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The meaning of Pentateuch in the Bible
(From Easton's Bible Dictionary)

the five-fold volume, consisting of the first five books of the Old Testament. This word does not occur in Scripture, nor is it certainly known when the roll was thus divided into five portions Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Probably that was done by the LXX. translators. Some modern critics speak of a Hexateuch, introducing the Book of Joshua as one of the group. But this book is of an entirely different character from the other books, and has a different author. It stands by itself as the first of a series of historical books beginning with the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan. (See JOSHUA .)

  • These books profess to have been written by Moses in the name of God (Exodus 17:14; 24:3,4,7; 32:7-10,30-34; 34:27; Leviticus 26:46; 27:34; Deuteronomy 31:9,24,25).

  • This also is the uniform and persistent testimony of the Jews of all sects in all ages and countries (Compare Joshua 8:31,32; I Kings 2:3; Jeremiah 7:22; Ezra 6:18; Nehemiah 8:1; Malachi 4:4; Matthew 22:24; Acts 15:21).

  • Our Lord plainly taught the Mosaic authorship of these books (Matthew 5:17,18; 19:8; 22:31,32; 23:2; Mark 10:9; 12:26; Luke 16:31; 20:37; 24:26,27,44; John 3:14; 5:45,46,47; 6:32,49; 7:19,22). In the face of this fact, will any one venture to allege either that Christ was ignorant of the composition of the Bible, or that, knowing the true state of the case, he yet encouraged the people in the delusion they clung to?

  • From the time of Joshua down to the time of Ezra there is, in the intermediate historical books, a constant reference to the Pentateuch as the "Book of the Law of Moses." This is a point of much importance, inasmuch as the critics deny that there is any such reference; and hence they deny the historical character of the Pentateuch. As regards the Passover, e.g., we find it frequently spoken of or alluded to in the historical books following the Pentateuch, showing that the "Law of Moses" was then certainly known. It was celebrated in the time of Joshua (Joshua 5:10, cf 4:19), Hezekiah (II Chronicles 30), Josiah (II Kings 23; 2Chr. 35), and Zerubbabel (Ezra 6:19-22), and is referred to in such passages as II Kings 23:22; 2Chr 35:18; I Kings 9:25 ("three times in a year"); II Chronicles 8:13. Similarly we might show frequent references to the Feast of Tabernacles and other Jewish institutions, although we do not admit that any valid argument can be drawn from the silence of Scripture in such a case. An examination of the following texts, I Kings 2:9; 2Kings 14:6; 2Chr 23:18; 25:4; 34:14; Ezra 3:2; 7:6; Daniel 9:11,13, will also plainly show that the "Law of Moses" was known during all these centuries.

    Granting that in the time of Moses there existed certain oral traditions or written records and documents which he was divinely led to make use of in his history, and that his writing was revised by inspired successors, this will fully account for certain peculiarities of expression which critics have called "anachronisms" and "contradictions," but in no way militates against the doctrine that Moses was the original author of the whole of the Pentateuch. It is not necessary for us to affirm that the whole is an original composition; but we affirm that the evidences clearly demonstrate that Moses was the author of those books which have come down to us bearing his name. The Pentateuch is certainly the basis and necessary preliminary of the whole of the Old Testament history and literature. (See DEUTERONOMY .)


    See more on the meaning of Pentateuch in the Bible:
    Pentateuch {Hitchcock's Bible Name}

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