I. INTERNAL, EVIDENCE.  

The Direct Testimony of the Writer.  

It is a rule of evidence recognized in our courts of justice, that the claim of authorship which any written document sets forth within itself has a presumption in its favor. This presumption has such force that upon it alone the document must be received as a genuine product of said author, unless the claim is proved to be false. The burden of proof lies on him who calls it in question. This is true of bank checks, notes of hand, deeds to real estate, wills, and all such writings. It is equally true of books. This presumption is the natural starting-point for such a discussion as the present, but on the preceding pages we have considered evidences by which certain critics have attempted to set it aside. This reversal of the natural order seemed prudent, as we have remarked in the Introduction (§7), on account of the fact that the minds of many have been for a generation preoccupied with the belief that the Mosaic authorship has been disproved. Having examined all of these evidences which can be claimed as decisive in the case, and found that none of them has the force claimed for it, and that many have a bearing in the opposite direction, we now propose to set forth in contrast with these the evidences which have led Biblical scholars in the past as in the present to believe that Moses is the author of the book. We shall dwell first on explicit statements of the book itself.  

1. The first sentence of the book, which is evidently intended as its title, reads thus: "These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel beyond Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab." This represents the contents of the book as having been delivered orally to all Israel by Moses. It also very definitely locates the place in which this was done. Of the words defining the place we have spoken fully in Part First, Section 6. The author next states very definitely the time at which Moses began this oral communication: "It came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according to all that Jehovah had given him in commandment unto them." In the next sentence he again defines the place in different words, saying, "Beyond Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law." Then follows a discourse, beginning with verse 6, and ending with the fourth chapter and fortieth verse.  

These statements affirm nothing about committing the discourse to writing. They refer only to its oral delivery; but in doing this they make Moses the author of what is written. On this point they could not be more explicit. These prefatory remarks may have been written after the discourse was; but whether written before or after does not appear from the text. Neither does it appear whether they were written by Moses himself, or by another person; for although the third person is used in speaking of Moses, this was the frequent custom of ancient historians when speaking of themselves. In the speech itself the first person is necessarily employed.  

One thing more in these prefatory remarks demands our attention. The words of Moses which follow are called a "law." "Moses began to declare this law" (verse 5). But in the first discourse, while there are very solemn exhortations to keep the laws which Moses had previously given, there are no laws propounded. the discourse is historical, not legal. But the second discourse is legal and not historical. These considerations show that the expression "this law" is intended to include both; just as, in later- times, the whole Pentateuch, law and history was called "the law." The preface then affirms the Mosaic authorship not merely of the first discourse, but of that which follows. It includes, in reality, the contents of all the rest of the book as it existed at the time; and we should understand it as including all as we now have it unless we find good reason to suppose that some of it has been added since.  

2. Preface to the Second Discourse. At v. 1 a second discourse begins, and it closes at xxvi. 19. It is introduced by prefatory statements in iv. 44-49, of which this is the first: "And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgements, which Moses spake to the children of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt; beyond Jordan, over against Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amoritee, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, when they came forth out of Egypt." Here the expression, "And this is the law," refers back to the words, "Moses began to declare this law" (i. 5), and means this also is the law; that is, a continuance of the law which Moses set before Israel. It is further defined here as containing "testimonies, statutes and judgments." This is the second declaration of the Mosaic authorship, and in compliance with it we are told that "Moses called unto all Israel, and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and observe to do them" (v. 1).  

3. After the Close of the Second Discourse. Next after this second discourse by Moses, directions are given for the erection of great stones at Mt. Ebal, which were to be covered with plaister, and in the plaister, while soft, were to be written "all the words of this law;" and the singular ceremony of pronouncing curses and blessings was there to be observed (xxvii. 1-2C). In the directions here given, Moses is three times said to have been the principal speaker. First, "Moses and the elders of Israel" command the people, saying, "Keep all the commandment which I command you this day" (1); second, "Moses and the priests the Levites" spake to all Israel, sayiug, "Keep silence, and hearken, O Israel" (9); and third, "Moses charged the people the same day" (11). Thus the twenty-seventh chapter is ascribed to Moses three times. Then the twenty-eighth chapter, which is a prophetic outline of the history of Israel down to the Roman captivity, and on to the present day, is a continuation of what he says in the twenty-seventh.  

4. In the Preface to the Covenant. The section including chapters xxix. and xxx. is introduced with the statement, "These are the words of the covenant which Jehovah commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb;" and the words themselves are preceded by the statement, "Moses called unto all Israel, and said to them." Thus the contents of these two chapters are explicitly ascribed to Moses, and the thirty-first chapter opens with the statement, "And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel." Then the next seven verses of chapter xxxi. are occupied with what Moses said by way of encouraging the people, and Joshua his successor.  

5. Committing this Law to Writing. Thus far nothing has been said in the book about committing its contents to writing. All has been spoken by Moses, in the form of public addresses to "all Israel." Now we have the statement (xxxi. 9): "And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and unto all the elders of Israel." This is immediately followed by the command, "At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which ho shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing." Farther on in the same chapter (24-26) provision is made for the preservation of the book thus written, and it is said: "ibid it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee."  

We thus have the most explicit testimony of this book itself, that its contents up to the close of its thirty-first chapter were first delivered orally to all Israel by Moses, and then written by him in a book, and that this book was then delivered to the guardians of the most sacred symbol of Jehovah's presence, the ark of the covenant, as if it were of equal sanctity, and to be preserved with equal vigilance. It is vain to except any of the preceding contents, such as the first four chapters, and ascribe to them a later origin, for the repeated expression, "this law," found in every part as we have seen, like the links of a continuous chain binds all the parts in one.  

6. In the Preface to the Song, and that to the Blessing. We have already, in a previous section (§6, 4), called attention to the four explicit statements of the Mosaic authorship of the "song of Moses" (xxxi. 19, 22, 30; xxxii. 44); and to the one which asserts that he blessed the children of Israel with the blessing contained in the thirty-third chapter (xxxiii. 1); and we have answered the arguments by which adverse critics have tried to set this testimony aside. Nothing more needs to be said on these points.  

We have now reached the end of the book, with the exception of the account of the death of Moses, and some comments on his career, all of which undoubtedly came from the pen of some later writer or writers. A very small number of persons, with extreme views of inspiration, have expressed the opinion that Moses, by inspiration, wrote this account and these comments; and destructive critics have sometimes cited this fact, in order to throw discredit on the whole company of scholars who believe in the Mosaic authorship. This is unworthy of men claiming to be critics. We could as well retort by quoting some of the silly opinions advanced by unskilled advocates of their own theory, of which many can be found, and hold their entire school responsible for these.  

The reader is now better prepared to appreciate the oft-repeated assertion that the Book of Deuteronomy does not claim Moses as its author. No assertion could be more reckless on the part of any man who has gathered up the book's account of itself; and the man who has not done this has no right to make any assertion at all on the subject. Unless this internal evidence shall be set aside by such proofs as have never yet been brought forth, it must stand good before the bar of enlightened opinion.