JOURNALISTIC FORM

A CONSIDERATION of more importance than that of mere style, as bearing on the question of the age of the Pentateuch, is the journalistic form of certain portions of it. The book as a whole is certainly not a journal, but some portions of it give evidence of having been written from time to time, just as the events recorded in them occurred. Portions of the Pentateuch — the Book of Genesis, for instance — could not have been thus written, and have neither the form nor appearance of a journal. A journal records only what the writer himself sees and hears, or experiences in some other way. Of course, then, much of the Pentateuch was not thus written. But from the exodus to the close of the wandering many events might be recorded in this way. And, as a matter of fact, the removal of the camp from place to place, the speaking of God to Moses, the enactment of laws, and many other events appear just as if set down in the order and at the time of their occurrence in a journal kept by Moses, or one of his contemporaries. Take, as an example, the account of the marching of the Israelites in the desert: "These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord: and these are their journeys according to their goings out."¹ In the declaration that " Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys " it is clearly implied that Moses kept a journal. Then follows the journal, or extracts from it. The date of the exodus is first given — the fifteenth day of the first month. Then follows a list of marches and stations: Rameses, the starting-point; first encampment, Succoth; second encampment, Etham; third, Migdol; fourth, Marah, — forty-one encampments in all. The journalistic form is maintained throughout: From Rameses to Succoth; from Succoth to Etham; from Etham to Migdol; from Migdol to Marah; thus on and on until the arrival at Jordan, near Jericho, in the plains of Moab,

There are traces of journalistic composition elsewhere in the Pentateuch. After the defeat of the Amalekites, the record is, "And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book."² A correct rendering requires the definite article — ''the book." Not long after the affair of the Amalekites, we read of Moses delivering the words of the Lord orally, but also of his committing these words to writing. "And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: . . . And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord."³ "And Moses wrote this law."⁴ "Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel"⁵ (God's command to Moses). ' ' And it came to pass, w^hen 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."⁶

The analytics admit that many passages in the Pentateuch purport to have been written as a journal. Reuss, speaking of the Pentateuch, says, "It is composed in such a manner that one may regard it in great part as the journal of Moses, in which he intermingles the recital of events and the texts of laws, with scarcely any rational order."⁷ And again: "If the history of the emigration had been written by Moses himself, and if the code which is framed into this history had been composed by him, it would be very necessary to admit that we have the journal of the prophet. That alone would explain the incoherence of the matters treated of in it and the absence of all systematic order in the innumerable articles of laws, everywhere connected with certain localities or to certain epochs of the sojourn in the desert. The idea of a journal is everywhere recommended by two facts which will not fail to be used in its support. If the narrative part is detached from what pertains to the legislation properly so-called, an almost continuous narrative will be obtained of the life of Moses from his birth till his death, in an order which may be called chronological, and often determined by precise dates. On the other hand, the numerous repetitions and contradictions in the legislative part lose in their actual form whatever is embarrassing to us; because it may be admitted that in a considerable space of time many a prescription might be repeatedly inculcated, or even changed, according to the necessities of the moment, or in consequence of a more exact appreciation of the means of execution."⁸

In regard to these declarations, for the present we only remark that they pretty clearly indicate that the real reason why Reuss did not fully accept the journal theory, as applied to considerable portions of the Pentateuch, was his opposition to its Mosaic origin.

The journalistic feature of the Pentateuch is recognized also by Wellhausen, though not in express terms. In speaking of what he calls "the breaking of the joints of the narrative by the enormous growth of the legal contents," he says, "Und in dieser Weise gehört die Thora hinein in die Geschichtsdarstellung, nicht nach ihrem Stoff als Inhalt irgend eines Kodex, sondern nach ihrer Form als das berufsmässige Thun Mose's"⁹ ("In this way the Tora enters into the historical representation, not according to its matter as contents of a code, but according to its form as the professional doings of Moses").

Here we have the essential features of a journal — the laws presented, not in a body, as finally completed, but as they were issued from time to time by Moses. We do not quote Wellhausen as saying that any part of the Pentateuch consists of matter taken from a journal kept by Moses. As a matter of course, such an admission by him is not to be expected. He means only that some unknown person, designated by the symbol PC, shrewdly put his writing, long after the time of Moses, into the form of a journal, in order to deceive his readers. Hence he speaks of "the appearance of historical reality which the priestly code creates by its learned art."¹⁰ Kuenen suggests the same view. He admits that many texts concur with Deuteronomy 30:9 in testifying that Moses committed to writing chapters 5 to 26 of that book, but he immediately suggests that this may be "a literary artifice."¹¹

This much may be stated, that these critics all admit that a good deal of the Pentateuch has the form and appearance of a journal, and were not the question of Mosaic authorship involved it is pretty clear that they would admit that the Pentateuch is in this respect what it purports to be. As quoted above, Reuss says, " If the history of the emigration had been written by Moses himself, and if the code which is framed into this history had been composed by him, it would be necessary to admit that we have the journal of the prophet."¹² But may we not in turn say, that if any one kept a journal and recorded in it much that is contained in the Pentateuch it must have been Moses? The conclusion of this whole matter may be stated as follows:

1. Much of the Pentateuch is in the form of a journal. This the critics admit.

2. Much of it not only appears, but purports, to be a journal. The writer desired and intended that it should be so regarded. This also is admitted by the critics.

3. If the passages which purport to be from somebody's journal are not really such, the writer practiced artifice for the purpose of deceiving. This is also admitted by the critics.

4. It is expressly stated that some portions of the Pentateuch, among these the larger part of Deuteronomy, were committed to writing by Moses at the very time when the events related took place. If this is not true, the author of Deuteronomy is chargeable with falsehood. This, if not admitted, at least ought to be.

In view of all these facts, is it not probable that a portion of the Pentateuch is in reality a journal? This conclusion is favored by form and purport, the style of the writing, and express declarations of the Pentateuch itself. We do not claim that the book throughout is a journal, nor is this necessary to our argument. If the Book of Numbers, more than half of Deuteronomy, and portions of other books are journalistic, as they seem to be, the author must have been on the ground, recording events as they occurred; and in that case the theory which ascribes the origin of the Pentateuchal books to an author, or to authors, who lived long after the time of Moses will have to be abandoned.

1) Num. 33:1-49.

2) Ex. 17:14.

3) Ex. 24:3, 4.

4) Deut. 81:9.

5) Deut. 31:19.

6) Deut. 31:24-26.

7) L'Histoire Sainte, Int., p. 159.

8) L'Histoire Sainte, Int., p. 126.

9) Prolegomena, p. 358.

10) "Gelehrter Kunst," Prolegomena, p. 363.

11) Hexateuch, p. 15.

12) L'Histoire Sainte, Int., p. 126.