practical suggestions to the
generosity of the people, and this generosity is expected to express
itself particularly on occasions of public worship. Religion is felt
to be the basis of morality and of all social order, and therefore,
even in the legislation proper (xii.-xxviii.), to say nothing of the
fine hortatory introduction (v.-xi.), its claims and nature are
presented first. The book abounds in profound and memorable
statements touching the essence of religion. It answers the
question, What doth thy God require of thee? x. 12. It reminds the
people that man lives not by bread alone, viii. 3. It knows that
wealth and success tend to beget indifference to religion, viii.
13ff., and that chastisement, when it comes, is sent in fatherly
love, viii. 5; and it presses home upon the sluggish conscience the
duty of kindness to the down-trodden and destitute, with a sweet and
irresistible reasonableness--"Love the sojourner, for ye were
sojourners in the land of Egypt," x. 19.




JOSHUA


The book of Joshua is the natural complement of the Pentateuch.
Moses is dead, but the people are on the verge of the promised land,
and the story of early Israel would be incomplete, did it not record
the conquest of that land and her establishment upon it. The divine
purpose moves restlessly on, until it is accomplished; so "after the
death of Moses, Jehovah spake to Joshua," i. 1.

The book falls naturally into three divisions: (_a_) the
conquest of Canaan (i.-xii.), (_b_) the settlement of the land
(xiii.-xxii.), (_c_) the last words and death of Joshua
(xxiii., xxiv.). This period seems to be better known than that of
the wilderness wanderings, and, especially throughout the first
twelve chapters, the story moves forward with a firm tread. On the
death of Moses, Joshua assumes the leadership, and makes
preparations for the advance (i.). After sending men to Jericho to
spy and report upon the land (ii.), the people solemnly cross the
Jordan, preceded by the ark (iii.); and, to commemorate the miracle
by which their passage had been facilitated, memorial stones are set
up (iv.). After circumcision had been imposed, v. 1-9, the passover
celebrated, v. 10-12, and Joshua strengthened by a vision, v. 13-15,
the people assault and capture Jericho (vi.). This initial success
was followed by a sharp and unexpected disaster at Ai, for which
Achan, by his violation of the law of the ban, was held guilty and
punished with death (vii.). A renewed assault upon Ai was this time
successful.[1] (viii.). Fear of Israel induced the powerful
Gibeonite clan to make a league with the conquerors (ix.). Success
continued to remain with Israel, so that south (x.) and north, xi.
1-15, the arms of Israel were victorious, xi. 16-xii.
[Footnote 1: The book of Joshua describes only the southern and
northern campaigns; it gives no details concerning the conquest of
Central Palestine. This omission is apparently due to the
Deuterouomic redactor, who, in place of the account itself, gives a
brief idealization of its results in viii. 30-35.]

Much of the land remained still unconquered, but arrangements were
made for its ideal distribution. The two and a half tribes had
already received their inheritance east of the Jordan, and the rest
of the land was allotted on the west to the remaining tribes.
Judah's boundaries and cities are first and most exhaustively given;
then come Manasseh and Ephraim, with meagre records, followed by
Benjamin, which again is exhaustive, then by Simeon, Zebulon,
Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and Dan (xiii.-xix.). Three cities on
either side of Jordan were then set apart as cities of refuge for
innocent homicides, and for the Levites forty-eight cities with
their pasture land, xx. 1-xxi. 42. As Israel was now in possession
of the land in accordance with the divine promise, xxi. 43-45,
Joshua dismissed the two and a half tribes to their eastern home
with commendation and exhortation, xxii. 1-8. Incurring the severe
displeasure of the other tribes by building what was supposed to be
a schismatic altar, they explained that it was intended only as a
memorial and as a witness of their kinship with Israel, xxii. 9-34.

The book concludes with two farewell speeches, the first (xxiii.)
couched in general, the second xxiv. 1-23, in somewhat more
particular terms, in which Joshua reminds the people of the goodness
of their God, warns them against idolatry and intermarriage with the
natives of the land, and urges upon them the peril of compromise and
the duty of rendering Jehovah a whole-hearted service. The people
solemnly pledge themselves to obedience, xxiv. 23-28. Then Joshua's
death and burial are recorded, and past was linked to present in the
burial of Joseph's bones (Gen. 1. 25) at last in the promised land,
xxiv. 29-33.

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