Exod. xxxiv. 27._

_"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._


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 _record_ of those events almost altogether
after the exile, between nine hundred and a thousand years after the
time of Moses.

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: