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E. Wishard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Testimony of the Bible Concerning the Assumptions of Destructive Criticism + +Author: S. E. Wishard + +Release Date: May 10, 2005 [EBook #15812] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TESTIMONY OF THE BIBLE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David King, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1>THE TESTIMONY OF THE BIBLE CONCERNING THE Assumptions of +Destructive Criticism</h1> +<h3>BY</h3> +<h2>S.E. WISHARD, D.D.</h2> +<h3>LOS ANGELES, CAL.</h3> +<h3>JOHNSON & HANEY</h3> +<h3>BIBLE INSTITUTE PRESS</h3> +<h3>1909</h3> +<h3>Copyright, 1909</h3> +<h2>By S.E. WISHARD, D.D.</h2> +<h4>Presentation Copy</h4> +<hr /> +<center>"In the defence and confirmation of the truth"</center> +<center>—<i>Phil 1:7</i></center> +<h3>BIBLE INSTITUTE</h3> +<h4>Los Angeles, Calif.</h4> +<h2>FOREWORD.</h2> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p><i>This booklet is sent out</i></p> +<p><i>To all Sabbath-school teachers,</i></p> +<p><i>To the young people of the Christian churches,</i></p> +<p><i>And to all believers in the living Word</i>.</p> +</div> +</div> +<hr /> +<p>The work of the destructive critics has been widely disseminated +in current literature. Magazines, secular newspapers, and some +religious papers are giving currency to these critical attacks on +the Word of God. The young people of our churches are exposed to +the insidious poison of this skepticism. It comes to them under the +guise of a broader and more liberal scholarship. They have neither +the time nor the equipment to enter the field of criticism, nor is +this work demanded of them.</p> +<p>While abler pens are meeting and answering the questions raised +by destructive critics, something may be said that will clear away +the fog produced by them and enable young Christians to come +directly to the truth.</p> +<p>Hence this booklet is an attempt to "give God a chance" to have +his say. The testimony presented is on the divine plan of giving, +"Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line +upon line," "lest we forget."</p> +<p>There has been no attempt to cover the whole ground of +destructive criticism in the brief compass of this booklet. It will +be enough to permit God to answer; hence, in the following pages he +speaks for himself. We are content that his voice shall be +heard.</p> +<p>S.E. WISHARD.</p> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i10">PAGE</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">I. OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD DESTRUCTIVE CRITICISM 9</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">II. SHOULD REPLY BE MADE? 17</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>III. WAS MOSES A LITERARY FICTION? 25</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">IV. WERE CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES MISTAKEN? 39</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">V. THE ATTACK ON THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS 59</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">VI. ASSUMPTIONS CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ISAIAH 73</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>VII. GOD'S REPLY TO THESE ASSUMPTIONS. 87</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>VIII. THE HISTORICITY OF THE BOOK OF JONAH 101</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">IX. RADICAL EXPOSITION 111</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">X. GOD HIS OWN INTERPRETER 119</p> +</div> +</div> +<h2>I. OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD DESTRUCTIVE CRITICISM.</h2> +<p><i>"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk +in love, as Christ also hath loved us." Eph. v. 1, 2.</i></p> +<p><i>"Be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for +evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among +yourselves and to all men." 1 Thess. v. 14, 15.</i></p> +<p><i>"He that believeth shall not make haste." Isa. xxviii. +16.</i></p> +<p><i>"The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his +commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are +done in truth and uprightness." Psa. cxi. 7, 8.</i></p> +<p><i>"My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." Isa, +xlvi. 10.</i></p> +<p>The attitude which God's people should assume toward destructive +criticism has been questioned. It should certainly be a position of +calm patience, that can deliberately weigh valid testimony, and +abide by the decision of intelligent judgment. The history and life +of the Church for nearly two thousand years should go for +something. They are not to be swept away by the bluff, the egoism +of what claims to be the only "Expert Scholarship."</p> +<p>There is no occasion for a panic. Truth that has been, and has +builded noble, goodly life, is truth still, and ever will be. It is +not a time for denunciation. The assumptions of the destructive +critics are so enormous, so radically revolutionary, so directly +aimed at vital truth, that one's heart is stirred. There is danger +of yielding to the heat of a righteous indignation. It is not well +to lose one's intellectual and moral poise, even in a contest +involving the honor of God and the welfare of immortal souls. But +"he that believeth shall not make haste."</p> +<p>The lovers of the Book that has safely passed through every +storm of antagonism that the Prince of Darkness could evoke, need +not now be moved to hasty utterance. The eternal foundations of +truth, like him who laid them, are "the same, yesterday, to-day and +forever." The Book, with all its precious doctrines, is here to +stay. It can not be destroyed. Fire has not burned it, water has +not quenched it, the edicts of tyrants and popes have not been able +to break its power. The Church of God can calmly rest on "the word +of God, which liveth and abideth forever." (1 Peter i. 23.) Hence +we may calmly move on undisturbed in our work.</p> +<p>Further, our attitude should be marked by an intelligent +understanding of the question involved. It is not a question of +fair, honest criticism, for the purpose of a deeper knowledge of +God and his truth. All reverent and helpful study of the Word of +God is critical, and is the kind of criticism that the Book +challenges. Our Lord invites it, and urges us to "search the +Scriptures," which testify of him.</p> +<p>It is assumed by the rationalistic critics that we have entered +a new era, that the Bible has never been studied until within +recent years. This is an assumption unworthy of scientific +scholarship. Critics who have not sought to destroy the Word of +God, but, by thorough investigation, to determine its claims, have +been at work on the Scriptures in all the past, seeking to know the +mind of the Spirit. There is, and ever has been a legitimate study +of the Bible. Hence, there are absolutely no grounds for the +assumption of the rationalists. The Church of Christ is not opposed +to the application of the best methods and best scholarship in the +investigation of revealed truth. Indeed, the Protestant Church has +ever been the mother of the highest education, and has had an open +ear to the call of God—"Come, let us reason together."</p> +<p>It is well to understand that the poorly-concealed purpose of +the school of higher critics is not to press the just and holy +claims of God's Word on the human conscience, but to eliminate the +supernatural from it. The Christian Church should understand this. +If atheistic scientists can construct a universe without God, by +evolutionary processes, and the critics can construct a Bible +without the supernatural, "the wisdom of this world" will have +pretty thoroughly disposed of God.</p> +<p>In the attitude of the Church toward destructive criticism, +sometimes called historical, or constructive, we must not fail to +discover its bearing on the character of Christ. For the final +conflict of all skepticism of every grade and quality is in +reference to the person and work of Christ. The elimination of the +supernatural from the Bible would be an invalidation of Christ's +claims and testimony. It would place him before the world as a +false teacher, a fraud, a charlatan. Loyalty to the Word, and to +the Incarnate Word, demands, therefore, that we should clearly +understand the end to which this rationalism is drifting. For +Christ's testimony concerning the Old Testament Scriptures, which +will be presented later in this discussion, is so thoroughly in +conflict with the modern critical assumptions that it must be +disposed of by those claiming expert scholarship. In the attempt to +accomplish that feat, they put our Lord under such limitations as +would rob him of his character as Teacher and Redeemer.</p> +<p>The "experts" are logically driven to one of two conclusions: +either that Christ did not know the facts of the Old Testament +Scriptures, which he believed and was sent to teach, or, knowing +the facts, he deemed it not important to teach them.</p> +<p>The first assumption puts our Savior on the basis of a fallible +human teacher, and nothing more. The second assumption contradicts +all the professions of the critics. For they affirm to-day that the +professed discoveries of the mistaken views of the Bible are of the +utmost importance, and as honest men they are in conscience obliged +to make them known, while claiming that Christ did not make them +known.</p> +<p>Shall we assume that these views, which they deem so important +to-day, were of no importance when the Church of Christ first took +form? We may ask, what estimate should we have of Christ, who, +knowing his people were in error as to the authorship and origin of +the Scriptures, would leave them in darkness for more than eighteen +hundred years? Is it to be assumed that he would wait through the +long centuries for the coming of critics to enlighten his people? +That is what we are logically asked to accept at their hands. It is +thus made clear that the issue of this conflict, as in all the +past, is narrowed down to the person and character of our Savior. +It is well to face the issue calmly, and with a clear understanding +of what is pending. Did Christ know truth? Was he honest? Hence, +the attitude of the Church should be taken in view of the trend of +modern critical discussion.</p> +<h2>II. SHOULD REPLY BE MADE?</h2> +<p><i>"If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" +Psa. xi. 3.</i></p> +<p><i>"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 1 Thess. v. +21.</i></p> +<p><i>"Buy the truth and sell it not." Prov. xxiii. 23.</i></p> +<p><i>"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the +common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and +exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith that was +once delivered unto the saints." Jude 3.</i></p> +<p><i>"Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions +which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle." 2 +Thess. ii. 15.</i></p> +<p><i>"I am set for the defense of the gospel." Paul, Phil. i. +17.</i></p> +<p>It is a question among earnest Christian men, who are busily +engaged in the work of the Master, as to whether we should turn +aside long enough to make reply to the destructive critics. It is +affirmed that, as the Word of God has already passed through all +the attacks that have been made upon it, it will defend itself in +the future as in the past—that our duty is to preach the +gospel. Certainly the victories of the gospel are a noble defense +of its truth and power to save. There should be no respite from +this work. But there are vast multitudes of people that permit the +critics to do their thinking for them. They are not well informed +concerning the Scriptures, and consequently are not prepared to +repel the attacks of skepticism, nor to reply to the specious +arguments or positive assumptions of the critics. These multitudes +are in danger of casting aside the Word of God, and missing the +offer of eternal life.</p> +<p>The fact of the increased activity of the enemies of the truth +must be known to Christian people. Their organized and persistent +use of the press has gained for them a wide hearing. Shall the +Christian people deny themselves this instrumentality of getting a +hearing for God and his truth before the world? Would not silence +be construed by the world as meaning that the cause dear to the +heart of God's people is indefensible?</p> +<p>It should be known to all lovers of the truth that the +skepticism widely sown by the destructive critics has entered the +Protestant Church and many of our institutions of learning.</p> +<p>"Read the utterances of representative men and teachers in her +communion, who deny the Incarnation, repudiate vicarious sacrifice, +make light of the story of the resurrection, and refine the risen +Son of God into nothing more than the spirit and essence of truth; +or, at most, the disembodied ghost of a man who called himself a +Messiah, mistaken in his claims, but authoritative in his morals." +(Rev. I.M. Holdeman.)</p> +<p>The author of this statement refers also to the fact that there +are "modern professors of theology who convict the very prophets +whom they hold up as exemplars of righteousness, of absolute +literary fraud, and deliberate piracy." They "demonstrate with cool +precision that the higher critics of to-day are better informed +concerning the mistakes of Moses than was he who claimed that Moses +wrote of him, and prove to their own satisfaction and the belief of +many followers that Jesus Christ, our Lord, was limited in +intelligence, and would, if he were here to-day, deny some of the +statements he once so unqualifiedly made."</p> +<p>We may not shut our eyes to the fact that many of our colleges +are more or less infected with this rationalistic criticism. Some +of our theological professors have substituted the theory of +evolution for the Scriptural doctrine of creation by the Word of +God. Our young men preparing for the work of the ministry are under +the influence and instruction of some of these teachers here in our +own country.</p> +<p>It is a matter for thanksgiving that we have literary and +theological institutions into which the destructive critics have +never entered—institutions that stand for the Word of God as +given by the Holy Spirit, and believed in by God's servants in the +past and to-day.</p> +<p>We do well to recognize the further fact concerning the effort +to eliminate the supernatural from the Bible, that the work of the +rationalists has permeated the literature of the day. In this age +of reading fiction, that form of literature has become a convenient +vehicle for taking everything out of the hands of Providence. It +has become easy to leave God out of his universe and supplant him +with the heroic in man. Hence, the literary appetite, ever craving +the human instead of the divine, turns away from the truth that +confronts the conscience of the reader with God and his claims.</p> +<p>For the defense of truth we have the example of prophets, +apostles, and Christ himself. Much of the work of the prophets of +the Old Testament was devoted to the exposure of the "New Thought" +of their times. Moses dealt thoroughly with the new theology that +asserted: "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out +of the land of Egypt." The heresy was ended as suddenly as it was +introduced.</p> +<p>The Epistle to the Galatians was Paul's reply to the Judiazing +teachers who would substitute ceremonials for the doctrine of +justification by faith. His Epistle to the Ephesians was a +constructive work, in answer to Jewish prejudice and teaching, in +which he set forth the unity of Jews and Gentiles in one Church, +which is the body of Christ. In his Epistle to the Corinthians he +answered their false views of marriage. He shamed their partisan +spirit, in which some claimed to be of Paul, some of Apollos, some +of Christ. He labored most earnestly to convince them of their +false views concerning the resurrection, and dealt faithfully with +the errorists concerning the inquiry that was coming to the Church +through their magnifying and perverting the use of the gift of +tongues. He showed them a more excellent way.</p> +<p>There should be no turning aside from preaching a full and free +gospel, nor should there be any halting in its defense, or against +the effort to eliminate the supernatural from the Word of God. The +critical work that logically leaves us a Savior ignorant of the +Scriptures, or, if knowing them, afraid to meet Jewish prejudice by +correcting their mistakes, should be kindly, candidly, and manfully +met by those to whom the truth has given life.</p> +<h2>III. WAS MOSES "A LITERARY FICTION"?</h2> +<p><i>"God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, +Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.... Come now, therefore, and I +will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my +people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt!' Exod. iii. 4, +10.</i></p> +<p><i>"And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus +saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go." Exod. v. +1.</i></p> +<p><i>"Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto +them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and +kill the passover.... And the children of Israel did according to +the word of Moses.... And the children of Israel journeyed from +Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were +men, besides children" Exod. xii. 21, 35, 37.</i></p> +<p><i>"And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for +after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and +with Israel." Exod. xxxiv. 27.</i></p> +<p><i>"And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing +the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, that +Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of +the Lord, saying, Take this book of the law and put it in the side +of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be +there for a witness against thee" Deut. xxxi. 24-26.</i></p> +<p>We turn now to the assumption that Moses was not the author, +under God, of the Pentateuch. The destructive critics do not agree +among themselves as to the origin of the Pentateuch. Dates and +authors are variously adjusted among those claiming to be experts. +There is, however, agreement on one point, that Moses did not write +the Pentateuch. It is affirmed that his name has been attached to +it to give it authority, because many of the events recorded and +much of the history took place during the period of Moses' life and +in connection with his influence. But the critics place the +<i>record</i> of those events almost altogether after the exile, +between nine hundred and a thousand years after the time of +Moses.</p> +<p>It was once affirmed that writing was not used in the days of +Moses, and therefore he could not have written the five books that +claim him as their author. But the fact now brought to light, and +conceded by the critics and all well-informed scholars, that +writing antedated Moses by many centuries, has swept out of +existence that objection. But the question is still raised as to +the Mosiac authorship of the Pentateuch. It is said in reply:</p> +<p><i>First</i>—The Holy Spirit declares by the mouth of +Stephen that "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, +and was mighty in words and deeds." Acts vii. 22.</p> +<p>Writing was long known to and practiced by the Egyptians, hence +the man trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians <i>was +competent</i> to write the Pentateuch.</p> +<p><i>Second</i>—The Pentateuch very definitely claims Moses +as its author, not once or twice, but many times, all through these +writings.</p> +<p>"The Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, +and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, for I will utterly put out +the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." Exod. xvii. 14. This +was not the law, parts of which even some of the critics concede +that Moses wrote. It was God's judgment against Amalek. But it was +written in a book. What book? The inspired Scriptures say it was +written here in Exodus xvii. 14. And again it was repeated in Deut. +xxv. 19, and that Moses wrote it.</p> +<p>In the twenty-fourth chapter of Exodus Moses has given an +account of God's call to him, to Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the +seventy elders, to come up to Horeb. Moses was called into the +immediate presence of God, while the others remained at a distance. +After his interview with Jehovah it is written: "Moses came and +told the people all the words of the Lord.... And <i>Moses wrote +all the words of the Lord</i>." Exod. xxiv, 3, 4.</p> +<p>In the thirty-fourth chapter of Exodus God is represented as +giving definite instructions to Moses concerning worship, at the +conclusion of which "the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these +words, for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant +with thee and with Israel." Exod. xxxiv. 27.</p> +<p>We turn to the positive statement in Deuteronomy xxxi. 9. The +chapter opens with the declaration that "Moses spake these words +unto all Israel," giving an extended account of what the words +were. In the ninth verse it is stated: ... "<i>And Moses wrote this +law</i> and delivered it unto the priests and unto all the elders +of Israel." What became of that writing of Moses? Was it lost? Or +is the statement false? And did some later writer forge the +statement, attributing the writing to Moses, to give weight and +authority to the forgery? To ask the question is to answer it. +"Moses wrote all the words of the Lord."</p> +<p>In the twenty-fourth verse in this same chapter in Deuteronomy +it is stated that "Moses had made an end of writing the words of +this law in a book." Yet the critics teach that this book, +Deuteronomy, was not written until after the exile, almost a +thousand years after the events narrated. Does not critical +credulity make larger demands than are laid on faith?</p> +<p>The summing up of the book of Numbers, of what had been said and +written in the book, is stated in the last chapter and last verse, +namely, that "these are the commandments and the judgments which +the Lord commanded <i>by the hand of Moses</i> unto the children of +Israel." Again and again it is affirmed in the Pentateuch that God +commanded Moses to write, and that he did write, but the critics +affirm that the hand of Moses had nothing to do with producing the +books of the Pentateuch—that they were written after the +exile!</p> +<p>Not only does the Pentateuch distinctly teach the Mosaic +authorship of the five books of Moses, appropriately so called, but +all the Old Testament saints entertained the opinion which the +Jewish people and the Christian Church hold to-day, that God spake +to Moses, and that <i>Moses committed to writing</i> the messages +that God gave him and commanded him to write, embracing the story +of God's miracles, his instruction and dealing with them in the +wilderness.</p> +<p>We find the critics contradicted in the Scriptures from Joshua +to Malachi. To Joshua God said: "As I was with Moses, so will I be +with thee." (Joshua i. 5.) Eight times in the first chapter of the +book of Joshua God accredits Moses with having received and having +given the law to Joshua and the people.</p> +<p>The Pentateuch is the book which God, speaking to Joshua, calls +"the law which my servant Moses commanded thee" (Joshua i. 7), and +it was so accepted by Joshua. Was he mistaken? or the critics? He +had long enjoyed most intimate relations with Moses, and knew what +Moses had written by the command of God.</p> +<p>David affirms that God had "made known his ways unto Moses, and +his acts unto the children of Israel" (Psa. ciii. 7). We have seen +that the man Moses was competent to write, and did write, what God +had made known to him (Deut xxxi. 24). The Psalms are illuminated +and set aflame with the faith of Israel, that Moses said and wrote +what is ascribed to him in the Pentateuch.</p> +<p>Ezra, Nehemiah, and the prophets down to Malachi reiterated the +same belief, sung and taught it to their children. Were they +mistaken?</p> +<p>The finding of the Pentateuch during Josiah's reign, which had +been lost in the rubbish of the temple during the wicked reign of +Manasseh and Ammon, is evidently referred to in 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14, +15; "Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Jehovah by the +hand of Moses. (Margin, R.V.) And Hilkiah answered and said to +Shaphan, I have found The Book of the law of the house of the +Lord." Four times within seven verses it is called "<i>The +Book</i>." It was read before the King, who humbled himself, and +prepared himself and the people to observe the Passover as it had +been prescribed in "the law of Moses." Josiah commanded them to +"kill the Passover, and sanctify yourselves and prepare your +brethren, that they may do according to the word of the Lord <i>by +the hand of Moses</i>" (2 Chron. xxxv. 6). This took place long +before the exile, which the critics insist was the beginning of +Israel's literature, and after which they say the Pentateuch was +written.</p> +<p>Ezra testifies to the existence of the Mosaic law before his +time. His testimony establishes the Mosaic authorship of the +Pentateuch. Ezra vii. 6: "This Ezra ... was a ready scribe <i>in +the law of Moses</i>."</p> +<p>After the return from captivity Ezra describes the building of +the altar in these definite terms: "Then stood up Joshua, the son +of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of +Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of +Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, <i>as it is written in +the law of Moses</i>, the man of God" (Ezra iii. 2). Was Ezra +deceiving the people?</p> +<p>There are several things to be noted here:</p> +<p>1. <i>There was a written law of Moses</i>, the man of God, then +in existence. It was not a written law of Ezra which the priests +palmed off as the written law of Moses.</p> +<p>2. <i>There was a priestly order</i>, according to the written +law of Moses the man of God, not according to the invention of the +exiles returning from captivity, under the pretense that Moses +wrote it.</p> +<p>3. The altar was built according to the written law of Moses the +man of God. These records by Ezra effectually bar the door against +the critical conjecture that the Pentateuch, in which the written +law of Moses the man of God is found, was fabricated after the +exile.</p> +<p>The definite law for the place of building the altar, by which +the priests proceeded in the days of Ezra, is recorded by "Moses +the man of God," in Deut. xii. 5-7: "Unto the place which the Lord +your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, +even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither shalt thou +come; and thither shall ye bring your burnt offerings, and your +sacrifices and your tithes and heave offerings of your hand, and +your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your +herds, and your flocks; and there ye shall eat before the Lord your +God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and +your households, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee."</p> +<p>It is Ezra, not the critics, who informs us that this was +"written in the law of Moses the man of God." We will be pardoned +for accepting the testimony of Ezra. He does not mean to forsake +his faith in the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, for he writes +in chapter vi. 18: "They set the priests in their divisions, and +the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at +Jerusalem; <i>as it is written in the book of Moses</i>."</p> +<p>In the eighth chapter of the book of Nehemiah, that great +servant of God affirms his faith in the Mosaic authorship of the +Pentateuch, which was also the faith of all the people of his time. +In the first verse in this chapter he informs us that "all the +people gathered themselves together, as one man, into the street +that is before the water gate, and they spake unto Ezra the scribe +to bring <i>the book of the law of Moses</i>, which the Lord had +commanded to Israel." Ezra was not to make a book and call it the +book of Moses, as some of the critics teach, but to "bring the book +of the law of Moses," a book in their possession already made, and +with which they were already familiar—"<i>The Book of the Law +of Moses</i>."</p> +<p>"The Book of the Law of Moses" was the Jewish title given to the +Pentateuch at that time, and is so recognized again and again. +Nehemiah viii. 14 affirms again: "They found written in the law, +which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel +should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month." Nehemiah +quotes this "command of the Lord by Moses" from Lev. xxiii. 39-42, +which was a fraud on the part of Nehemiah, if Moses was not the +author of the book. Again he says in the thirteenth chapter of +Nehemiah and first verse: "On that day they read in the book of +Moses, in the audience of the people"; but it was not the book of +Moses if he had not written it, but the book of another one of the +"unknown" so frequently found (?) in Scripture by our critics.</p> +<p>The book of Moses in which this last reference from Nehemiah is +written is the command that the "Ammonite and the Moabite should +not come into the congregation of God for ever," and is recorded in +Deut. xxiii. 3, 4.</p> +<p>But our critical friends inform us that Deuteronomy was not +written until after the captivity. Hence, the logic of their +position is, that Nehemiah attributes to Moses what he did not +write, and proves himself to be either ignorant of the truth or +practicing a fraud upon the people. We prefer the testimony of +Nehemiah to that of the latter-day critics.</p> +<p>It should be repeated that the prophets and inspired writers +down to Malachi reiterated their confidence in the Mosaic +authorship of the Pentateuch. And he, the last messenger of the Old +Testament to Israel, gave them this message from God: "Remember ye +<i>the law of Moses</i> my servant, which I commanded unto him" +(Mal. iv. 4). Indeed, the entire testimony of the Old Testament is +in harmony with the positive statements made in the Pentateuch, +that Moses was commanded to write, and that he actually and +positively "wrote all the words of the Lord" (Exod. xxiv. 4). There +is not a word, syllable, hint, or shadow of a hint assigning these +five books of Moses to a later date or author.</p> +<p>The presumption, or guess, of the critics carries no weight in +the face of the testimony of the entire Old Testament that God +commanded Moses to write, and that he did write, the five books +attributed to him.</p> +<h2>IV. WERE CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES MISTAKEN?</h2> +<p><i>Christ said to his apostles:</i></p> +<p><i>"Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all +Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." +Acts i. 8.</i></p> +<p><i>"I speak the truth in Christ and lie not." Paul in 1 Tim. ii. +7.</i></p> +<p><i>"Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first +begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth." +The Apostle John in Rev. i. 5.</i></p> +<p><i>"We know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man +can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him," +Nicodemus, in John iii. 2.</i></p> +<p><i>"If I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?" Christ, in +John viii. 46.</i></p> +<p><i>"I am the way, the truth and the life." Christ, in John xiv. +6.</i></p> +<p>The opinions and testimony of the apostles are certainly worth +something. They had three years of instruction under our Lord, and +the promise from him that the Holy Spirit should guide them into +all truth. (John xvi. 13.)</p> +<p>A study of the writers of the New Testament proves that they are +in absolute harmony with the writers of the Old Testament as to the +Mosaic authorship of the five books of the Pentateuch. Luke ii. 22 +informs us that the mother of Jesus, "when the days of her +purification were accomplished according to the <i>law of +Moses</i>," brought the child "to present him to the Lord." This +was done, according to Leviticus xii. 2-6, and accredits that book +to Moses, and not to some imaginary author.</p> +<p>The Apostle John informs us that "the law was given by Moses, +but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John i, 17). If he has +misled us in reference to Moses and the law, can we trust him in +reference to grace and truth by Jesus Christ?</p> +<p>When Peter made his address to the people who were surprised at +the healing of the cripple, he said: "<i>Moses truly said</i> unto +the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of +your brethren," (See Acts iii. 22.)</p> +<p>This saying of Moses is recorded in Deut xviii. 15, the contents +of which book are introduced to us in these words; "These be the +words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the +wilderness, in the plain over against the Red Sea" (Deut. i. 1), +referring to the whole books spoken by Moses, the learned man, +mighty in words and deeds, but not recorded, the critics say, until +after the exile, about a thousand years! This you are asked to +believe on the basis of the professed or assumed acumen of the +critics!</p> +<p>Further, in his great speech before the Sanhedrim at his +martyrdom, Stephen quotes Moses as having received full and +complete directions from God concerning the tabernacle. (Acts vii. +44.) In the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus, the book in which Moses +was commanded to write and did write, these directions are +recorded. We accept Stephen's testimony, added to that of Exod. +xxv., rather than the testimony of the critics.</p> +<p>When Paul was writing to the Corinthians of the blindness of the +Jews (2 Cor. iii. 15) he said: "Even unto <i>this day, when Moses +is read</i>, the veil is upon their hearts."</p> +<p>Moses must have written something if he was read. What has +become of his writings? Is it not the Pentateuch which the +Scriptures everywhere call the writings of Moses? Undoubtedly, +yes.</p> +<p>In Paul's missionary sermon at Antioch in Pisidia, he declared +to his audience that through Christ "all that believe are justified +from all things, from which ye could not be justified <i>by the law +of Moses</i>" (Acts xiii. 39).</p> +<p>Why does Paul refer to the ceremonial of the Jewish ritual as +the law of Moses? It must be answered that Paul was a Jew. He was +familiar with the Jewish scriptures. He had read the following +passages and believed them, and was grounded in the truth which +they declare, that "by the hand of Moses" they were given to the +people.</p> +<p>To satisfy the reader that they were "given by the hand of +Moses" the following Scriptures are furnished:</p> +<p>1. "Aaron and his sons did all things which were commanded <i>by +the hand of Moses</i>." (Lev. viii. 36.)</p> +<p>2. "That ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes +which the Lord hath spoken unto them <i>by the hand of Moses</i>." +(Lev. x. 11.)</p> +<p>3. "These are the statutes and judgments and laws which the Lord +made between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai, <i>by +the hand of Moses</i>." (Lev. xxvi. 46.)</p> +<p>4. "These were they that were numbered of the families of the +Kohathites, all that might do service in the tabernacle of the +congregation, which Moses and Aaron did number, according to the +commandment of the Lord <i>by the hand of Moses</i>." (Num. iv. +37.)</p> +<p>5. "These ... whom Moses and Aaron numbered, according to the +word of the Lord <i>by the hand of Moses</i>." (Num. iv. 45.)</p> +<p>6. "According to the commandment of the Lord they were numbered +<i>by the hand of Moses</i>." (Num. iv. 49.)</p> +<p>7. "They kept the charge of the Lord, at the commandment of the +Lord, <i>by the hand of Moses.</i>" (Num. ix. 23.)</p> +<p>8. "And they first took their journey according to the +commandment of the Lord <i>by the hand of Moses</i>." (Num. x. +13.)</p> +<p>9. "Even all that the Lord hath commanded you <i>by the hand of +Moses</i>, from the day that the Lord commanded Moses." (Num. xv. +23.)</p> +<p>10. "That no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come +near to offer incense before the Lord, that he be not as Kora and +his company, as the Lord said to him <i>by the hand of Moses</i>." +(Num. xvi. 40.)</p> +<p>11. "And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as +the Lord commanded <i>by the hand of Moses</i>." (Num. xxvii. +23.)</p> +<p>12. "These are the commandments and the judgments which the Lord +commanded <i>by the hand of Moses</i>." (Num. xxxvi. 13.)</p> +<p>13. "By lot was their inheritance, as the Lord commanded <i>by +the hand of Moses</i>." (Joshua xiv. 2.)</p> +<p>14. "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for +you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you <i>by the hand of +Moses</i>." (Joshua xx. 2.)</p> +<p>15. "The Lord commanded <i>by the hand of Moses</i> to give us +cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle." +(Joshua xxi. 2.)</p> +<p>16. "And the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites +these cities with their suburbs, as the Lord commanded <i>by the +hand of Moses</i>." (Joshua xxi. 8.)</p> +<p>17. "And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and +the half tribe of Manasseh returned, ... according to the word of +the Lord <i>by the hand of Moses</i>." (Joshua xxii. 9.)</p> +<p>18. "And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they +would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded +their fathers <i>by the hand of Moses</i>." (Judges iii. 4.)</p> +<p>19. "Thou didst separate them from among all the people of the +earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest <i>by the hand of +Moses, thy servant</i>." (1 Kings viii. 53.)</p> +<p>20. "There hath not failed one word of all his good promise, +which he promised <i>by the hand of Moses his servant</i>." (1 +Kings viii. 56.)</p> +<p>21. "So that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded +them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the +ordinances <i>by the hand of Moses</i>." (2 Chron. xxxiii. 8.)</p> +<p>22. "To kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare +your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the Lord, +<i>by the hand of Moses</i>." (2 Chron. xxxv. 6.)</p> +<p>23. "Thou ... madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath, and +commandedst unto them precepts, statutes and laws, <i>by the hand +of Moses thy servant</i>." (Neh. ix. 14.)</p> +<p>24. "Thou leddest thy people like a flock <i>by the hand of +Moses and Aaron</i>." (Psa. lxxvii. 20.)</p> +<p>Paul was familiar with these statements of the Jewish +Scriptures. He believed them. (2 Cor. iv. 13.) He believed that God +gave "the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances <i>by the +hand of Moses</i>" (2 Chron. xxxiii. 8), who was learned in all the +wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds. (Acts +vii. 22.) Hence he called the Scriptures "The Law of Moses."</p> +<p>Some of the critics will concede that many things were done by +Moses, but not recorded until after the exile. Think of it! The +laws, statutes, and ordinances which were vital to the life of the +Jewish nation, which had been given at Sinai, and were announced +with the sanctions of life or death, were not recorded by God's +appointed leader, whom he had trained in all the learning of the +times, but were left for almost a thousand years to uncertain +tradition!</p> +<p>Paul had not forgotten the above statements concerning Moses' +personal connection with the giving of the law. Before Felix he was +arraigned, and testified "what the prophets and Moses did say." +(Acts xxvi. 22.)</p> +<p>To the Jews at Rome "he expounded and testified the kingdom of +God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the laws of +Moses and out of the prophets." (Acts xxviii. 23.)</p> +<p>In his Epistle to the Roman Christians he says (quoting from +Lev. xviii. 5): "For Moses writeth that the man that doeth the +righteousness which is of the law shall live thereby." (Rom. x. 5, +R.V.)</p> +<p>To the Corinthian Christians he says: "It is written in the +<i>law of Moses</i>. Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox when +he treadeth out the corn." (1 Cor. ix. 9.) Here again he quotes +from Deut. xxv. 4, and repeats the quotation in 1 Tim. v. 18. But +the critics deny that it was written until after the exile, at +least nine hundred or one thousand years later.</p> +<p>The Apostle James adds his testimony to that of Paul, while +addressing the assembly of the apostles at Jerusalem, saying: "For +Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, <i>being +read</i> in the synagogues every Sabbath." (Acts xv. 21.)</p> +<p>We have learned in these quotations from Matthew, Luke, John, +Stephen, Peter, and Paul, their repeated testimony, their unvarying +faith that <i>Moses both spoke and wrote</i> the scriptures +contained in the Pentateuch. We have seen that their faith was +founded on twenty-four inspired declarations that these five books +were given "<i>by the hand of Moses</i>." These statements are +found in the books themselves, from Leviticus to the Psalms. If +inspired testimony is worth anything, the case is closed, and the +critics' case goes out of court, more than disproved.</p> +<h3>Was Christ Mistaken?</h3> +<p>The reader will be interested to know what Christ has to say of +the critics' denial of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. For +he who "spake as never man spake," he of whom the Father said, +"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, <i>hear ye +him</i>," this same Jesus had some very positive opinions on the +subject before us. He has spoken clearly and definitely. We may not +turn away from his testimony.</p> +<p>1. After healing the leper, our Lord said to him: "Go thy way, +show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that <i>Moses +commanded</i> for a testimony unto them." (See Matt. viii. 4, Mark +i. 44, Luke v. 14.)</p> +<p>Our Savior here quotes from Lev. xiv. 2-8. Moses had been +commanded to write the words that God had given him. (Exod. xxxiv. +27.) "And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord" (Exod. xxiv. 4), +hence our Lord quotes the passage in Leviticus <i>from +Moses</i>.</p> +<p>2. The Pharisees, always captious and controversial, sought to +entangle the Savior in a discussion on the subject of divorce. +Replying, "He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of +your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives." (Matt. xix. 8.) +Our Lord here quotes from the Mosaic law (Deut. xxiv. I-4), +recognizing Moses as the author of the same.</p> +<p>3. He rebuked the scribes and Pharisees also for turning from +the word of God to the traditions of men. "For Moses said, Honor +thy father and thy mother." (Mark vii. 10.) This quotation is from +Exod. xx. 12, and Deut. v. 16. They had made the command of Moses +of no effect, had violated the law which Christ taught had been +given by Moses.</p> +<p>4. The Sadducees came to him with their controversy concerning +the resurrection. They presented to him an unanswerable argument, +as they supposed, against the doctrine, questioning as to whose +wife she should be in the resurrection, who has had seven husbands +in this life. Christ replied (Mark xii. 26, 27): "As touching the +dead, that they rise; have ye not read in the <i>book of Moses</i> +how in the bush God spake unto 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 the God of the living."</p> +<p>This quotation by our Lord is from Exod. iii. 6, and he calls +the book from which it is made "the book of Moses." Did Christ know +whether it was the book of Moses or of some unknown author who had +so artfully palmed it off under false colors as to deceive the +entire Jewish nation?</p> +<p>Or, as certain of the critics teach, did Christ know that the +pretense that it was the book of Moses was a fraud, but, in view of +public opinion, was unwilling to expose the deception? To ask these +questions is to uncover the animus of the critical assumptions +which logically attack the character of Christ himself.</p> +<p>Christ knew who was the author of the book, and knowing, he +affirmed that it was "<i>The Book of Moses</i>."</p> +<p>5. In our Lord's parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Dives is +represented as pleading that some one be sent from the dead to warn +his brothers, lest they also come into this place of torment. The +reply to his request was: "They have Moses and the prophets.... If +they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be +persuaded, though one rose from the dead." (Luke xvi. 29, 30.) +"Moses and the prophets" was the name for the Jewish Bible. If +Moses did not write the Pentateuch, the name of their Bible was +false, and the Savior indorsed a falsehood. We believe "the +faithful and true Witness," and reject the critics who dishonor his +character.</p> +<p>6. After Christ's resurrection he walked and communed with the +two disciples on the way to Emmaus. He instructed them concerning +the Messiah's death, and, "beginning at Moses" (Luke xxiv. 27), +informed them that it was God's plan, foretold in the Old +Testament. He appeared to his apostles and declared to them that +"all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses +and the prophets." (Luke xxiv. 44.) The critics deny Moses' +authorship, but Christ affirms it, using the language that means +the Pentateuch. <i>We believe him</i>.</p> +<p>7. In our Lord's conversation with Nicodemus he recognizes Moses +in connection with the book of Numbers. He refers to the historical +incident, if our critical friends will leave us any Biblical +history, in Numbers xxi. 8, 9. He says: "As Moses lifted up the +serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted +up," (John iii. 14.)</p> +<p>Recurring to the passage in Numbers, we learn that, in the dire +distress of the people for their sins, God commanded Moses to make +a brazen serpent, and lift it up before the people, that they might +look and live.</p> +<p>Certain of the critical school consent that Moses, was connected +with the event, but did not record it. Indeed! And what proof that +he failed to make the record? It was personal to himself. It was +symbolically prophetic of the crucifixion of Christ, as our Savior +used it, an event toward which all prophecy moved. And we have +already learned that nine times it has been stated in the book of +Numbers that the acts, precepts, and statutes of this book were +done and given by "<i>the hand of Moses</i>."</p> +<p>8. To the Jews, seeking to murder their Messiah, he said; "Do +not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one that +accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed +Moses ye would have believed me, <i>for he wrote of me</i>." (See +John v. 45, 46.)</p> +<p>When and where did he write of Christ? He wrote of him in the +five books which are ascribed to Moses by all the Old Testament +Scriptures, and by Christ and his apostles. He wrote of him in Gen. +iii. 15, when God promised that "the seed of the woman shall bruise +the serpent's head." He wrote of Christ in Gen. xii. 3, when God +promised Abraham: "In thee shall all families of the earth be +blessed." He wrote of the Messiah when he recorded Jacob's prophecy +in Gen. xlix. 10: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a +lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come." Moses wrote of +Christ, when under divine direction he instituted the passover, as +recorded in the twelfth chapter of Exodus.</p> +<p>He wrote of Christ in the Levitical ritual, when under God's +instruction he set up the system of types, for the tabernacle and +the temple service, which taught the fundamentals of the New +Testament gospel—<i>redemption by the blood</i>.</p> +<p>The whole tabernacle and its furniture was necessary to complete +the symbolism that should represent the Messiah. The altar, the +laver, the shew bread, the golden candlestick, the mercy seat, and +the officiating high priest. For "Moses was admonished of God when +he was about to make the tabernacle," and received positive +direction as to how he should construct it, that redemption should +echo from every part of the service. Beautiful and glorious was the +service that proclaimed "Christ and him crucified." Christ's +testimony here is twofold: That "Moses wrote," and that he "wrote +of me," of Christ, the witness of these things.</p> +<p>9. It was at the feast of tabernacles, in the year 29 A.D., that +the Jews attacked the Savior in a fierce controversy, because he +healed on the Sabbath day. He was teaching in the temple when they +charged him with violating the Sabbath.</p> +<p>To that charge he replied: "<i>Did not Moses give you the +law</i>? Yet none of you keepeth the law." (See John vii. 19.) He +affirms in most positive terms, that can not be twisted into the +shadow of a negation, that Moses gave them the law. The +interrogative form of his statement is rhetorically the strongest +possible affirmation.</p> +<p>10. Once more, in the twenty-third verse of the same chapter, +Christ refers to the fact that their children received circumcision +on the Sabbath day, that "the law of Moses be not broken."</p> +<p>The sum of Christ's testimony to the Mosaic authorship of the +Pentateuch is before us. Ten times our Lord asserts in the passages +quoted that the law given in the Pentateuch was the "law of Moses." +He affirms that in that law "he wrote of me." From Genesis to +Revelation there is continued affirmation by prophets, apostles, +and by Christ, who can not lie, that the five books of the +Pentateuch are the books of Moses, under the guiding hand of the +Spirit of God.</p> +<p>A recent writer, who has gone over the testimony of the Bible +itself against the critics, says: "We find in them (the writers of +the Old Testament) more than eight hundred quotations from, or +references to, the first five books of the Bible, and not a hint is +given that Moses is not their author," but he is everywhere +recognized as the author, under God.</p> +<p>Witnesses multiply with every restudy of the book, proving the +Mosaic authorship of the first five books of <i>The Book</i>. "What +shall we say, then, to these things? If God be for us, who can be +against us?"</p> +<h2>V. THE ATTACK ON THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS.</h2> +<p><i>"The Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the +tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of +Israel and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering, ye +shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd and of +the flock." Lev. i. I, 2.</i></p> +<p><i>"And when any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord, his +offering shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil upon it, and +put frankincense thereon." Lev. ii. 2.</i></p> +<p><i>"And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, ... he +shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at +the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and Aaron's sons +the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about," +Lev. iii. 1, 2.</i></p> +<p><i>"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the +children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance +against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which +ought not to be done, ... let him bring for his sin, which he hath +sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin +offering." Lev. iv. 1, 2, 3.</i></p> +<p><i>"His truth endureth to all generations." Psa. c. 5.</i></p> +<p>Having considered the critical assault on the Pentateuch as a +whole, attention should be called to the special criticisms on the +book of Leviticus. A prominent representative of the school of +critics affirmed in his recent lectures at Long Beach, California, +that the Hebrews had no literature until their connection with the +Babylonians while in captivity, that their literature was developed +during their agricultural life while in Babylon. He affirmed that +the sacrificial ritual of the book of Leviticus had its roots in +the heathen sacrifices growing out of their false conception that +their deities must be appeased by the shedding of blood. The +Levitical ritual was, therefore, never written nor given by Moses. +If this gentleman and the critics that hold with him are correct, +we must conclude with them that Moses never saw or heard of our +book of Leviticus.</p> +<p>In reply let it be said:</p> +<p>1. The denial of the existence of Hebrew literature prior to the +exile is thoroughly answered and set aside by the records +discovered on the Egyptian monuments and writings before and during +Israel's bondage. Many of the critics have found this criticism +untenable, and have abandoned it. They have been obliged to concede +that Egyptian and Babylonian literature existed long before the +time of Moses. The best scholarship of to-day affirms that "the +discovery and first use of writing is certainly as old as the time +of Abraham." (See Schaff-Hergoz, Enc. Art. Writing.)</p> +<p>2. If the Bible itself is not a fraud, writing was constantly in +use in the time of Moses. See:</p> +<p>(1) Exod. vii. 14: "The Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a +memorial in a book."</p> +<p>(2) Exod. xxiv. 4: "And Moses wrote all the words of the +Lord."</p> +<p>(3) Exod. xxxiv. 27: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou +these words."</p> +<p>(4) Exod. xxxiv. 28: "And he (God) wrote upon the tables the +words of the covenant."</p> +<p>(5) Num. v. 23: "And the priest shall write these curses in a +book."</p> +<p>(6) Num. xi. 26: "They were of them that were written."</p> +<p>(7) Num. xvii. 2: "Write thou every man's name upon his +rod."</p> +<p>(8) Num. xvii. 3: "Write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi."</p> +<p>(9) Num. xxxiii. 2: "And Moses wrote their goings out according +to their journeyings by the commandment of the Lord."</p> +<p>(10) Deut. vi. 9: "Thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy +house and upon thy gates."</p> +<p>(11) Deut xi. 20. Repeats the last reference cited.</p> +<p>(12) Deut. xvii, 18: "When he (the king) sitteth upon the throne +of his kingdom, he shall write him a copy of this law in a +book."</p> +<p>These are a few out of the many passages in the Pentateuch in +which God has commanded his servant to write, and in which it is +positively stated that his servant did write. One of two things is +certain, either the whole Pentateuch is a fraud, having stated +repeatedly that writing was commanded and practiced, or the book is +true, and the fraud must be charged to the belated critics.</p> +<p>The reader will see very clearly that the purpose of such +criticism is to eliminate the supernatural from the Bible, as has +been said, and destroy its certitude.</p> +<p>It is too late in the day for the Professor's criticism, that +Hebrew literature had its first development during the exile. +"Stephen full of the Holy Spirit, looking steadfastly into heaven," +read the record of history concerning Moses differently. Stephen +could not have heard the Chautauqua lecturer's statement, for he +affirmed that "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the +Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds."</p> +<p>3. Consider now the assumptions of the critics in the face of +the claims of the book of Leviticus. In the first verses of the +book it is written: "And the Lord called upon Moses, and spake unto +him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying." Then follow +God's specific directions concerning</p> +<p>(1) The burnt offering;</p> +<p>(2) The meat offering, and</p> +<p>(3) The sin offering, occupying the whole of the first three +chapters. The fourth chapter is introduced in the same explicit +language.</p> +<p>(4) The sin offering.</p> +<p>This definite direction of God to Moses extends to the sixth +chapter of the book. Here again the same formula of speech is +employed, God speaking to Moses gave directions concerning</p> +<p>(5) The trespass offering.</p> +<p>In the eighth chapter we have God's direct communication to +Moses, and Moses' response in such phrases as the following, and +all in a single chapter: "And the Lord spake to Moses, ... and +Moses did as the Lord commanded him, ... and Moses said unto the +congregation, ... and Moses brought Aaron and his sons, ... as the +Lord commanded Moses, ... and Moses brought Aaron's sons, as the +Lord commanded Moses." Ten times in this single chapter it is +recorded that God spake to Moses, and Moses obeyed God.</p> +<p>And yet our critic would have us believe one of two things; God +either took the heathen sacrificial ritual, veneered it with some +sort of divine approval, and handed it over to his people for their +use, or by some sort of evolution the book of Leviticus came up out +of the heathen method of appeasing their malevolent deities!</p> +<p>Let the facts be summarized. In every one of the twenty-seven +chapters of the book of Leviticus God is represented as commanding +Moses, and Moses is represented as doing the thing which God +required of him, and several times in many of the chapters. In the +eighteenth chapter nineteen definite things are done by Moses, the +seventeenth verse asserting that all this was done "as the Lord +commanded Moses."</p> +<p>The following references are absolutely unanswerable by the +critics, viz.:</p> +<p>Lev. i. 1: "The Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him."</p> +<p>Lev. iv. 1: "The Lord spake unto Moses, saying," etc.</p> +<p>Lev. vi. 1; "And the Lord spake unto Moses."</p> +<p>Lev. viii. 1: "And the Lord spake unto Moses."</p> +<p>Lev. viii. 36: "Aaron and his sons did all things which the Lord +commanded by the hand of Moses."</p> +<p>Lev. ix. 6: "And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord +commanded that ye should do."</p> +<p>Lev. xi. 1: "And the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron."</p> +<p>Lev. xii. 1: "And the Lord spake unto Moses."</p> +<p>Lev. xiii. 1: "And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron."</p> +<p>Lev. xiv. 1: "And the Lord spake unto Moses."</p> +<p>Lev. xiv. 33: "And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto +Aaron."</p> +<p>Without further repetition of this phraseology, the reader will +find the same in the following references, viz.: xv. 1, xvi. 1, +xvii. 1, xviii. 1, xix. 1, xx. 1, xxi. 1, xxii. 1-17, xxiii. 1, +xxiv. 1, xxv. 1, xxvii. 1-34.</p> +<p>Here are twenty-five positive statements that God spake to +Moses, or commanded Moses. Does language mean anything? Is there +any escape from the truth, except by a denial of the entire Word of +God?</p> +<p>God and Moses are the active agents in every chapter in the book +of Leviticus. And this fact is definitely stated in the last verse +of Leviticus: "These are the commandments which the Lord commanded +Moses."</p> +<p>You might as well attempt to blot the sun from the heavens at +high noon as to eliminate from the book of Leviticus the one great +and divinely-appointed personality, Moses, the lawgiver, the leader +the actor, and under God the author of the book.</p> +<p>A further word concerning the date of Leviticus. When was it +written? As already stated, the critics place the time of the +writing after the exile, between nine hundred and one thousand +years after the decease of Moses. Something additional should be +added to what has already been said on the subject.</p> +<p>The reader of the English Bible will see that Leviticus +immediately follows Exodus by the connective "and." The same Hebrew +connective unites Exodus with Genesis, and Numbers with Leviticus. +The natural, grammatical, and logical inference is, that the author +of Genesis is the author of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.</p> +<p>In addition to this fact we have the testimony of some of the +prophets who lived before the exile, that they were familiar with +what the critics call "the priestly code," which is elaborated in +Leviticus.</p> +<p>Professor Stanley Leathes adduces forty-five allusions to the +books of Moses in the book of Amos. (See <i>Bible Student and +Teacher</i>, October, 1906.) Amos' prophetic work was "in the +northern kingdom, between 807 and 765 B.C., during the reign of +Jeroboam II, when the kingdom of Israel was at the height of its +splendor." (See Schaff-Herzog, Enc. Art. Amos.) This was more than +two hundred years before the restoration from the exile, long +before the captivity, which the critics designate as the beginning +of the literary period.</p> +<p>Professor Leathes affirms that "there is apparent acquaintance +with and reference to each book of the Pentateuch in this +prophecy." He shows that Leviticus is referred to in nine passages +in Amos. The reference in Amos iv. 5 to "a sacrifice in +thanksgiving with leaven" is an allusion to the law of thanksgiving +in Lev. vii. 13.</p> +<p>In giving God's message to Israel in a time of great +backsliding, Amos said to them: "Though ye offer unto me burnt +offerings and meat offerings, I will not accept them, neither will +I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts." (Amos v. 23.)</p> +<p>This is an allusion to the law of burnt offerings and meat +offerings set forth in the first chapter of Leviticus. But the +critics inform us that there was no law concerning these offerings +until several hundred years after Amos ceased to prophesy!</p> +<p>Again, enumerating the sins of the people, Amos charges them +with giving the Nazarites wine to drink. "Ye gave the Nazarites +wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not." +(Amos ii. 12.) This was a violation of the law of God as found in +Num. vi. 2, 3, showing at least that the Pentateuch, of which +Leviticus is an important part, was known to Amos, long before the +period to which Leviticus has been assigned by the destructive +critics.</p> +<p>Hosea adds his testimony to that of Amos and Ezekiel. Again and +again he refers to the law of sacrifices as taught in Leviticus. +"They shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices." "They +sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn incense upon the +hills." (Hosea iv. 13, 19.)</p> +<p>Concerning Ephraim, God says by the prophet Hosea: "I wrote for +him ten thousand things of my law." (Hosea viii. 12, R.V.) He +refers to the law as given to Moses in all its length and +breadth.</p> +<p>The critics demand large credulity from us. They ask us to +accept their position that the Bible itself was mistaken as to its +authorship, that Christ and his apostles were mistaken; or at least +did not tell the truth when they assigned the Pentateuch (Leviticus +included) to Moses. They then ask us to believe that the Bible is +not only unimpaired by the mistakes which the experts claim to have +discovered, but is really much improved by the discovery!</p> +<p>It passes rational comprehension that we are permitted to +expunge from the Word of God, on the ground of literary criticism, +the positive and repeated statements of inspired men, and of the +Son of God, and yet assume that we have an unimpaired +revelation!</p> +<p>We rather turn to the glorious array of witnesses to the +integrity of the Bible that God has furnished—the book +itself, Moses and the prophets, all the New Testament writers and +the "Teacher sent from God." From these witnesses we rest in the +unshaken belief that "God spake all these words" (Ex. xx. 1) and +that "Moses wrote all the words of the Lord" (Ex. xxiv. 4), +including Leviticus.</p> +<h2>VI. ASSUMPTIONS CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ISAIAH.</h2> +<p><i>"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there +anything too hard for me?" Jer. xxxii. 27.</i></p> +<p><i>"God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power +belongeth unto God." Psa. lxii. 11.</i></p> +<p><i>"Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is +infinite." Psa. cxlvii. 5.</i></p> +<p><i>"He revealeth the deep and secret things; he knoweth what is +in the darkness, and that the light dwelleth with him." Dan. ii. +2.</i></p> +<p><i>"Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the +world" Acts xv. 18.</i></p> +<p><i>"The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of +men." Psa. xxxiii. 13.</i></p> +<p><i>"Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach +thee what thou shalt say." Ex. iv. 12.</i></p> +<p><i>"And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but +understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not." Isaiah vi. +9.</i></p> +<p>The critics claim to have discovered, on literary and other +evidence, that the Church of Christ, in all its branches, has been +mistaken in all the past concerning the author of the book known as +the Prophecies of Isaiah. They assume that all the foremost +scholars of the world, and the faith of God's people, have been +misled. Our critical advisers profess to have discovered that there +were at least two, and probably many more prophets, whose writings +compose the book. They refuse to recognize Isaiah alone as the +author; and for several reasons:</p> +<p><i>First</i>—Because of the change of style of composition +from the thirty-ninth chapter to the close of the book.</p> +<p><i>Second</i>—On the ground that the theme is more exalted +than in the first thirty-nine chapters. Hence, it is assumed that +these last chapters could not have been written by Isaiah.</p> +<p><i>Third</i>—On the ground that Cyrus is mentioned by +name, in the forty-fourth and forty-fifth chapters of the book, as +the restorer of Jerusalem. Hence, our critics conclude that this +part of the book must have been written after the event, as the +prophet (it is assumed) could not name Cyrus before his birth.</p> +<p><i>Fourth</i>—The critics assume that the prophet must +prophesy out of his immediate surroundings, whatever that may mean. +They furnish their troubled disciples the comforting assurance that +these discoveries do not diminish the value of the book, but render +it more accurate and interesting as a literary work. The professor +already quoted, a fair representative of the critical school, in +his recent lectures, referred to on a preceding page, distinguished +the authors of the book as "Isaiah and the Great Unknown Prophet." +Other critics multiply, somewhat indefinitely, the number of "The +Unknowns." Our critic regards the change in <i>style and theme</i> +from the thirty-ninth chapter to the end of the book as valid proof +of at least the dual authorship of the book.</p> +<p>This assumption instantly raises the question as to who is the +author of prophetic themes. Is it the prophet himself or the Holy +Spirit? Does the prophet himself bring forth the prophecy of his +own foreknowledge? Or, is the Holy Spirit the inspirer of themes +new and old? Happily God has settled the question for us. He +declares by his Apostle Peter "that no prophecy of Scripture is of +any private interpretation"; that is, of the prophet's own +disclosure. "For prophecy came not of old time by the will of man; +but <i>holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy +Spirit</i>." (2 Peter i. 20, 21.) It is, therefore, bold assumption +to affirm that God could not give to the same prophet new and more +exalted themes in his progressive revelation of truth. It is a +limitation of God himself to the critic's notion of what should, or +should not be. This would eliminate the divine element of the book +by a sweep of the critic's pen. It is an assumption too groundless +to need a reply.</p> +<p>Further, as to the change of style. Nothing is more natural or +reasonable than the fact that a change of theme should produce a +change of style. A more exalted theme must quicken the imagination, +set the emotions aflame, stimulate all the mental and moral powers +of the author. A historical statement, a commonplace theme, can be +dealt with in a commonplace style, while new and uplifting truth +awakens new powers in the writer. Milton's Paradise Lost was +entirely different from his ordinary prose composition. Dr. John +Watson's sermons were on a higher level than his books of fiction. +Writers who do much of their literary work on the level plain on +which the people move, frequently rise to mountain peaks of sublime +composition when the occasion and theme demand it.</p> +<p>The style in the later chapters of the book of Isaiah is just +what we would expect from the prophet when the Holy Spirit opened +to his enraptured mind the theme of redemption through a suffering +Messiah, in the fifty-third and following chapters of the book.</p> +<p>The objection to conceding the authorship of the entire book to +Isaiah, because the prophet mentions Cyrus by name before his +birth, is made in the face of the fundamental fact already stated +that God inspired the writer, and is therefore the author of +prophecy, "declaring the end from the beginning." (Isa. xlvi. 10.) +He knows all the future and whom he will choose to accomplish his +glorious purposes. To deny this fact is to deny all prophecy. If +God can not foretell future events and the instruments for their +accomplishment, there can be no prophecy, and God's omniscience is +impeached. Isaiah prophesied in the seventh chapter and fourteenth +verse: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall +call his name Immanuel." Matthew affirms that this prophecy was +fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. (Matt. i. 22, 23.) He also +declares in the same connection that the announcing angel foretold +that the name "Jesus" was to be given to the Messiah at his birth. +These preannouncements must be cast aside if the critic's dictum is +accepted. Shall we discredit Isaiah, the announcing angel, and +Matthew on the ground of the critic's literary acumen?</p> +<p>Further, the student of the Word will remember that when +Jeroboam was bringing disaster upon Israel, God sent his prophet to +declare: "Behold a son shall be born unto the house of David, +Josiah by name; and upon thee (the altar at Bethel) shall he offer +the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and +men's bones shall be burnt upon thee." More than three hundred +years after this prophecy was given, according to Usher's +Chronology, Josiah was born and did the precise things that were +predicted concerning him. (See 1 Kings xiii. 2 and 2 Kings xxiii, +15, 16.) The omniscience of the Holy Spirit can predict the name of +the instrument as readily as the event which is to be +accomplished.</p> +<p>Again, undoubtedly the prophet must speak out of his own +environment. He can speak only where he is. But who is to decide +how many and what allusions he must make to custom or incident in +order to satisfy the critic, as to his time and place in +history?</p> +<p>The tailor who decides that he must have twenty yards of cloth +to make a suit of clothes, when ten yards are sufficient, will +shortly be wanting customers. The critic who has decided how many +and what kind of synchronous events must be furnished by the +prophet, in order to secure his credence as to authorship, will be +left without a prophet or a Bible.</p> +<p>The erection of an arbitrary law, by which to interpret history +or prophecy in the Bible, is contrary to all the treatment which +secular literature receives from these same critics.</p> +<p>From these strained, forced and unphilosophical methods of +dealing with prophecy, we turn to the testimony of the inspired +book itself. The book of Isaiah is distinguished by a phraseology +peculiar to this prophet. He speaks of God as "The Holy One of +Israel." This title, as applied to God, is used only seven times in +the entire Old Testament; once in 2 Kings, three times in the +Psalms, twice in the prophecies of Jeremiah, and once in Ezekiel, +but never in the minor prophets. But Isaiah uses this title as +applied to God, twenty-two times, running through the entire book +from the first to the sixtieth chapter.</p> +<p>The reader will be interested to note how the repeated use of +the phrase—"The Holy One of Israel"—attests the unity +of the authorship of the entire book. Hence the passages ("line +upon line, line upon line") are here presented to give their +unequivocal testimony to our Sabbath School teachers.</p> +<p>1: Isaiah I:4—"They have forsaken the Lord, they have +provoked <i>the Holy One of Israel to anger</i>."</p> +<p>2: Isaiah v:18, 19—"Woe unto them that draw iniquity with +cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: that say ... +let the counsel of <i>the Holy One of Israel</i> draw nigh and +come, that we may know it."</p> +<p>3: Isaiah v:24—"Because they have cast away the law of the +Lord of hosts, and despised the word of <i>the Holy One of +Israel</i>."</p> +<p>4: Isaiah xii:6—"Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of +Zion; for great is <i>the Holy One of Israel</i> in the midst of +thee."</p> +<p>5: Isaiah xvii:7—"At that day shall a man look to his +Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to <i>the Holy One of +Israel</i>."</p> +<p>6: Isaiah xxix:19—"The poor among man shall rejoice in +<i>the Holy One of Israel</i>."</p> +<p>7: Isaiah xxx:11—"Cause <i>the Holy One of Israel</i> to +cease from before us." (The language of a rebellious people.)</p> +<p>8: Isaiah xxx:12—"Wherefore, thus saith <i>the Holy One of +Israel</i>, because ye despise this word ... therefore this +iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall."</p> +<p>9: Isaiah xxx:15—"Thus saith the Lord God, <i>the Holy One +of Israel</i>; In returning and rest shall ye be saved."</p> +<p>10: Isaiah xxxi:1—"They look not unto <i>the Holy One of +Israel</i>, neither seek the Lord."</p> +<p>11: Isaiah xli:14—"Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men +of Israel; I will help thee, I will help thee saith the Lord, and +thy Redeemer, <i>the Holy One of Israel</i>."</p> +<p>12: Isaiah xli:16—"Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and +shalt glory in <i>the Holy One of Israel</i>."</p> +<p>13: Isaiah xli:20—"That they may see, and know, and +consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath +done this, and <i>the Holy One of Israel</i> hath created it."</p> +<p>14: Isaiah xliii:13—"I am the Lord thy God, <i>the Holy +One of Israel, thy</i> Savior."</p> +<p>15: Isaiah xlv:11—"Thus saith the Lord, <i>the Holy One of +Israel</i>, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come, concerning my +sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me."</p> +<p>16: Isaiah xlvii:4—"As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts +is his name, <i>the Holy One of Israel</i>."</p> +<p>17: Isaiah xlviii:17—"Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, +<i>the Holy One of Israel</i>, I am the Lord thy God, which +teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou +shouldest go."</p> +<p>18: Isaiah xlix:7—"Thus saith the Lord ... Kings shall see +and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is +faithful, and <i>the Holy One of Israel</i>, and he shall choose +thee."</p> +<p>19: Isaiah liv:5—"For thy Maker is thine husband; The Lord +of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer is <i>the Holy One of +Israel</i>; The God of the whole earth shall he be called."</p> +<p>20: Isaiah lv:5—"Nations that knew not thee, shall run +unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for <i>the Holy One of +Israel</i>."</p> +<p>21: Isaiah lx:9—"The Isles shall wait for me, and the +ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver +and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to +<i>the Holy One of Israel</i>, because he hath glorified thee."</p> +<p>22: Isaiah lx:14—"And they shall call thee the city of the +Lord, the Zion of <i>the Holy One of Israel</i>."</p> +<p>The reader will notice that this phrase, as applied to God is a +characteristic of Isaiah. We have not found it in any of the minor +prophets, and but twice in the prophecies of Jeremiah, and once in +Ezekiel. But Isaiah uses it more than twenty times, running from +the first to the sixtieth chapter. He uses it ten times before +reaching the fortieth chapter, and twelve times in the chapters +following, which the critics have assigned to some unknown author +or authors. Shall we be asked to conclude that the unknown authors +adopted Isaiah's style, his phraseology, from the fortieth chapter +to the end of the book? For what motive? To conceal themselves? The +assumption is too large. If the first thirty-nine chapters of this +book are accepted, as the prophecies of Isaiah, by every law of +fair criticism the whole book must claim this prophet as its +author.</p> +<h2>VII. GOD'S REPLY TO THESE ASSUMPTIONS.</h2> +<p><i>"Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?" +Rom. ix. 20.</i></p> +<p><i>"At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three +witnesses, shall the matter be established." Deut. xix. 15.</i></p> +<p><i>"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for +our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the +Scriptures might have hope." Rom. xv. 4.</i></p> +<p><i>"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and +they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the +world are come." 1 Cor. x. 11.</i></p> +<p><i>"My people shall know my name, therefore they shall know in +that day that I am he that doth speak, Behold, it is I." Isaiah +lii. 6.</i></p> +<p>In the New Testament we have in the Gospels and the Epistles +God's teachings concerning the Old Testament. The writers of the +New Testament had the promise of our Lord that "The Comforter, who +is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall +teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, +whatsoever I have said unto you." (John xiv. 26.)</p> +<p>In the fulfillment of this promise they have given us the +testimony of God, the Holy Spirit, on all the subjects of which +they have written. What, therefore, is their testimony concerning +the author of the book of Isaiah? Did that prophet write the book, +or is it a patched book from various authors?</p> +<p>Matthew, the inspired author of the book that bears his name, +quotes from Isaiah xl. 3: "The voice of him that crieth in the +wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the +desert a highway for our God." (See Matt. iii. 3.)</p> +<p>The critics inform us that this prophecy was not given by +Isaiah, but by some unknown prophet, and was bound up with Isaiah's +prophecies, and labeled as his. Matthew informs us that it was a +prophecy concerning John the Baptist, and was given by Isaiah +himself, and not by another. He says (iii. 3), referring to John +the Baptist: "For this is he that was spoken of through <i>Isaiah +the prophet</i>, saying:</p> +<p>"The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ye ready the +way of the Lord, Make his paths straight." (R.V.)</p> +<p>Again, in Matt. viii. 17, the author of this gospel quotes a +passage from the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. The critics have +handed this fifty-third chapter over to the Unknown prophet or +prophets. They affirm again that the theme and literary style of +this chapter are such that Isaiah could not have written it. They +base their affirmation on their own literary discoveries, their +ability to detect the footprints of some other prophet, though they +do not inform us who that prophet is. They are sure that it was not +Isaiah, for they have already placed him under such limitations +that, according to their critical decision, he could not write the +chapter. Of course, their conclusion is reached by practically +denying the Holy Spirit's agency—logically denying that "holy +men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter +i. 21.)</p> +<p>The inspired author of the gospel of Matthew had a different +conception of the Holy Spirit's agency in giving prophecy to the +world. He had not discovered the limitations of the prophet, which +the critics profess to have found. Hence, in giving the history of +God's gracious and miraculous work of casting out demons and +healing the sick, he declares (Matt. viii. 17), without a shadow of +a mistake, that Christ wrought these miracles, "that it might be +fulfilled <i>which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet</i>, +saying, Himself took our infirmities and bare our diseases." (See +also Isaiah liii. 4.)</p> +<p>As Matthew is on the witness stand, the reader will be +interested to hear his testimony further. In his gospel (xii. +17-21) he testifies that Isaiah wrote the forty-second chapter of +the prophecy that bears his name. Matthew quotes the first four +verses of the chapter, in explanation of the fact that Christ found +it necessary during his ministry to retire from the public +excitement which his teaching and miracles had produced. He says +that Christ pursued that course "that it might be fulfilled which +<i>was spoken through Isaiah the prophet</i>, saying, Behold my +servant whom I have chosen; my beloved in whom my soul is well +pleased; I will put my Spirit upon him and he shall show judgment +to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man +hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, +and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment +unto victory, and in his name shall the Gentiles trust."</p> +<p>This quotation is from Isaiah, forty-second chapter, and first +part of the chapter. The reader will remember that the critics deny +this testimony of Matthew. This forty-second chapter which he +(Matthew) assigns to Isaiah is a part of the book which they affirm +has come to us from some unknown source.</p> +<p>It is worthy of repetition that three times Matthew, the +inspired author of the first gospel, has affirmed without +equivocation that the passages which he quotes were "<i>spoken by +Isaiah the prophet</i>." The critics say "No." Which will the +reader believe?</p> +<p>The author of the third gospel, describing our Lord's visit to +Nazareth, says: "As his custom was, he went into the synagogue on +the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered +unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened the +book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the +Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel; +he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance +to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at +liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the +Lord." Luke iv. 16-19.</p> +<p><i>Luke informs us that it was "the book of the prophet +Isaiah</i>" from which our Savior made this quotation. We turn to +the prophecy and discover that the passage is found in the +sixty-first chapter and first and second verses of the book. But +the critics who are correcting our Bible for us (?) inform us that +their same literary discovery holds good here—that this part +of the book <i>was not</i> written by Isaiah. They assume to hand +over this part of the book, knowingly, to the "Great Unknown" and +unknowable prophets. The testimony of Luke contradicts the critics. +He gives Isaiah full credit as the author of the statement. The +reader will doubtless accept the fact that the inspired writer, the +author of Luke's gospel, obtained his information at first hand, +from God himself, who inspired the record.</p> +<p>Again Luke contradicts the critics when he puts on record +Philip's interview with the eunuch, as we find it in Acts viii. +30-33. When Philip joined himself to the eunuch, by direction of +the Spirit, he "heard him reading <i>Isaiah the prophet</i> (Isaiah +liii. 7), and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?" ... Now, +the passage of the Scriptures which he was reading was this: "He +was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before his +shearer, dumb, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation his +judgment was taken away: his generation who shall declare? For his +life is taken from the earth," (R.V., Acts viii. 30-33.)</p> +<p>Our critics have robbed Isaiah of this passage. It was written, +so their literary skill claims to have discovered, by some prophet +who has successfully concealed himself, and finally disappeared +from sight, leaving no hope that his name will ever be +discovered.</p> +<p>Luke informs us that he knew who the prophet was that penned +that touching description of the coming Messiah, and that his name +was Isaiah. This question he has settled.</p> +<p>Turning to the gospel of John, we are furnished the testimony of +one of whom our Lord said, "Verily I say unto you, Among them that +are born of woman, there hath not risen a greater than John the +Baptist." This witness comes before us, therefore, indorsed by +Jesus Christ himself, "The faithful Witness." We ask him, +therefore, to speak for himself as to who is the author of that +part of prophecy which the critics are attempting to wrest from +Isaiah.</p> +<p>When the priests and Levites came to ask him, "Who art thou? +That we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou +of thyself?" he replied, "I am the Voice of one crying in the +wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, <i>as said Isaiah +the prophet</i>." (See John i. 22, 23, R.V.)</p> +<p>This was his testimony, first concerning himself. We believe +him. And this was his testimony, secondly, concerning the author of +the prophecy which he quoted: "<i>Isaiah the prophet</i>."</p> +<p>Again we believe him, and as confidently, concerning the second +statement as the first. And the Apostle John was so confident of +its truth that he put it on record.</p> +<p>The passage quoted (Isaiah xl. 3) belongs to that part of the +book which our critic and his fellow critics have decided was +predicted by some stray prophet, unknown to the world, to the +Jewish people or the church. We prefer the statement of John the +Baptist, and its indorsement by John the Apostle.</p> +<p>The reader will now recall that we have already heard Matthew's +corroboration of the testimony of John the Baptist concerning +Isaiah's claim to this prophecy. (See Matt iii. 3.)</p> +<p>In the gospel of the Apostle John he puts on record his personal +testimony concerning the author of the book bearing Isaiah's name. +Explaining the amazing unbelief of the Jews, he says (xii. 37, 38): +"But though he (Jesus) did so many signs before them, yet they +believed not on him: <i>that the word of Isaiah the prophet</i> +might be fulfilled, which he spake:</p> +<p>"Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of +the Lord been revealed?" (R.V.)</p> +<p>The reader will see that this inspired writer of the fourth +gospel is quoting from Isaiah liii. 1, thus testifying to Isaiah's +authorship.</p> +<p>Our literary critics have decided that this chapter was +forbidden ground to Isaiah, that, if we are to believe them, he had +no connection with this prophecy.</p> +<p>We are asked to believe that the author of this fifty-third +chapter, the most minute and tender prophecy concerning the +Messiah's sufferings for his people, and rejection by them, has +dropped out of sight! We are asked to believe that the name of the +prophet who gave this dramatic picture of what was to take place on +Calvary seven hundred years later, has been lost in the fog of the +passing centuries! We are asked to believe that the name of the +author of the first thirty-nine chapters, the less important part +of the book, has been preserved, but oblivion has overtaken the +author of the book from the fortieth chapter to the end.</p> +<p>The assumption is an affront to the intelligence of the ordinary +reader of the Bible. It is an impeachment of the honesty of the +authors of the gospels, which the unshaken faith of God's people +can never concede.</p> +<p>The reader can now sum up the testimony of Matthew, Mark (see i. +3, R.V.), Luke, John, and John the Baptist, all of whom with one +voice contradicts the critics. We also prefer, with these +witnesses, to discredit the men who are picking out clauses, verses +and chapters here and there, and guessing them off to authors of +their own invention, who have never been known or heard of.</p> +<p>It is not sufficient for the critics to say that these New +Testament authors knew better, but deferred to popular sentiment, +based on tradition. That can not satisfy our estimate of them as +God's divinely appointed teachers, chosen to make record of the +momentous truth on which the salvation of a lost world hangs. Men, +ready to lay down their lives for the truth, were not the men to +play fast and loose with the Word of God, in deference to a +supposed popular sentiment.</p> +<p>Further, our critical friends have assumed to decide for the +prophets that they must prophesy out of their immediate +surroundings in such a marked way, with such continued reference to +the events of the period, that the prophecy must be located in that +period. If the critic cannot find these particular local earmarks, +he must push the prophecy to a point of time with which he can make +it synchronize, and which will satisfy his literary judgment. By +this law of determining dates, the critics claim that the book of +Isaiah is a composite work, produced by different authors and at +different times.</p> +<p>On this assumption the latter part of the book of Revelation was +not a revelation to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos. The +first part of the book may be adjudged as his. But presently the +matter of the book passes into a realm beyond the time and +circumstances that belong to that period, hence may not claim him +as its author. An assumption that sets aside the claims of +Scripture, as to authorship, in order to harmonize the book with +one's literary and critical judgment, may be dismissed on its own +lack of merit.</p> +<p>The proposed law above referred to, as a method of locating +prophecy as to time, or determining the author, is arbitrary, and +an absurd attempt to destroy all the testimony of inspired writers, +who have settled the question of authorship and the date of +prophecy.</p> +<h2>VIII. THE HISTORICITY OF THE BOOK OF JONAH.</h2> +<p><i>"According to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he +spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai the +prophet, which was of Gath-hepher." 2 Kings xiv. 25.</i></p> +<p><i>"The word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, +saying, Arise go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it: +for their wickedness is come up before me." Jonah i. 1, 2.</i></p> +<p><i>"So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh, according to the word +of the Lord." Jonah iii.. 3.</i></p> +<p><i>"And he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be +overthrown." Jonah iii. 4.</i></p> +<p><i>"So the people of Nineveh believed God." Jonah iii. +5.</i></p> +<p><i>"And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil +way; and God repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto +them, and he did it not." Jonah iii. 10.</i></p> +<p><i>"The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this +generation, and shall condemn it, because they repented at the +preaching of Jonas." Matt. xii. 41.</i></p> +<p>The book of Jonah has been attacked by the destructive critics. +Its historicity has been denied. The critics, though certain of +almost all of their objections to the Bible, have not all decided +whether it is "based on history, or is a nature myth." Keunen has +discovered (?) that it is "a product of the opposition to the +strict and exclusive policy of Ezra toward heathen nations." +Objection is made to the historical statements of the book on +various grounds. The objector interposes this difficulty: "Can we +conceive of a heathen city being converted by an obscure foreign +prophet?"</p> +<p>This objection is of kin to that which can not conceive that by +a creative act of God the universe was brought into being, or the +inspired statement that "the worlds were framed by the word of +God." It is the presence of the supernatural everywhere that is +beyond the conception of the critics.</p> +<p>Again, they interpose the difficulty: "How could the Ninevites +give credence to a man who was not a servant of Ashur?"</p> +<p>Without presenting the multiplied difficulties that rationalism +has supposedly discovered, they may be summed up in their statement +substantially, that the book of Jonah is not historical. Whatever +else it may be, whether legend, myth or allegory, it is not +history.</p> +<p>We turn again from the fancies of "Expert Scholarship" to the +testimony of the Bible concerning itself. We discover that the +prophet Jonah is referred to several hundred years before the +critics have permitted him to live. It is written in 2 Kings xiv. +25 that Jeroboam the Second secured the restoration of certain +territory, "according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which +he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai the +prophet, which was of Gath-hepher."</p> +<p>The name of Jonah, of his family, and the place of residence of +his family, are definitely stated. The work is accomplished "by the +hand of his servant Jonah," and the date of its accomplishment, is +so precisely recorded that these statements could have been +disproved had they been false. Hence, there was a person named +Jonah.</p> +<p>Our Lord has settled the questions of the personality and work +of Jonah, if anything can be settled for unbelief. He has affirmed +the historical certainty of the two important events which critical +assumption declares impossible. The critical Jews were demanding a +sign from our Lord. He had wrought many miracles, but they wanted +something beyond what he had given, a miracle for their special +benefit. He declined to gratify them. Of that generation he said: +"There shall no sign be given it, but the sign of the prophet +Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's +belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in +the heart of the earth." (Matt. xii. 39-41.) As Jonah was +miraculously preserved for three days and nights and was brought +forth, as by a resurrection, so was the Son of man to be brought +forth from the tomb. His resurrection was to be the crowning +miracle, the sign forever confronting his nation, Jonah's +deliverance from apparent death was such a miracle as convinced the +Ninevites that he had a message from God for them, so Christ's +resurrection was to become the keystone of the arch on which the +whole structure of the redemptive system should rest. "He was +raised for our justification." (Rom. iv. 25.)</p> +<p>The reader will mark that our Lord referred to the miraculous +preservation of Jonah, and his deliverance, as a historical event, +recorded in the first and second chapters of the book of Jonah, not +as a myth or allegory, but as a historical fact. "<i>As</i> Jonah +was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, <i>so</i> +shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of +the earth." <i>As</i> the one, <i>so</i> the other. As certainly +and literally the one, so certainly and literally the other. If +Jonah's preservation and coming forth from the fish that God had +prepared was only a legend, then was Christ's death, burial, and +resurrection a legend. And in consistency with their critical +theory some of the rationalists have reduced them both to legend. +For <i>as</i> one was, <i>so</i> was the other to be. The statement +is plain, definite narrative, from which there is no escape.</p> +<p>Others of the critical school hold to the historical verity of +Christ's burial and resurrection, but assert that he made use of +the assumed legend concerning Jonah, as we might illustrate any +fact in history by a familiar statement from fiction. To such an +assumption we reply that our Lord was dealing with tremendous +realities, such as could not be belittled by turning for support or +illustration to a fictitious story. He quoted from Old Testament +history to illustrate and enforce New Testament truth. On another +occasion he said: "<i>As</i> Moses lifted up the serpent in the +wilderness, even <i>so</i> must the Son of man be lifted up that +whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal +life." Shall we hand over to legendary literature the great +historical fact of the twenty-first chapter of Numbers—God's +deliverance of the people from the fiery serpents—by one look +at the uplifted brazen serpent by the hand of Moses? We may as well +reduce one passage to fiction as the other. "<i>As</i> Jonah ... +three days and nights, <i>so</i> the Son of man. <i>As</i> the +serpent was lifted up, <i>so</i> the Son of man shall be lifted +up." This comparison has a definite meaning. The apostle uses it in +his Epistle to the Romans, fifth chapter and twelfth verse. +"<i>As</i> by one man sin entered into the world, ... <i>so</i> +death passed upon all men for that all have sinned." As certainly +as sin entered into the world by one man, so certainly it resulted +that death passed upon all men. <i>As</i> Christ's remaining in the +grave three days was not a fiction, <i>so</i> Jonah's three days +and nights in the great fish that God had prepared was not a +fiction.</p> +<p>Our Lord further certifies to the historicity of the book of +Jonah by his reference to the great prophet's preaching. The +critic's objection is thus stated: "Can we conceive of a heathen +city being converted by an obscure foreign prophet?"</p> +<p>Of course, the objection to the record of that mighty moral +movement comes from those who have counted God out of Jonah's +preaching. If they can eliminate the divine power from that event, +they can easily hand the whole record over to what they are pleased +to call the "folk lore of the Bible." Here, as ever, the critic +must rid the Scriptures of the supernatural.</p> +<p>But our Savior knew that "power belongeth unto God" (Psa. lxii. +11), and he put on record the repentance of the Ninevites, saying, +"The men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation +and condemn it, <i>because they repented at the preaching of +Jonah</i>." (Matt. xii. 41.) But if the book is not history, our +Lord's statement is false, for he says the Ninevites did +repent.</p> +<p>There is no rational possibility of denying our Lord's positive +statement without impeaching his veracity.</p> +<p>His words authorize the following conclusions:</p> +<p>I. There was a prophet whose name was Jonah, as is stated in 2 +Kings xiv. 25. He was not a myth or figment, but a prophet whose +personality is authenticated by Christ himself.</p> +<p>2. There was a city of Nineveh. The skepticism of other days +denied the existence of Nineveh. So completely was the prophecy +concerning the destruction of Nineveh fulfilled that the enemies of +God's Word refused to believe that the city had ever existed, until +the excavations of the last century revealed the hidden ruins. But +the word of God was true, and in God's time Nineveh was +revealed.</p> +<p>3. God sent this same prophet Jonah to Nineveh to preach. Christ +tells us what took place under "the preaching of Jonah." It +terminated in a great awakening and reformation for:</p> +<p>4. "The men of Nineveh ... repented at the preaching of +Jonah."</p> +<p>Did the Savior know what he was talking about? Did he know the +truth of the statement he made? Or, knowing (as is assumed) that +there were no such events, did he resort to <i>fiction</i> in order +to assert the <i>certainty</i> of his own resurrection? If the +latter, then we must correct his statement concerning Jonah, and +read: "As Jonah has been fictitiously represented to have been +three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so, fictitiously, +shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of +the earth."</p> +<p>Our Sunday-school teachers, with the words of Christ before +them, will be able to give the critics important information. They +can report the certainty of the historical facts.</p> +<h2>IX. RADICAL EXPOSITION.</h2> +<p><i>"Among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall +privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that +bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction." (R.V.) 2 +Peter ii. 1.</i></p> +<p><i>"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, +avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science +falsely so called, which some professing have erred concerning the +faith." 1 Tim. vi. 20, 21.</i></p> +<p><i>"Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in +them." 1 Tim. iv. 16.</i></p> +<p><i>"We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do +well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark +place until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." 2 +Peter i. 19.</i></p> +<p>The destructive critics have pushed their work far into the +field of both prophecy and exposition. They have relegated to the +domain of mythology the clear and unequivocal historical statements +of Scripture. Where the intrusion of their mythological theory was +too large a demand to make on our credulity, they have attempted a +radical exegesis in proof of their assumptions.</p> +<p>They claim to have discovered that the Church in all the past +has misconceived the first prophetic promise given to man. That +promise was given to our first parents immediately after the fall. +God said to the serpent (Gen. iii. 15): "I will put enmity between +thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall +bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel."</p> +<p>Our critics have two objections to the interpretation that has +always been given and maintained by Christian scholars and by the +Church as a whole. First, that "the seed of the woman" does not +refer to the Messiah, but to the human race, which is to bruise the +serpent's head. Second, that the serpent engaged in seducing Eve, +and here placed under the curse, does not refer to Satan.</p> +<p>In replying to the objection that the Messiah is not referred to +in the passage, let it be said that the pronoun is a pronoun +referring to a person. It is so translated in the Revised Version. +"<i>He</i> shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel." +It is not the human race, but he, an individual person. This person +was not to be the seed of the man, but of the woman.</p> +<p>The announcing angel said to Mary, "The Holy Spirit shall come +upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: +therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be +called the Son of God." (Luke i. 35.) The child to be born was to +be literally and truly "<i>the seed of the woman</i>," and that was +the Messiah, the only person of the entire human race of whom that +could be said.</p> +<p>We are not left, however, to an exegetical statement alone, +although that is absolutely unequivocal. The promise was repeated +to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and to David. The seed of the woman +was to be the Messiah, the Christ, triumphing over the power of +Satan. The race has not triumphed over Satan, but has been a +failure.</p> +<p>The Holy Spirit has settled the question in Paul's Epistle to +the Galatians, iii. 16: "Now to Abraham and his seed were the +promises made. <i>He saith not, and to seeds, as of many</i> (or, +the human race), <i>but as of one, and to thy seed which is +Christ</i>." On the human side, our Savior was of the line of +Abraham, and David, but was singularly and literally "<i>the seed +of the woman</i>," being the Son of God.</p> +<p>He called himself the Son of man only in the sense that he was +born of her who was of the race of man. He ever claimed God as his +Father, and in a different sense from that in which men can claim +God as Father. His claim to be the Son of God was the claim to be +equal with God, which no created being dare make.</p> +<p>The Holy Spirit further declares, in Hebrews ii. 14; "For as +much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also +himself likewise took part of the same, that through death (his +death on the cross) he might destroy him (Satan) that had the power +of death"—"bruise the serpent's head." It was Satan that +inflicted death. He was the first higher critic who changed and +denied the word of God, saying to the woman, "Ye shall not die." +Through his denial of the word of God, he deceived the woman and +brought spiritual death on the race. This was the work of Satan, +according to the New Testament teaching. He is the same that God +calls the serpent in the third chapter of Genesis. For the Holy +Spirit informs us, in 2 Cor. xi. 3, that "the serpent beguiled +Eve," and states definitely who the serpent is—"that old +serpent called the devil and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world." +(Rev. xii. 9.)</p> +<p>Having God's testimony that the serpent and the devil are one +and the same, we are prepared for the mark which our Lord puts on +him, "A murderer from the beginning ... and no truth in him." He +had always sought to pervert and discredit the word of God. He +suggested to Eve that she did not understand God's command; she had +taken it too literally, which is a popular form of attacking the +Bible today. "Yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of +the garden?" Are you not mistaken? And when he had injected the +doubt into the mind of Eve, had gained an advantage, he seized it +and boldly denied the word of God, "Ye shall not die." He is an +artful critic and successfully did his deadly work.</p> +<p>Hence, the first great promise which God gave to the fallen +pair, and through them to the race, set the seed of the woman, the +Messiah, in conflict with "that old serpent called the devil and +Satan." That promise is now in process of fulfillment, and must +reach its final consummation when John's apocalyptic vision is +fulfilled, "And the devil that deceived them (the nations) shall be +cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the +false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night, forever +and ever."</p> +<h2>X. GOD HIS OWN INTERPRETER.</h2> +<p><i>"To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not +accordingly to this word, it is because there is no light in them." +Isaiah viii. 20.</i></p> +<p><i>"Thy law is the truth." Psa. cxix. 142.</i></p> +<p><i>"Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and +very faithful." Psa. cxix. 138.</i></p> +<p><i>"Lead me in thy truth and teach me." Psa. xxv. 5.</i></p> +<p><i>"The word of our God shall stand forever." Isaiah xl. +8.</i></p> +<p><i>"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass +away." Mark xiii. 31.</i></p> +<p>The destructive critics have assaulted the most precious +prophetic scriptures. It has been already stated that the final aim +of skepticism is against the person of Christ. If the unbelieving +world can be rid of both the prophecies concerning Christ, and the +history of his life, his sacrificial death and resurrection, they +will be rid of that stumbling stone which they have been pleased to +call the "much-abused supernaturalism." Hence, the strenuous effort +is made to destroy predictive prophecy concerning the person of the +Son of God. The fact that there are more than thirty-five +prophecies, containing one hundred and thirty distinct counts, +concerning the birth, the life, the teaching, the death, and the +resurrection of our Lord, greatly disturbs the critics.</p> +<p>The prophecy of Isaiah ix. 6 has been troublesome. The prophet +foretold, in distinct and unimpeachable language, the coming of the +Messiah: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and +the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be +called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting +Father, The Prince of Peace."</p> +<p>A critic who claims to be loyal to the word of God says +concerning this passage: "The prophet always paints upon the canvas +the events of the <i>near</i> future. I can not believe that Isaiah +ix. 6 refers to a far-off event, because it would not give comfort +to his people at that time." As this prophecy was given more than +seven hundred years before the coming of the Messiah, our critic +concludes that it could be of no practical benefit to Israel, +hence, must have referred to some person who must soon appear.</p> +<p>To affirm that this promise of the Messiah long before his +coming "would not give comfort to his people" is mere assumption. +The time of his coming was not announced, and the people were to +live in expectation of the event, which expectation was to be their +stay and comfort. This assumption would vitiate the promise of his +coming made to our first parents. Gen. iii. 15, the promises made +to Moses; Deut xviii. 15, the predictions made in Psa. xxii. 1, 8, +16, 18, in which his cry on the cross, the taunt of his enemies, +the piercing of his hands and feet, and the parting of his raiment +among the soldiers, were all predicted.</p> +<p>The prediction that "Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be +little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come +forth unto me, he that is to be the Ruler of Israel; whose goings +forth have been of old, from everlasting" (Micah v. 2) was made +seven hundred years before the coming of Christ, and, according to +critical assumption, could not refer to our Savior, "because it +would not give comfort to his people."</p> +<p>Indeed, no prophecy preceding the time of Isaiah ix. 6 could be +allowed to refer to Christ, on the assumption of the critic. More +than this, the prediction of Christ's second advent is vitiated by +this assumption. It was more than eighteen hundred years ago that +the angels said to the disciples who were steadfastly watching his +ascension: "This same Jesus who is taken from you into heaven shall +so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Was +there no comfort to the disciples in the promise of his return, +though they did not live to witness it? Paul, enlarging on the +promises of Christ's return, said to the Thessalonians: "Wherefore +comfort one another with these words."</p> +<p>Let us now consider the prophecy in its context. The prophecy of +the seventh and eighth chapters is projected on through the ninth. +The first verse of this chapter predicts some relief of the former +sufferings of the people for their sins.</p> +<p>"The people that walked in darkness (verse 2) have seen great +light." The prophet informs us who it was, to whom this light +should come. The inhabitants of "the land of Zabulon and the land +of Nephthalim," which embraced the region of Galilee, in which the +larger portion of Christ's ministry was exercised. Matthew quotes +this scripture as fulfilled by the coming of our Savior. (See Matt. +iv. 12-16.) "Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into +prison he departed into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth he came and +dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of +Zabulon and Nephthalim; <i>that it might be fulfilled which was +spoken by Esaias the prophet</i>, saying, The land of Zabulon and +the land of Nephthalim, by way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee +of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw a great +light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, +light is sprung up."</p> +<p>Undoubtedly the prophet looked into the future, when the coming +of the Messiah should bring the light of the gospel into that +region so particularly described by him. And the inspired writer of +the gospel of Matthew positively applies the context of Isaiah ix. +6 to our Lord. Then, proceeding with the explanation as to how the +light should break forth in "Galilee of the Gentiles," the prophet +announces (verse 6) that, "for unto us a Child is born, unto us a +Son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and +his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The +Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."</p> +<p>The reader may well investigate the language of this prediction, +"for unto us a Child is born." The "for" is given as an +explanation, a reason for the coming light to "Galilee of the +Gentiles," a region and a people that had been for generations "in +the shadow of death." The light was to break forth because a child +was to be born and a son given.</p> +<p>The announcement was made as if the event had taken place, +though so far in the future. This is in accordance with the form of +predictive prophecy, as in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, where +the atoning work of Christ is spoken of as already accomplished, +though it remained to be achieved in the future. The prophet said +of that work: "He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.... +He was wounded for our transgressions.... He was bruised for our +iniquities.... The Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all." +So it is stated in this prophecy: "For unto us a Child is born, +unto us a Son is given," for the promise of God is the same to him +as the fulfillment. His word is equivalent to his deed. It cost him +as much to purpose and pledge as to fulfill his pledge. Hence, the +prophecy speaks of the thing as done, since God has promised to do +it. Seven centuries before he came, the prophet said, "unto us a +Child is born, unto us a Son is given."</p> +<p>Our critical friends can not inform us who was the "Son given." +They can only say it must refer to some "<i>near future event</i>." +Let our Book speak for itself. It gives no uncertain testimony.</p> +<p>1. "<i>The government shall be upon his shoulder</i>."</p> +<p>As already stated in the context, and affirmed by Matthew, it is +he that should bring light to the Gentiles. There is only one who +is himself "a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy +people Israel." (Luke ii. 32.) He said of himself: "I am the light +of the world." (John ix. 5.)</p> +<p>The government is his. He is the "Only Potentate, the King of +kings and Lord of lords." (1 Tim. vi. 15.)</p> +<p>There is only One Potentate, One Ruler, One who could say, "All +power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." (Matt. xxviii. 18.) +There is only One who could say, "All things are delivered unto me +of my father." (Matt. xi. 27.) There is only One of whom it could +be said, "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall +be no end," and that is said of the "Child born unto us and the Son +given," and is a part of the prophecy concerning him. (Isaiah ix. +7.)</p> +<p>All earthly thrones have crumbled, all earthly kings and +potentates have slept in the dust of death with the poorest of +their subjects. But of this Son given, Daniel says: "There was +given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, +nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an +everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom +that which shall not be destroyed." (Daniel vii. 14.)</p> +<p>2. "<i>His name shall be called Wonderful</i>."</p> +<p>His name means his character, his person. He, himself, shall be +called Wonderful, in a sense in which no other person can be +entitled to that designation. Nicodemus accredited him as a +wonderful instructor. "We know that thou art a teacher come from +God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God +be with him." (John iii. 2). His enemies that were sent to arrest +him quailed before him, and returned to the chief priests and +Pharisees, saying, "Never man spake like this man."</p> +<p>A devout scholar has well said: "The manner of his birth was +wonderful; his humility, self-denial, and sorrows were wonderful; +his mighty works were wonderful; his dying agonies were wonderful; +his resurrection and ascension were all fitted to excite admiration +and wonder."</p> +<p>3. "<i>His name shall be called ... Counsellor</i>."</p> +<p>This term plainly indicated his exalted wisdom and dignity. The +wisdom of men comes to naught; their counsel shall perish with +them. But there is One, who understands, who declares the end from +the beginning. Of him it is said: "The counsel of the Lord standeth +forever; the thoughts of his heart to all generations." (Psa. +xxxiii. 11.) He says of himself, "Counsel is mine and sound wisdom" +(Prov. viii. 14), and it was by his "determinate counsel and +foreknowledge" that the glorious scheme of redemption and complete +salvation from sin was planned and executed. Hence, he takes to +himself the title, "The Great and Mighty God, ... great in counsel, +and mighty in work." (Jer. xxxii. 19.) Therefore, the Child that +was to be born, the Son that was to be given, was to have a name, +and "his name shall be called ... Counsellor."</p> +<p>4. "<i>His name shall be called ... The Mighty God</i>."</p> +<p>And now we are face to face with the Lord Jehovah, and the +positive statement that this was the promised Son. By what guessing +or critical legerdemain one who claims loyalty to the word of God +and ordinary intelligence can attempt to sweep away these definite +and determinate statements, and crowd some insignificant worm of +the dust into the place given to him who was in the beginning, who +was with God and <i>who was God</i>, we can not comprehend.</p> +<p>And still the prophet rises to the climax, to make sure that +"wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err," and adds the +prediction concerning the coming Son that,</p> +<p>5. "<i>His name shall be called ... The Everlasting +Father</i>."</p> +<p>The Revised Version gives the same rendering as the accepted +version, and adds the marginal reading, "Father of Eternity." The +sense of the passage is the same. The name "Everlasting Father" was +the name of the coming Son. He would be Wonderful, Counsellor, The +Mighty God, not for a short time, but eternally, forever and +ever—"the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." His care of +his people would never cease.</p> +<p>The distinctions between the persons of the trinity were not +made in the Old Testament, as in the New. Jehovah was God, the Lord +was God, and was known as Jehovah God, the Everlasting Father. The +incarnation of the second person in the trinity gave emphasis to +his sonship, in order to put him in brotherly relation to us. +"Wherefore he is not ashamed to call them brethren."</p> +<p>This prophecy of Isaiah, however, condescends to accommodate our +weakness, and necessity, and gives to the promised child the name +by which he is recognized in the New Testament, for</p> +<p>6. "<i>His name shall be called ... The Prince of +Peace</i>."</p> +<p>At the birth of the Child the angel choir sang "Glory to God in +the highest, and <i>on earth peace</i>, good will toward men." +(Luke ii. 14.) "Him hath God exalted with his right hand <i>to be a +Prince</i> and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel and +forgiveness of sins." (Acts v. 31.)</p> +<p>Isaiah spoke as he was moved by the Holy Spirit. He gave to +Israel this assuring promise for their comfort, that the Seed of +the woman, the Messiah, was coming not as a fallible, impotent +ruler, but as a Prince and Savior. Israel failed to comprehend the +glorious things predicted, and even yet they are not fully +unfolded. But the Messiah did not fail to come, and, as predicted, +he came at Bethlehem. Every phase of his life, and the mighty work +of redemption, all that was predicted of his earthly career, has +been accomplished. And now, at the right hand of the Father, he is +moving to the final consummation of his purposes of redeeming +grace.</p> +<p>He will not be moved from his purposes by the uncritical +attempts of rationalism to destroy the confidence of God's people +in his revealed truth. We can move forward confidently in our work, +knowing that nothing shall pass from his Word until all is +fulfilled.</p> +<p>In this very brief study, in which God has spoken through the +testimony of his word, we have only touched a few points in which +the truth of Scripture has been assailed. But the testimony of the +Book settles all questions. We can well rest on the assurance, +"Forever O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven," and can not be +unsettled on the earth. Our Sunday-school teachers and Christian +young people can not fail to comprehend, and will rejoice in the +fullness and power of God's testimony through prophet, apostle, and +Christ the incarnate Word. To him be honor, glory, and dominion +forever. Amen.</p> +<hr /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Testimony of the Bible Concerning +the Assumptions of Destructive Criticism, by S. E. 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