Moses and His Recent Critics (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 Excerpt: ...attempt to move the ark on a new cart, 2 Sam. vi. My own opinion is that the revival of ceremonial Mosaism under David began after the completion of his conquests, and of course after his sin and repentance (see 1 Chron. xiii. 5, and notes in The Old Testament Student for Oct. 1887, pp. 61-65), and that these events are to be explained like the similar shortcomings of the times of Saul. Chief among these points of difficulty is the alleged fact that Israel, in the times of the Judges and of David, and later, in the times of Elijah, was sacrificing at various places, and not at one central altar only, as required by the law in Deut. xii. But there is no proof that some of these altars, Saul's altar, for example, 1 Sam. xiv. 35, or Gideon's shrine at Ophrah, were regarded as legal. Again, there is no proof that the sacrifices at Ramah and Bethlehem, 1 Sam. ix. 12, 13; xx. 6, and others like them, were anything else than private sacrificial feasts, such as are explicitly provided for in the law, Deut. xii. 15, 21. Again, it cannot be proved that such sacrifices as those of 1 Sam. vi. 14, 15; vii. 7; x. 8; 2 Sam. vi. 13, were not, within the meaning of the law, sacrifices at the central sanctuary. Finally, the law of Deut. xii. is conditioned on the existence of " the place" that Jehovah should choose, and of "rest" from Israel's enemies round about; it is the often reiterated testimony of these books that these conditions were but imperfectly in existence during the period from Joshua to David. In such conditions, as in the conditions in which Elijah lived, the law was in abeyance. Evidently these books contain no proof of the non-existence of the Mosaic writings strong enough to overcome the testimony of the other books. On the contrary, t...