That no Man hath attempted to do. Tis granted on all hands, that the Ifraelites did eat Manna fo long as is affirm'd here. Will they fay that he wrote a thing that was not known to him to be a Truth? That they will not fay. For 'tis allow'd that the thing was made known to him, that the Ifraelites fhou'd eat Manna fo long. And if these Men shou'd have been fo hardy as to deny this, yet it might eafily be prov'd. What is it then that forbids Mofes to be the Author of thefe words? If it be this that he writes for forty years, when he dy'd at leaft fome months before that time was 'expir❜d.

3. I anfwer, That this is no Objection against him: Because there is nothing more common with the Sacred Writers, than to give the full number to that which, ftrictly speaking, is not complete. The Jews have a Rule in this cafe not to be rejected; '11 nypo: i. e. Part of the month is as the whole, and part of the year is as the whole, Seder. Olam. c. IV. p.1. And Mofes himself ufeth this way of fpeaking. After the Spies return'd, he does, by God's direction, tell the Ifraelites, that their Children fhou'd wander in the Wilderness forty years, though'tis a thing confefs'd that they did not after that wander above 38, or 39 years; vid. Numb. 14.33. Yet Mofes, when he fpeaks of it, calls it forty. Compare Numb, 32. 13. with Deut. 2, 14. and fofb. 5. 6. and Pfal. 95. 10. If it be Aill urged that Mofes affirms, that they did eat

(d2)

till

till they came into the Land. I anfwer, That he might well do fo. For the Event was wellnigh past when Mofes liv'd, and for what we know when he wrote these words: And the thing he speaks of being upon the matter already paffed, 'tis no wonder that he does not ufe a Future Tenfe, but the Preterperfect.

4. After all that hath been said above in the first Answer to this Objection, concerning the importance of the word 1738, I fhall add one Obfervation more from this Book of Exodus, chap. 12. 8. Which farther fhews the Vanity of the pretence of the aforefaid Author of the Commentary on Genefis. These are the words; And they shall eat ('tis 18 in the Preterperfect tenfe, as 'tis here, chap. 16. 35.) in that night: roft with fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs (1) they shall eat it. The first Hebrew word, though a preterperfect, is as much a future in its fenfe, as the latter which follows, which is really a future. No Man can find fault if the words, Exod. 16. 35. fhou'd be thus tranflated: And the children of Ifrael fhall eat Manna forty years, untill they fhall come to a Land inhabited: They shall eat Manna untill they come, &c. Admitting this Tranflation (which cannot reasonably be refufed) the whole force of the Objection falls at once. The Author above-named was under no neceffity of parting with this place; He was too forward to part with his Divine Author, when he was content to drop him

upon

a

upon fo flight a ground. To which I add the words, Exod. 23. 11. But the feventh thou shalt let it reft and lie ftill ('11 1781) that the poor of thy people may eat; or, and the poor of thy people fhall eat; and what they leave (a) the beast of the field fhall eat. Where again, the first word, which is a preterperfect, hath the fenfe of a future, as much as the following, which is really and grammatically fo.

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Obj. VIII. We read Gen. 22. 14. And Abra-ham call'd the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is to this day, in the mount of the Lord it fhall be feen. These are fuppofed not to be the words of Moses, but of a later Writer. It is pretended that this place was Mount Moriah, in which the Temple was afterwards built, and that it was not call'd fo before fuch time as the Temple was built; and therefore this cou'd not be written till that time, which was long after the Time of Mofes. It is farther pretended, that it is not likely that Mofes fhou'd write those words, In the Mount of thord it fhall be feen, because the Writer of those words affirms that That proverbial Speech was used in his Time. To which I answer,

I. I am not concern'd whether this were the very place that was afterwards call'd Moriah or not. 'Tis enough to my purpose that it is not call'd Moriah even in this place. Whatever affinity Men may fanfie between Jehovah jireh and Moriah, tis certain they are not one

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and

and the fame Name. Here's nothing proved, and we are not obliged to regard groundless Imaginations; and that is all we have here offer'd to us.

2. Nor is there any thing in the following words, but what is very agreeable to the Time and Age of Mofes. For why might not this proverbial Speech be in ufe from the Days of Abraham, to the Time of Mofes? Here is space enough from the Time of Abraham to that of Mofes, for fuch a Saying to become a common Saying, or proverbial Speech. If a later Writer might fay, As it is faid to this day, why might not Mofes fay it as well? I confefs fincerely I do not fee in this Objection any thing that hath the leaft appearance of weight in it: And thou'd have been afham'd to mention it, were it not incumbent upon me in this matter to lay the Objections I meet with fairly before the Reader.

Obj. IX. The Author of the Leviathan roundly affirms that Mofes cou'd not be the Author of those words, Numb. 21. 14. Wherefore it is faid in the book of the Wars of the Lord, what he did in the Red-fea, and in the Brooks of Arnon. But he offers no reafon for this Opinion of his, and therefore I do not think my felf obliged to take any farther notice of him in this matter. However, I find that Spinofa offers fomething like a Reason for this Opinion; and, as near as I can guess,

here

here lies the Argument: That Mofes wrote a Book of the War against Amalek by God's Command, he fays is evident from Exod. 17. 14. But it does not from that place appear in what Book he wrote it. But in Numb, 21. (he adds) a Book is cited, call'd The Book of the Wars of the Lord; and in this Book, fays he, without doubt the War against Amalek, and the feveral Journeys of the Ifraelites (which were written by Mofes, as we find 'tis faid Numb. 33.2.) are related. Hence he feems to infinuate, that the Pentateuch was not written by Mofes, but by fome other hand, who cites the Writings of Mofes ; And that therefore the Pentateuch was on this account rather written of Mofes, than by Him. This is the most that I can make of the Pretence of this obfcure Writer; and after all, I can see very little that needs an Answer.

The Place, I grant, is obfcure and difficult; but that does not prove it was not written by Moses. The Place is confider'd in the following Notes, to which I referr the Reader. However, having this Occasion offer'd me, that I may not feem to neglect any thing for the farther fatisfaction of the Reader, I fhall endeavour to explain the Matter related in Numb.21. and then fhew how vain this Pretence is.

First, As to the Matter related, thus it is: The Ifraelites had receiv'd a Command not to diftrefs or disturb the Ammonites or Moabites in their Poffeffions, God declaring that he (d 4) wou'd