Introduction to Deuteronomy

THE BLESSING OF THE TRIBES (33).  It is appropriate that Moses, like the patriarchs, should bestow a parting blessing upon the “children” who have been his care for forty years (Numbers 11:11-15).  There are resemblances with Genesis 49, but also marked differences.  The language is highly poetic and decidedly difficult to interpret.  The failure to mention Simeon is, apparently, due to the fact that this tribe was to lose its tribal identity and practically disappear (Genesis 49:7).  Simeon, apparently, increased its guilt in connection with the sin of Baal-peor (Numbers 25:14); and the tribe lost heavily in numbers during the period of the wanderings.  On the other hand, the fidelity of the Levites at the time of the apostasy of the golden calf (Exodus 32:26-28) is made the reason for the turning of the curse of Levi into a blessing.

The brevity of the blessing on Judah is remarkable, and the words “bring him to his people” are hard to understand.  They cannot refer to the healing of the Schism.  For, then, we should expect “bring his people to him,” since Judah was, and remained, the royal tribe and Israel’s hopes centered in the house of David.  A reference to the “ancestors” of the tribe, in the sense of Genesis 25:8, would make these words refer to the possession of Hebron and Machpelah by Judah.  But, such a meaning seems doubtful.

The prophecy concerning Benjamin is, also, quite difficult.  The view is widely held that the meaning is that Benjamin is to find distinction and security in the fact that the temple will be located on her southern border.  This may be true.  If so, at least the last two verbs must have God as their subject.  Even then, to speak of God as dwelling between the shoulders of Benjamin seems a rather doubtful figure, to say the least.

The blessing of Joseph is about the same length here as in Genesis 49 and resembles it to a considerable extent.  It closes with a reference to the great superiority of Ephraim over Manasseh.

The blessing closes with a declaration of the uniqueness of the God of Israel who is the Source and the Guarantor of every blessing to Israel.  Consequently, while several of the verbs might naturally be taken as representing the conquest of the land as [having] already taken place (cf. Authorzed Version and Revised Version), it seems proper to see in them examples of what is called the “prophetic perfect,” which describes future events as if they had already taken place.  To the song and the blessing we must not forget to add the prayer of Moses (Psalm 90), which seems to gather up all that Moses has said by way of counsel and admonition for his wayward people.  It seems to echo the words of the blessing, “The eternal God is thy refuge and, underneath, are the everlasting arms” (33:27).

From: God Spake by Moses: An Exposition of the Pentateuch by Oswald T. Allis (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1951), pp. 150-151.

 

Introduction to Numbers

The murmurings of the people are recounted in Chapter 11.  Their ingratitude and forgetfulness frequently drew down upon them the displeasure of God and taxed, to the utmost, the patience of Moses.  They were tired of the manna (cf. Exodus 16:14-36) and wanted flesh to eat.  The passionate outburst of Moses (verses 11-15) shows how human he was and how great a burden he had to bear.  Cf., for similar examples Job 10:8-22; Jeremiah 20:7-18; Jonah 4:1-8.  The summoning of the seventy elders and bestowal upon them of the spirit of prophecy shows how greatly Moses needed help for the performance of his arduous duties (cf. Acts 6:1-7).  The demand of the people for meat is granted, but they are punished for their greed.  The words of verse 31, “as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth,” certainly do not mean that the quails were piled up all around the camp to a height of a yard in a circuit of five or ten miles.  It probably means either that they flew so low that they could easily be caught or killed, or that, in some places, their bodies were piled up to that height as a maximum.  But, it is definitely stated that immense quantities were caught (verse 32), and the people were condemned to eat quail for a whole month (verses 19-20) as a punishment for their lust (verse 33).

From: God Spake to Moses: An Exposition of the Pentateuch by Oswald T. Allis (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1951), p. 113.

 

Introduction to Leviticus

We have, here, a striking proof that God’s thoughts and ways are not like man’s (Isaiah 55:8).  The congregation of Israel was very large (more than 600,000 adult males).  The services of the Tabernacle were elaborate and exacting.  The duties of the priests were onerous, or could be made so.  There were but five priests – Aaron and his four sons.  Yet, at the very outset, two of the four sons were cut off for disobedience (Numbers 3:3-4).  Numbers do not count with God as they do with men (Judges 7:2, 4).  God is able to use few as well as many, or even better (1 Samuel 14:6).  It is to be remembered, of course, that Aaron, who was about 84 years old, may have had several other sons, and all of his sons may have had several sons of proper age for service at the altar.  But, if such were the case, no mention of it is made.  Numbers 3:1-4 seems to indicate, quite definitely, that the total number of priests was three.

In view of the fact that the higher critics, despite the clear indications of Mosaicity summarized above, have been insisting, for many years, that Leviticus forms part of the “priestly” legislation (P), which they assign to the exilic and post-exilic period, it is important to note that the situation described in Leviticus is so totally different from that of the late period to which the critics assign the book, that it is difficult, if not impossible, to believe that such a situation, as is here described, could have been imagined in later times.  It bears clear indications of being a record of actual fact.

The Levites, at the time of the Exodus, numbered 22,000 (Numbers 3:39), of whom 8,580 were between 30 and 50 years of age.  The priests, so far as the record states, were but three.  On the other hand, according to 1 Chronicles 23:3, the Levites of 30 years old and upward numbered 38,000 at the close of David’s reign; and the priests were numerous enough to be divided into 24 courses (1 Chronicles 24).  The relative size of these courses is not stated.  But they must have been rather large, since the average for the four courses which returned with Zerubabbel was more than 1,000 each, a total of 4,289 (Ezra 2).  Yet, the total for the Levites who returned is only 74 (341 with singers and porters added).  When Ezra returned, he took with him some priests, but a special effort had to be made to secure 38 Levites (8:15, 18-19).

From: God Spake by Moses: An Exposition of the Pentateuch by Oswald T. Allis (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1951), pp. 97-98.

 

Introduction to Exodus

The First Period of Moses’ life is described very briefly (2:1-5), most of it being summed up in the words, “when Moses was grown.”  Acts 7:22 states that he “was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” and he was mighty in his words and works.  At the age of 40, Moses makes a high-handed and futile attempt to help his people.  His slaying of the Egyptian shows him to be a man of powerful emotions which he does not always succeed in controlling (Numbers 20).  The New Testament stresses two points: Moses’ love for Israel and belief in its destiny (Hebrews 11:25-26) and his confidence in its responsiveness (Acts 7:25).  The one was amply rewarded, the other met with consistent disappointment.

The Second Period of forty years (2:16-4:17), like the first, is given only in barest outline except for the momentous incidents with which it closes.  It was the sufferings of Israel in Egypt (2:23-25) which led to the call of Moses.  Otherwise, Moses would have lived out his life in Midian as the son-in-law of Jethro.  But, the God of their fathers, the God who had made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, remembered His promise and called Moses to be the deliverer of His people.  This deliverance is repeatedly described (3:10, 12; 6:4, 8; 13:5) as the fulfillment of God’s promise to the fathers (Genesis 12:1-9, etc.; 46:4).

Those who are unwilling to believe that Moses was a monotheist (Genesis 24:3) and that it was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who appeared to Moses at the bush are disposed to derive the religion of Israel from the religions of the neighboring peoples and to attribute the transformation of crude and immoral polytheism into a lofty monotheism to the “genius of the Jew for religion,” especially as shown in the teachings of the great prophets of the eighth and seventh centuries BC.  A favorite theory with them is the so-called Kenite theory.  Briefly stated, it is that Jethro, the priest of Midian, was a Kenite, that the Kenites were metal-workers (smiths), worshippers of the God of the fiery mountain (a volcano), that Moses received and adopted this worship while in Midian and, at the “Mount of God,” pledged the Israelites to the worship of this fire god, the god of Sinai, who finally transferred his habitat to the land of Canaan.  Such a theory is utterly out of harmony with the biblical record.  It was the God of his fathers who appeared to Moses.

The genius of Israel, throughout the centuries, was for apostasy.  They did not rise gradually from polytheism to monotheism.  They fell back, repeatedly, from monotheism to polytheism.  The constant appeal of the prophets was that they return to the God of their fathers.

From: God Spake by Moses: An Exposition of the Pentateuch by Oswald T. Allis (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1951), pp. 61-62.

 

Introducing the Pentateuch

In our English Bibles, the Old Testament has four main divisions: the Law (Genesis – Deuteronomy), Historical books (Joshua – Esther), Poetical books (Job – Song of Solomon), Prophetical books (Isaiah – Malachi).  Since the Law is composed of five books, Jewish scholars called it “the five-fifths of the Law,” and Greek scholars called it the “Pentateuch” – the five books.  Elsewhere in the Bible, we find frequent references to “the law” or “the law of Moses.”  In some cases, this may refer to the whole Pentateuch; in others, to only part of it.  The titles of these five books, which appear in the Authorized Version and other versions, “The first book of Moses, commonly called Genesis,” etc., are no part of the text.  But, they express the well-grounded belief of the Church, both Jewish and Christian, that the Pentateuch was written by Moses, “the man of God.”

The Pentateuch covers the period of sacred history from the Creation to the death of Moses.  It falls naturally into two parts.  Genesis deals with the pre-Mosaic period to the death of Joseph.  The other four books contain the history, laws, and institutions of the Mosaic age: Exodus describes the oppression, the deliverance, the journey to Sinai, the giving of the law, the erection of the Tabernacle; Leviticus is a manual of laws given at Sinai for the priests who were to be the ministers of the Tabernacle; Numbers covers the period from the dedication of the Tabernacle at Sinai, in the second year, to the arrival at Jordan, in the fortieth year; Deuteronomy consists, largely, of the farewell address of Moses, delivered just before his death.

The Book of Genesis is the longest of the “five books,” and its fifty chapters divide readily into four nearly equal parts: the pre-patriarchal history (1:1 – 11:32); Abraham (12:1 – 25:11); Isaac and his sons (25:12 – 36:32); Joseph (37:1 – 50:26).  The death of Abraham (25:8) divides Genesis into two nearly equal parts.  The history is told, largely, in terms of biography.  Three-quarters of the book are, mainly, concerned with the lives of three men: Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph.

From: God Spake by Moses: An Exposition of the Pentateuch by Oswald T. Allis (Phillipsburg: The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1951), pp. 7-8.

Oswald T. Allis (1880-1973) was Professor of Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary for seven years after teaching for nineteen years in the Department of Semitic Philology at Princeton Theological Seminary.  He held academic degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the University of Berlin.