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Lectures on the four last books of the Pentateuch
Lectures on the four last books of the Pentateuch Author:Richard Graves Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LECTURE II. The Authenticity and Truth of the four last books of the Pentateuch, proved from the subject and structure of the history, so far as the facts are... more » not miraculous—Importance anti-peculiar nature of its various regulations concerning property—Publicity and importance of the main series of facts—Marks of truth in the minute detail of these facts—Simplicity of style and narrative—Selection and arrangement of facts and circumstances, such as is natural if Moses were the writer, unaccountable otherwise—Impartiality— Comparison of the Pentateuch, in this respect, with Josephus. DEUTERONOMY, XXxi. 9. 0 And Moses wrote all this Law, and delivered it unto the Priests, the sons of Lcri, and unto all the Elders of Israel." It is the object of these lectures, to prove the divine original of that Law which the Jewish legislator is stated to have thus solemnly delivered to his nation. The four last books of the Pentateuch contain this Law, and the history of the facts on which its authority is founded; it is therefore necessary to prove that these books are genuine, and the history they relate true. The proof of this may be deduced, either from the external testimony by which their truth and genuineness is supported, or from the internal structure of the works themselves. The former topic I have already noticed, and endeavoured to show that these books have been received by the Jews from the very first settlement of their nation, as containing an authentic and faithful account of their lawgiver and his institutions. And if they have been so received, we can scarcely doubt the truth of the facts which they detail; for it must be remembered, that the history does not relate the origin of the Jews as a nation, after a length of time had elapsed, when we might suppose fiction...« less