THE
FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES
1
Nephi 5:11
The Pentateuch.
As regards the first books of the Old Testament, we must suppose that Moses, or
his secretaries under his supervision, recorded the chief events of the day.
The notes, properly collated and edited, became the law. They were, in all
probability, kept near the sacred chest, or ark, in which the stone tables, the
pot of manna, and the rod of Aaron, were deposited. See Deut. 31:26, where we
read, "Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the
covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee."
There must also have been copies of this law in the possession of the leaders
of the people, whose duty it was to expound it and to administer the
ordinances.
At some time Moses wrote, or
caused to be written, under his direction, the introduction to the law
which we have in Genesis—the account of the creation, the flood, the building
of the tower, the history of the Patriarch Abraham and his immediate
descendants down to the exodus. And towards the end of his life he added the
fifth book, which is called Deuteronomy, because it is a recapitulation of many
things previously recorded. It contains chiefly the moral law, as promulgated
by Moses just before his departure. Jesus and his first Apostles loved this
book. It is quoted at least 32 times in the New Testament, and scholars have
recognized about 80 references to it in the latter part of the Bible.
The Mosaic authorship of the
Pentateuch cannot be successfully denied. By that I do not mean that Moses
wrote everything in that volume with his own hand. But no matter who did
the mechanical work, or when, the books are Mosaic. They came from him. Genesis
is no doubt based upon documents and literature to which Moses had access, and
which he had studied in Egypt, and in the land of Midian. The story of the expedition
of Amraphel for instance, is probably based on records then existing. But
besides such sources of information, revelations were given to Moses concerning
the heavens and the earth, and the children of men to the last generations.
(See the Pearl of Great Price, Book of Moses.) He had first-hand information
from the Source of all truth. (George
Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 7 vols.
[Salt Lake City: Deseret Press, 1976], 1:450, emphasis in bold added)
