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tings of Mofes. It is well known that they have the whole Pentateuch in the Samaritan character; and that this differs very little from the Hebrew copies. Some fuppofe that this has been preferved among them fince the time of the captivity of the ten tribes. Others think it more probable, that they received it from Manaffeh, the brother of Jaddus, who being high-priest, apoftatized to the Samaritans, because he would not quit his wife, who was daughter of Sanballat, governor of Samaria b. According to fome writers, this Manaffeh was that fon-in-law of Sanballat, whom Nehemiah chafed from the priesthood; although his name be not mentioned. The learned Prideaux is of this opinion, and fupposes that Jofephus is chargeable with an anachronism, when he relates that this high-prieft lived during the reign of Darius Codomannus d.

It is at any rate admitted, that the Samaritan Pentateuch is very ancient. Confidering the inveterate enmity between the Jews and Samaritans, it is not probable that the former would have furnished the latter with a copy of the law. Nor is it credible, that the Samaritans would have acknowledged the Pentateuch as written by Mofes, unless they had been fully convinced that this was the truth; especially as it is generally believed that they received no other part of the Old Teftament Scriptures.

VI. The

a Spanheim, Hift. Vet. Test. p. 430, 43t. b Jofeph. Antiq. lib. xi. d Connect, vol. i. p. 327. edit. 1720.;

cap. 7.
c Neh. xiii. 28.
Calmet's Dict. v. Mapafleh.

VI. The arguments already brought, fo clearly fhew, that the books afcribed to Mofes were really written by him, that no further evidence is neceffary. Yet it may not be fuperfluous to observe, that fo general was this persuasion, that the heathen were no ftrangers to it.

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Jofephus, the Jewish hiftorian, has demonftrated, from the conceffions of heathen writers, that the laws of Mofes were penned long before those of any Gentile nation. He justly obferves, that "in ancient times the name of law was unheard of, and that even Homer wanted a word by which to exprefs it. Such was the fame of Mofes, that Chalcidius, a celebrated Platonic philofopher, calls him the prophet; and Numenius, another philofopher of the same school, the wifeft of men b. Artapanus makes Mofes to be the Mercury of the Greeks, who was called Thoyth or Theut by the Egyptians. "Mofes," he says, "the child of a Jewels, but adopted by the daughter of Palmanothes, king of Egypt, deli"vered many things extremely useful to the hu46 man race. On this account he not only con"ciliated the affection of the people, but from "the priests easily acquired honour equal to what "is given to the gods, fo that they called him "Hermes, that is, Mercury or the Interpreter, on account of his interpretation of facred letters c." We learn from Herodotus, that "thofe Pheni"cians,

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a Cont. Apion. lib. ii.

b Vid. Deyling, Obf. Sac. Par. i. p. 35r.

- Δια την των ιερών γραμματων ερμηνειαν. Ap. Εufeb. Præpar. lib. ix.

cap. 27. Vid. Wilfi Ægyptiac. lib. iii. cap. 2.

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"cians, who accompanied Cadmus,-as they in"troduced many doctrines, alfo brought letters "with them into Greece, which," fays he, " as appears to me, were formerly unknown to the "Greeks a." This indeed is the general language of antiquity. With this teftimony let us compare that of Eupolemus. He fays, that " Mo

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fes was the first wife man, and that he first

taught the Jews letters; that the Phenicians "received these from the Jews, and the Greeks from the Phenicians b."

The most credible Greek writers acknowledge, that Mofes was the firft legiflator. Thus Diodorus Siculus; "According to that ancient inftitu"tion of life, which took place in Egypt, under "the gods and heroes in those fabulous times, it "is related, that the first who perfuaded the "people to ufe written laws, and to live accord

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ing to these, was Mofes; a man celebrated for "the greatness of his foul, and for the regularity "of his life . I fhall only further observe, that it feems to have been generally believed among the heathen, that the hiftories, as well as the laws, contained in the Pentateuch, were written by Mofes. Alexander Polyhiftor, fo denominated because of his vaft erudition, evidently refers to the book of Genefis, when he fays, " Cleo"demus, the prophet, alfo called Malchas, in his "book concerning the Jews, relates the fame things

a In Terpsichore.

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b Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. i. p. 253. Vid. Eufebius alfo quotes Eupolemus,

Owen. Theolog. lib. iv. cap. 3. digr. 1.

Præp. lib. ix. c. 30.

Lib i. Vid. Owen. Tholog. lib. iii, cap. 3. digr. 3.

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things as Mofes their legiflator, that many fons "were born to Abraham by Keturah, three of "whom were named Afer, Affur and Afra a," &c.

There never was a more inveterate enemy of Christianity than Porphyry the philofopher. Yet, after having loaded Mofes and the prophets with reproaches, he inadvertently leaves a teftimony to the truth of the Holy Scriptures. Speaking of Sanchoniatho, the Phenician writer, he says, that he manifefts the ftricteft regard to truth in the history which he gives of the Jews, as having received the Commentaries on this fubject from Jerombaal, priest of the God Jeuo. This hiftory he dedicated to Abelbal, king of Berytus, which was approved both by him, and by others, whom he had ufed as his advifers in inveftigating the truth. These perfons, he further fays, lived before the time of the Trojan war, and were nearly of the fame age with Mofes, as appears from the fucceffion of the Phenician kings. He adds, that Sanchoniatho flourished in the time of Semiramis. Eufebius has obferved, that, even fuppofing that Mofes had not lived before Sanchoniatho, this teftimony gives him very high antiquity; for Semiramis lived eight hundred years before the Trojan war b. It has been already obferved, that the Jerombaal here referred to, is generally supposed to be Gideon, who was called Jerubbaal; as feuo, or fao, is juft the name Jehovah, as it would be written by VOL. I.

I

a Ap. Jofeph. Antiq. lib. i. cap. 16. et Eufeb. Præp. lib. ix. cap. 20. Grot. de Verit. lib. i. § 16.

b Euf. Præp, lib. x. c. 9.

c Judg. vii. 1.

a

a Greek. Porphyry, finding it an unqueftionable fact, that this Jerombaal fupplied Sanchoniatho with Commentaries concerning the Jews, it proves, that, even in this early period, they were not only acquainted with writing, but had a facred history of their nation. It does not indeed amount to a proof, but it affords a very ftrong prefumption, that this hiftory was written by Mofes; because he is mentioned in immediate connexion, and evidently as preceding the Phenician hiftorian. From the notice taken of Mofes, in connexion with these commentaries, it appears extremely probable, that thefe had been afcribed to him by Sanchoniatho.

Before leaving this fubject, we may advert to fome of the OBJECTIONS that have been made to the fentiment affirmed in the preceding part of this Differtation.

It has been urged, as of no inconfiderable weight, that "the whole of these books is in the "third perfon;" that" it is always, The LORD

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faid unto Mofes, or Mofes faid unto the LORD;" and that "this is the ftyle and manner that hi"ftorians ufe in fpeaking of the perfons whose "lives and actions they are writing." It has been justly obferved in reply, that Xenophon, and Cæfar, and Jofephus, ufe this manner of writing, when they relate those very transactions in which they were themselves principal agents or parties. The

a Eufebius writes it Ieva, and Theodoret law. Quæft. 15. in Exod. b Age of Reason, Part II. p. 5.

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