Dean Graves

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 11
The reason why Dean Graves1 (Phases, pp. 138, 139) and others take the Pentateuch as ancient, is incomparably stronger than that on which Homer and Hesiod or Caesar are received. They have been handed down for ages as such, translated two or three centuries before Christ, being then counted as the undoubted sacred books of the Hebrews. They are connected successively with the whole history of Israel, which is confirmed throughout by every kind of collateral proof. The whole history of the world is founded on the statements contained in it. The Jews, who detest Christians, preserve them as authentic books just as we have them: the son of Sirach, Josephus, Philo did the same. The style confirms the dates ascribed to them:2 every institution of the Jews is inseparably connected with their truth. The alleged inconsistency is accounted for by a well known fact recorded in the book itself. Is it unreasonable to accept these books, historically speaking, as genuine, and answer objections if they are made? The use of the article in Greek, as a pronoun, proves Homer ancient. The use of the article Hu and Nahar is a perfectly analogous proof in the Pentateuch.
 
1. Dean Graves, for instance, always takes for granted, that until the contrary shall be demonstrated, it is to be firmly believed that the Pentateuch is from the pen of Moses." (Phases, p. 137.)
2. Some question, founded on style, is raised as to the date of one or two books, but not so as to affect in any way the general history or truth of the entire. Nor do I believe it, in the least, to be a well-founded doubt.