To the Editor of the "Naam-Emma Datty News."
Sir,~The recent discussion your journal anent the: authorship of the Pentateuch, impels me. to bring to the notice' of your readers the recent interview given by Prof. Robert Dick Wilson of the Prince: ton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NI, setting forth newly discovered evidences to support the traditional. theory that the five books of Moses. were originally atten by Moses in the Hebrew . The authorship of these books owing to the lack of experience.of|of the Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy—has been the subject much controversy in biblical eritieism of recent times. That Moses was the author of practically all the Pentateuch is the traditional view, almost universally held until modern times. The modern school of critical analysis, however, has subjected the belief in the Mosaic fsuthorship) to severe attack, ang) many scholars believe that no pa of the Pentateuch could have been written by Moses.
Prof. Wilson said that the recent discovery of clay tablets in Baby-Tonia Fepresenting letters and official papers sent by the Pales-Xinian rulers to the Kings of Egypt daring the period of Moses was ey f the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. He pointed out that the language used on the tablets was known as the r/Samarian disleet, which was the official language of Babylonia before its conquest by the Semites. 160,00] Some of the Samarian expressions, translated into Per is. According to Prof. Wilson, this proved that the writers of the tablets assumed that Hebrew would be understood better by the Egyptians than would the Samarian Innguage. was conclusive proof, Prof. Wilson went on, that the Penta: touch could have been written Hebrew and by Moses and com. pletely answered the arguments of those biblical critics who have tained that the Pentateuch could not have been so written Docause at the time when Moses is supposed to have lived the Hebrew language was not known and in any event wax hot developed to the literary. excellence shown Prof. Wilson explained that did not mean to say that Moses wrote the entire Pentateuch with his own hand. He said that he believed Moses was the author of thee five books in the same way. that Hammurabi was the author of the Code of Hammurabi, that he directed the work. Critics of the traditional theory have held that the Pentateuch contained different and contradictory statements, dicatiog that it was not the work of Moses or any other one ma Wilson believes that this is answered by his presentation of the case. "He said that modern critics had very little basis for their arguments against the Mosaic authorship of the Pent: touch. He said that they had never been able to upset the evid-fence of names, places and dates pointing to the Mosaic authorship of the work, and pointed out that these were the three most vital points of evidence in all documents. "There are four points in the evidence against the critics of Moses," he said. "First, we find that subscriptions in every one of the legal documents of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, expressly attribute their authorship to Moses, as in Lev. vii, xii, ete. In addition to the authorship, the time and place are: also frequently mentioned. In the second place we find the claim that Moses was the author supported by the variations in the form and subject matter of the laws. Third, the laws of Moses demand a single great originator, and we mas designate the idea of God which Moses had as the spring of his thoughts and laws. Finally, the critics bring a general charge that there were some 17 authors involved in the recording of these laws of Moses, and yet it is a strange fact that the critics are able to name not even one of the supposed 17 authors."
"The Pentateuch is full of specific references to places" he said, and yet the orities overlook this his of such importance in the legal investigation of any docement. The same thing is true of the dates given in the Pentateuch. Consequently, in view of this scientific criticism, I feel assured in holding the Pentateuch to have been. the work Jof Moses, and hence. of 'Mosaic authorship, as I have defined i In submitting the foregoing to the attention of your readers, I, by no means, desire to ask you to re-open the' discussion in' your columns, knowing as I do that both Rabbi Hirsch and the Rev. Mr. Rowland are away, from Shanghai, At any rate, I believe Tam entitled to make use of the recent startling revelations made by Prof. Wilson and submit them to the best judgment of your readers, Tram, ete, Mentor.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.