INTERNAL EVIDENCE

Jesus made the following statements about the Old Testament:

"For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" (John 5:46-47)

"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or one point shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matt 5:17-19)

Jesus makes some astounding statements in these passages. First He tells us that if we do not believe what Moses wrote about Him, we will not believe anything He has to say either. In saying this, Jesus acknowledges that Moses was the author of the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. People who do not believe that Moses is the author of the Old Testament don’t give any credence to what Jesus said in the New Testament. In the last year several theologians in our country, who subscribe to the Documentary Hypothesis, declared that there is virtually nothing recorded in the New Testament that Jesus said. In other words His disciples just made these things up for their own purposes. The Documentary Hypothesis denies Moses’ authorship of the Pentateuch. Jesus’ prediction fulfilled.

Whom did Moses write about? He wrote about Yehovah Elohim, the God of the Old Testament. Jesus said Moses was writing about Him, thus, declaring Himself Yehovah Elohim. Most people who hold to the Documentary Hypothesis also deny Jesus’ Deity.

In the next passage Jesus makes plain to us the divine authorship and inspiration of the Old Testament through Moses and the other authors of the Old Testament. Jesus tells us that not one yod, the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, will pass away until all that is prophesied in the Old Testament is fulfilled. He further tells us that if anyone teaches anything contrary to what is taught by Moses and the other authors of the Old Testament, that that person will have the lowest standing in the kingdom of God. But He further states that those who teach and keep them will be called great in the kingdom of God. Jesus made it plain that the Old Testament is not to be played with, that it is indeed God’s Holy Word to man down to the letter.

Other passages in the Gospels where Jesus affirmed Moses’ authorship of the Torah:

"And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go show yourself to the priest, and present the offering that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.’" (Matt 8:4)

"They said to Him, ‘Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?’ He said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.’" (Matt 19:7-8)

"For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’" (Mk 7:10)

"But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to 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 of the living; you are greatly mistaken.’ (Mk 12:26-27)

"But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’" (Lk 16:29-31)

"And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures." (Lk 24:27)

"Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day.’" (Lk 24:44-46)

"For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came into being through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17)

"Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, ‘We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’" (John 1:45)

"Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" (John 5:45-47)

"Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?" (John 7:19)

"If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath that the Law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath?" (John 7:23)

The following are passages in the Torah which clearly indicate that Moses wrote it: The Book of the Covenant extending from Exodus 20:22-23:33

"And Moses wrote down all the words of Yehovah. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.... Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people: and they said. ‘All that Yehovah has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!’" (Exodus 24:4, 7)

The Renewal of the Covenant referring to Exodus 34:1-26

"Then Yehovah said to Moses, ‘Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.’" (Exodus 34:27)

Concerning the Deuteronomic Code which comprises the bulk of Deuteronomy Chapters 5-30:

"So Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of Yehovah, and to all the elders of Israel." (Deut 31:9)

"And it came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were complete, that Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of Yehovah, saying, ‘Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of Yehovah.’" (Deut 31 :24-26)

Concerning God’s Judgment of Amalek,

"Then Yehovah said to Moses, Write this in a book as a memorial, and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." (Exodus 17:14)

Concerning the agenda of the Israelites from Ramses to Moab

"And Moses recorded their starting places according to their journeys by the command of Yehovah, and these are their journeys according to their starting places." (Numbers 33:2)

The Legal Documents in These Passages Attributes Their Authorship to Moses in either the superscription or subscription: Exodus - 12:1 -28; 20-24, 25-31, 34; Leviticus- 1-7, 8, 13, 16, 17-26, 27; Numbers- 1, 2, 4, 6:1-21, 8:1-4, 8:5-22, 15, 19, 27:6-23,28,29, 30, 35; Deuteronomy- 1-33.

Moses’ background prepared him to write the Torah. He grew up in Pharaoh’s house and was "educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds." (Acts 7:22)

Moses was more than qualified to author the Pentateuch. He was trained in the royal Egyptian court in their highly developed disciplines. This included a knowledge of writing. Even the women’s toilet articles were at the time inscribed. He received the Hebrew traditions of their early history and encounters with God. He knew intimately the climate and geography of Egypt and the Sinai as described in the Torah. As the leader of Israel, he had every incentive to provide the nation with moral and religious foundations. Finally, he had 40 years of wandering in the Sinai wilderness to write the Torah.

During the time of Moses, uneducated slaves working in the Egyptian turquoise mines inscribed their records on the tunnel walls. Moses educated in the courts of the Pharo’s would have no problem at reading and writing.^260/23

There is witness of other Old Testament books of Moses’ authorship of the Torah in the following passages: Joshua 1:7, 8, 8:31-32, 34, 23:6; I Kings 2:3; 11 Kings 14:6; I Chronicles 22: 13; II Chronicles 5:10; 23:18; 25:4; 30:16; 33:8; 34:14; 35:12; Ezra 3.2, 6.18, 7:6; Nehemiah 1:7, 8, 8:1, 14, 9:14, 10:29, 13:1; Daniel 9:11 13; Malachi 4:1.

Other New Testament passages which witness to Moses’ authorship are: Romans 10:5; Acts 3:22 6:11, 13:39, 15:1, 21. 26:22, 28:23; I Corinthians 9 9; II Corinthians 3:15; Hebrews 9:19; Revelation 15:3.

There was no doubt that Moses was the author of the Pentateuch when the Old Testament was canonized in 400 B.C.^261/133

An Apocrypha book, Ecclesiasticus, written in 180 B.C. acknowledges Moses as the author of the Torah: "All this is the covenant-book of God Most High, the law which Moses enacted to be the heritage of the assemblies of Jacob." (Ecclesiasticus 24:23)

The Talmud, dating to 200 B.C., and the Mishnah, a rabbinic interpretation and legislation dating from about 100 B.C. both attribute the Torah to Moses.

Philo, the Jewish philosopher-theologian born approximately 20 A.D. held to Mosaic authorship.^262/279

The first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus wrote in his Josephus Against Apion (11:8):

"For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us disagreeing from and contradicting one another (as the Greeks have) but only 22 books [our present 39], which are justly believed to be divine; and of them, five belong to Moses, which contain his laws, and the traditions of the origin of mankind till his death."^165/609

Junilius, an imperial official in the court of Justinian I, Byzantine emperor from 527-565 A.D., held to the Mosaic authorship of the Torah.^263/44-45 Leontius of Byzantium (sixth century A.D.) said in his treatise Contra Mestorianos: "As for these five books, all bear witness that they are (the work) of Moses."^263/45

Other Church Fathers attributing the Pentateuch to Moses in their lists of the Old Testament canon are: Melito, Bishop of Sardis 175 A.D.; Cyril of Jerusalem 848-386 A.D.; Hilary 366 A.D.; Rufinus 410 A.D.; Augustine 430 A.D.

Welhausen, in the Documentary Hypothesis, stated that the Torah was authored around 700-400 B.C., not during the life of Moses in the second millennium B.C. There is however absolutely no external historical evidence whatsoever supporting these late dates which claim Moses was not the author of the Torah.³⁵ There is however more than ample external archaeological evidence supporting Moses’ authorship in the second millennium B.C.

As we have already documented in earlier Chapters of this book, the science of archaeology has shown us that there is absolute historical evidence of writing up to 3500 B.C. in Ebla and 2700 B.C. in northwest Syria. The Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians would not make a transaction, even in the smallest details of business, without putting it down in writing.

Moses is credited with, in both the Old and New Testament and by Jesus Himself, with writing what is known as the Torah²⁹² or the Pentateuch.^32/957 The Torah is the first five books of the Bible from Genesis to Deuteronomy. It is stated clearly that Moses is the author in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, but not in the book of Genesis. Why is this?

There is archaeological evidence that Adam wrote part of the book of Genesis. Genesis Chapter 5 and verse 1 states: "This is the written-account³⁷⁶ of the generations³⁷⁷ of Adam." Obviously writing is as old as the human race itself. When God created Adam, He created him a full grown man with the ability to communicate. Why wouldn’t He have also given him the ability to write.

What is the historical and archaeological evidence that Adam himself wrote this genealogy? In the times of Genesis Cuneiform writing was the system used by all civilized countries east of the Mediterranean: Assyria, Babylonia, Persia and by the Hittites which are mentioned seven times in Genesis from Genesis 15:20 on. Cuneiform writing is a series of wedge-shaped impressions made in clay. The word cuneia itself means "wedge".^375/214 The Hebrew word for writing, bt'K;, means "to engrave"³⁷⁸ to cut into, dig. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all used this form of writing. Cuneiform was not a specific language but a method of writing on clay tablets.