2. The Author of it is Moses. Did he write before or after his calling? By tradition or special inspiration? The Author of Genesis, just as also of the rest of the books of the Pentateuch, is Moses. Now, Moses composed this book, either while yet a private man, living in Midian,[1] as Philo the Jew[2] and other Jews think, unto whom Eusebius[3] in his Preparation of the Gospel, book VII, section 2, appears to incline: or, which appears safer for the establishment of the canonical authority of the book, when he had already been called to the Prophetic office, since the book is Prophetic, and of the Prophetic Spirit; and certainly not from mere tradition (although he was able to draw many things from the tradition of the Ancestors, as the fourth from Jacob,[4] and not so far removed from those times in which Adam himself was living), but especially from Divine inspiration, it had been that he would not have known the circumstances of so many times, places, and persons, and the diversities of genealogies, and other things of this sort. Therefore, he, just like the rest of the Sacred writers, παρηκολουθηκὼς ἄνωθεν πᾶσιν ἀκριβῶς, was following all things from heaven accurately, Luke 1:3.[5]
[1] See Exodus 2:15-3:1.
[2] Philo was a first century Jewish scholar of Alexandria, Egypt. He is noted for his synthesis of Greek philosophy and Jewish theology. With respect to exegesis, Philo indulges freely in allegorization.
[3] Eusebius (c. 267-338) was Bishop of Cæsarea, author of that famous Ecclesiastical History, and supporter of Constantine the Great.
[4] See Exodus 6:16-20.
[5] Luke 1:3: “It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first (παρηκολουθηκότι ἄνωθεν πᾶσιν ἀκριβῶς), to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus…”
Dr. Dilday's Lecture: "Creation, and the Eternal Son of God, Part 1"
Bernardinus De Moor's Didactico-Elenctic Theology: 'And our AUTHOR desires it to be observed against the Atheists of our time, who, so that they might subvert Scripture by subterranean tunnels, maintain that only Fragments of the Old Writers survive for us today (compare BUDDEUS’ Historiam ecclesiasticam Veteris Testamenti, period II, section VI, § 12, tome 2, pages 827, 829b—831a), and thus they have the audacity to teach even concerning the PENTATEUCH of MOSES (compare STAPFER, in his Theologicæ polemicæ, tome 2, chapter VI, § 19, 219, who then proves against the Atheists, 1. that Moses was not an Imposter, § 224-255; 2. that, what Books are circulated under the name of Moses, were not written in a later age but b…
The Mosaic Authorship of the Pentateuch can be defended in a really simple way. 1. It is the univocal testimony of all ancient history (people who were in a much better position to know) that Moses wrote the books ascribed to him. 2. All of the modern reconstructions of Pentateuchal authorship are highly speculative, and contrary to the testimony of ancient history (more than three thousand years without significant dissent).
For a more elaborate defense, see De Moor below.
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