The Holy Bible: Remarks Upon the Books of the Old Testament

• 2 min. read • grade level: 10

The magnificent conclusion to the blessing of the Tribes Deuteronomy 33:26-29²⁶There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. ²⁷The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. ²⁸Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. ²⁹Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places. (Deuteronomy 33:26‑29),) forms a perfectly beautiful and fitting close to the pen of inspiration in the hand of Moses. The first eight verses of the concluding Chapter of Deuteronomy were probably written by Joshua, and the last four verses by an utterly unknown hand, perhaps Ezra the editor of the Old Testament. This last Chapter of the Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 34). is however as fully inspired as the first Chapter (Genesis 1).

The next group of sacred writings is from Joshua to Esther, twelve books in our Bibles, but reckoned by the Jews as six.

JOSHUA. It has been gathered by some from the frequent use of the third person that not Joshua, but a contemporary and eye-witness was the writer of the book. But it must be remembered that it was not an unfrequent occurrence on the part of the inspired writer, both to speak and write in the third person, (see Ezra 7). Jewish tradition ascribes the authorship of the whole to Joshua save the last five verses which were evidently written after the death of the “Savior” of Israel as the name Joshua imports. Probably one of the elders who out-lived Joshua added these supplementary verses, as also the record of certain transactions which occurred some time after the death of Joshua, (Chapter 15:16-19 comp. with Judges 1:12-15¹²And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. ¹³And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. ¹⁴And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou? ¹⁵And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. (Judges 1:12‑15); Chapter 19:47 with Judges 18)

JUDGES. According to generally accepted Jewish tradition, Samuel was the writer of this book. The remark, “In those days there was no king in Israel,” four times repeated (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) would skew that the book was written after the establishment of Monarchy in Israel, but before the capture of Jerusalem and destruction of the Jebusites by David; (for this compare Chapter 1:21, with 2 Samuel 5:6-9⁶And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. ⁷Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David. ⁸And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house. ⁹So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. (2 Samuel 5:6‑9).)

RUTH. From the allusion to a then old custom in Israel “concerning redeeming and concerning changing” (Chapter 4:7), and the historical account of David’s genealogy (Chapter 4:17-22), we gather that the book was written certainly not earlier than the accession of David to the throne of Israel. Probably Samuel was the writer.

BOOKS OF SAMUEL. These books in the ancient Hebrew formed but one. In the Septuagint and Vulgate and in the sub-title of our English Bibles they are spoken of as, 1St and 2nd Books of Kings. We have no difficulty, on the authority of 1 Chronicles 29:29²⁹Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer, (1 Chronicles 29:29), in assigning the first 24 chapters of the first book to Samuel, and the remaining chapters with the whole of the second book to the prophets Nathan and Gad.

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