The Kings, And The Early Prophets.
Now here are three transgressions described: first, that they took meat to which they had no right; secondly, that they took it in a wrong manner; and, thirdly, that they took it at a wrong time. It is therefore evidently presupposed that the order to be observed had been fixed and was well known. In the Pentateuch that order is described: and perfectly agrees with what is here related. First of all, a certain portion was appointed for the priest, and it was not to be taken by himself but given by the sacrificer. See Deut. 18:33And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. (Deuteronomy 18:3), and Lev. 7:2929Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, He that offereth the sacrifice of his peace offerings unto the Lord shall bring his oblation unto the Lord of the sacrifice of his peace offerings. (Leviticus 7:29). With this compare also the account of the peace-offerings contained in chap. 3, from which it appears that the burning of the fat was an essential part of the sacrifice, as it is said, ver. 3, “And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace-offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD, the fat that covereth the inwards.... and Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt-sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the LORD.” The anxiety therefore of a sacrificer, as described in the book of Samuel, that they “should not fail to burn the fat presently,” as well as the sin of Eli's sons, is explained by the ordinances of the Pentateuch. And yet it is quite evident that the mention of all these particulars is incidental, though a natural and necessary part of the narrative.
But as yet there is no mention of the Levites, not even when it is related that the ark of the covenant was conveyed to the camp of Israel to help them against the Philistines. This appears an omission, but it is no contradiction; for in chap. 6:15, where is related the return of the ark to Bethshemesh, they who are not alluded to before or after in the book, are described as being at their proper work. “The Levites took down the ark of the LORD.” No explanation is given, who they are, or why they should do it? To understand the circumstance related, the command (Num. 1:50, 5150But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that belong to it: they shall bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof; and they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle. 51And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down: and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. (Numbers 1:50‑51)) is absolutely necessary.
In the account given in this book of the use to which the Ephod was applied is contained one of the most convincing proofs of the existence and knowledge of the ordinances of the Pentateuch, and one of the best specimens of Dr. Hengstenberg's skill and diligence in investigating Scripture. In 1 Sam. 14:3737And Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into the hand of Israel? But he answered him not that day. (1 Samuel 14:37), it is related that “Saul asked counsel of God.” But how this was done we are not told; only we learn from verse 36, that the priest said, “Let us draw nigh hither unto God;” and from verse 3, that Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, was the LORD'S priest in Shiloh “wearing an ephod.” In chap 22:2 Doeg tells Saul, that Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, had inquired of the LORD; and from chap. 23 we know that he did so by means of an ephod. In verses 2, 3, we are told that David twice inquired of the LORD; and in the following verses this is explained: “It came to pass, when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.” And at ver. 9 we are told, that when David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him, he said to Abiathar, “Bring hither the ephod.” Then it is said, that David inquired and the LORD answered him; and again. in 30:7, 8, David said to Abiathar, “I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought hither the ephod to David, and David inquired at the LORD.”
Now here is a use of the ephod not mentioned in the Pentateuch, in any of the passages where the making and the purpose of the ephod are described. Num. 27:2121And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation. (Numbers 27:21) helps to solve the difficulty and explain the mystery. There, speaking of Joshua as Moses' successor, it is said, “And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD.” Here, the mode of asking counsel, namely, by the Urim, is made known, but there is no mention of the ephod. Ex. 28:3030And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the Lord: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually. (Exodus 28:30) informs us that the Urim and Thummim were in the priest's breastplate: and ver. 28, that this breastplate was inseparable from the ephod. “They shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod.” When therefore Abiathar brought the ephod, he brought also the breastplate of judgment, and therefore the Urim and Thummim by means of which the answer was given.
Thus the incidental mention of the ephod requires and presupposes an intimate knowledge of the ordinances of the Pentateuch, not found together, but scattered about in various places of that book. At the same time it is to be observed that the historian, though he does not mention the Urim and Thummim here, does mention them expressly in chap. 28:6, where he says, that “when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.” There are allusions to many other ordinances of the Pentateuch, as 1 Sam. 21:3, 43Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present. 4And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. (1 Samuel 21:3‑4); to the difference between the common bread and the shewbread, Lev. 24:55And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. (Leviticus 24:5), &c; Ex. 25:3030And thou shalt set upon the table showbread before me alway. (Exodus 25:30). In 1 Sam. 14:3232And the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people did eat them with the blood. (1 Samuel 14:32), to the prohibition to eat blood, Lev. 7:26; 17:1026Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. (Leviticus 7:26)
10And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. (Leviticus 17:10). In 1 Sam. 20:5, 18, 275And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even. (1 Samuel 20:5)
18Then Jonathan said to David, To morrow is the new moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty. (1 Samuel 20:18)
27And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty: and Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday, nor to day? (1 Samuel 20:27), to the feast of the new moon; in ver. 26 also, to Deut. 23:1111But it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall wash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again. (Deuteronomy 23:11), and Lev. 7:2020But the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that pertain unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall be cut off from his people. (Leviticus 7:20), and 15:5, 8-11. In 1 Sam. 28:33Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. (1 Samuel 28:3), to the Pentateuchal prohibition against consulting those who had familiar spirits, Deut. 18:10, 1110There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. (Deuteronomy 18:10‑11), and Lev. 20:2727A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them. (Leviticus 20:27), &c.
In fact, in this book none can deny that we find all these ordinances of the Pentateuch: the tabernacle of the congregation, the ark of the covenant, the yearly visitation, the rejoicing with the whole household, the duties of the priests and Levites, the altar, the incense and the ephod, the Urim and Thummim, the priests' dues, and the manner in which they were to be received, the inquiring of the LORD by the priests, the new moon, the laws concerning ceremonial uncleanness, wizards and possessors of familiar spirits; and many of those described in the exact and peculiar language of the Pentateuch. And when to this we add, that the Pentateuch existed in the days of Solomon, to what other conclusion can we come than that it existed in the days of David also?
But, side by side with these historic records, there was from the time of David a series of hymns used in the public worship of Israel's God, and in the private devotions of His worshippers; and the total impression left by their perusal is, that the sweet singers of Israel were thoroughly imbued with the sentiments and the language of the Pentateuch. Many of them sing praises of the Law of the LORD, and many more refer to the history and great principles of the Pentateuch, so that if judged after the manner of human writings, one would say that the Pentateuch is the source and parent of that devotional literature which stands alone in the history of the ancient world. This grand impression no microscopic criticism can remove. The devotions of Israel all testify to the existence and power of the Pentateuch.
At the same time, a similar testimony may be elicited from the Psalms which confessedly belong to the times of David and Solomon. Thus, the eighth Psalm is an echo in the very words of Gen. 1. Psa. 29:1010The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever. (Psalm 29:10), “The LORD sat at the deluge (Mabbul), and sitteth a king forever,” is an unmistakable reference to the narrative of Genesis. The word Mabbul, deluge, is used only in these two places of the Bible. Psa. 11:6, “Upon the wicked he raineth snares (coals), fire, and brimstone,” is an obvious reference to the history and language of Gen. 19; Psa. 110:4, “Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec,” to Gen. 14 Melchisedec is nowhere else mentioned in the Old Testament. The epithets of God in the Psalms also show knowledge of the Pentateuch. Thus in Psa. 132:1, “The mighty one of Jacob,” occurs only in the Pentateuch (Gen. 49:2424But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:) (Genesis 49:24)) before the time of David. “The God of Jacob,” Psa. 20:11<<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.>> The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; (Psalm 20:1), and “The God of Israel,” refer to the history of Jacob, and the change of his name. The sixty-eighth Psalm describes the majesty of God by a reference to the wonders of Egypt, the wilderness, and the giving of the Law at Sinai; and begins with the very words of Num. 10:3535And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. (Numbers 10:35). Psa. 132:8, 9 contains references to the ark, the holy garments of the priests (Ex. 40:1313And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. (Exodus 40:13)), and the joyful shout of the people (Lev. 9:2424And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces. (Leviticus 9:24)). Verse 12 refers to the covenant and the testimony, that is, the law. Psa. 1 refers to “the statutes” as well as to the covenant by sacrifice. To enter into a discussion as to the authorship of other Psalms, which testify still more strongly as to the existence of the Book of the Law, is not possible here, nor is it necessary. Enough has been said to show, that in the days of David, Samuel, and Eli, the Pentateuch was known; and if so, it must have existed in the days of the Judges, and of its existence there are plain traces in the
BOOKS OF RUTH AND JUDGES.
The nature of these documents forbids us to expect a detailed narrative of the progress of religion, or of rites and observance of public worship. The book of Ruth is a family record, a sketch from private life. The book of Judges is a collection of memoirs of the remarkable persons, whom the LORD raised up to defend or to deliver the invaded provinces of Israel, not even an outline of the history of the whole nation. Allusion therefore to priests or religious laws or even to those parts of the land not similarly exposed, must be few and incidental. Those that do occur are the more satisfactory and convincing.
The first thing to be observed with regard to these books is that the fundamental principle of the Pentateuch, the dependence of blessing or cursing on obedience or disobedience, is the hinge on which every particular history turns. This is the binding principle that holds all these separate narratives together. The prosperity of a poor Moabitish widow and the success of armies are made to depend upon the fear of the true God and, the practice of the true religion. National calamity is the consequence of disobedience. God is the God of Israel, and rewards or punishes: the LORD who revealed himself on Sinai, as Deborah tells us in that wonderful song which Ewald and others admit to be the genuine work of the prophetess. In the next place, we find such a state of things as would naturally have arisen from the knowledge of the Pentateuch. There was a congregation, also a tabernacle of the congregation, here called the house of God, as in Samuel, Judg. 20:1818And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first. (Judges 20:18); and an ark of the covenant of God, ver. 27; and the practice of inquiring of the LORD, vers. 18 and 28, and a priest to make the inquiry, ver. 28; and Levites consecrated to the service of God, 17:13, 19:1; and an ephod, 17:4 (Heb.); and burnt offerings and peace-offerings, 20:26, and Nazarites, 13:5, 7, and a yearly feast, 21:19, where the words refer to the passover; and the duty of marrying a brother's widow, and the punishment of him who refused, Ruth 4; and the obligation to redeem, 4:3-5; and the prohibition to marry the heathen (Judg. 14:33Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. (Judges 14:3)); and to eat that which is unclean, which caused Samson to conceal from his father and mother whence he got the honey, 14:9; and the belief in the inalienability of that which was solemnly devoted to the Lord (11:35), and the duty of overthrowing idol-altars, (6:28). Now all these things mentioned in the language of the Pentateuch testify to its existence in the days of Judges, and bring us back to the time of Phinehas the son of Eleazar, who was himself an eyewitness of the giving of the Law, and the LORD'S dealings in the wilderness.
The book of Joshua also gives the same evidence. But as without it we have traced the existence of the Pentateuch to a contemporary of Joshua and Moses, and as the controversies respecting the Book of Joshua would require much discussion, it is necessary to stop here for the present. The Pentateuch which we possess has been traced from the present time to the days when it was written; it must therefore be genuine. No apparent difficulties are sufficient to shake the testimony of the prophets and the historic books. In a book so ancient there may be many difficulties arising from the brevity of the narrative, from our ignorance of all the circumstances, from the errors of transcribers, &c., and some of them may be beyond the power of solution in the present day. But they who urge them as objections against the genuineness or authenticity are bound to account for the existence of the testimonies to which we have referred, and satisfactorily to set them aside before they ask us to reject what rests upon such an accumulation of evidence. The testimonies adduced can be examined by every reader of the English Bible. An attentive reader may find many more; and sure I am that he, who will take the trouble of patiently studying the Scriptures from Malachi to Joshua in reference to this subject, will arrive at the firm conviction that there never was a time in Israel from the days of Moses on, when the Pentateuch was unknown. (To be continued).