Page:Studies in the Scriptures - Series I - The Plan of the Ages (1909).djvu/49

 oughly establishing the pedigree was the more important, since of this tribe (Gen, 49 : io) was to come the ruling King of Israel, as well as the promised Messiah, and hence the minutiae of detail not given in other instances. Gen. 38. There may be similar or different reasons for other his- toric fefts recorded in the Bible, of which by and by we may see the utility, which, were it not a history, but simply a treatise on morals, might without detriment be omitted ; though no one can reasonably say that the Bible anywhere countenances impurity. It is well, furthermore, to remem- ber that the same fa<fls may be more or less delicately stated in any language ; and that while the translators of the Bible were, rightly, too conscientious to omit any of the record, yet they lived in a day less particular in the choice of re- fined expressions than ours ; and the same may be surmised of the early Bible times and habits of expression. Cer- tainly the most fastidious can find no objection on this score to any expression of the New Testament.

THE BOOKS OF MOSES AND THE LAWS THEREIN PROMULGATED.

The first five books of the Bible are known as the Five Books of Moses, though they nowhere mention his name as their author. That they were written by Moses, or under his supervision, is a reasonable inference ; the account of his death and burial being properly added by his secretary. The omission of the positive statement that these books were written by Moses is no proof against the thought ; for had another written them to deceive and commit a fraud, he would surely have ckimed that they were written by the great leader and statesman of Israel, in order to make good his imposition, (Sec Deut 31 : 9-37.) Of one thing we are certain, Moses did lead out of Egypt the Hebrew na- tion. He did organize them as a nation under the laws set

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