In my reading of Thomas Paine's "The Age of Reason" I found his questioning of the authenticity of Moses as the author of the first 5 books of the Bible very convincing and, in my opinion, correct.
He begins by disclaiming that the only source he will use to refute the Bible is in fact the Bible. He then proceeds to show that the grammatical style and manner in which Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers are written can only be written either by someone recounting the events of Moses' life (in which case said author is anonymous and thus not credible), or Moses speaking of himself in the 3rd person (which says quite a bit about Moses' character if he boasts of his meekness (Numbers 12:3), "because to boast of meekness is the reverse of meekness, and is a lie in sentiment" -Paine). There are also numerous "the Lord said unto Moses", or "Moses said unto the Lord", or "Moses said unto the people", or "the people said unto Moses" which are all references to past events indicating either a different author or Moses speaking of himself in the 3rd person.
Next Paine uses the chronology of the Bible itself to give evidence that Moses couldn't be the author starting with Deuteronomy. After the author of Deut. tells of Moses going to the top of "Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho" (Deut. 34:1), he tells us that "Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is" (Deut. 34:5-6); but there is no antecedent to the pronoun "he" and we are not told who did bury him, unless the writer meant "he" (God) buried him, but then how does the writer know of it? and why should the readers believe him? for surely its not Moses writing of his own death and burial. And to say that no one know where the grave is to this day in this way gives away that there has been a distance of time between Moses' death and this passage and also that the writer was not present for the death and burial of Moses, let alone his life, further discrediting the authenticity and credibility of the events.
In Genesis the writer gives an account of Lot being taken prisoner in a battle between the four kings against five, and carried off; and that when the account of Lot came to Abraham he armed his household and marched to rescue Lot from his captors and that he pursued them unto Dan (verse 14). Paine points out that the place called Dan in the Bible was originally a town of the Gentiles called Laish, and when the tribe of Dan seized upon this town they changed its name to Dan, in commemoration of Dan, the father of the tribe and great grandson of Abraham. Judges 18:27-29 says: "[sup]27[/sup]And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. [sup]28[/sup]And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein. [sup]29[/sup]And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first." The account of the Danites taking possession of Laish and changing it to Dan is placed in the book of Judges immediately after the death of Samson, which is said to have happened in ca. 1120 BCE and the death of Moses to be ca. 1451 BCE; therefore, according to the historical arrangement, the place was not called Dan until roughly 331 years after the death of Moses. Being dead there is no way Moses could have been the author of Genesis, adhering to biblical chronology, if Abraham took up arms against a city with a name his great grandson's children established.
Also in Genesis 36 there is a genealogy given of the sons and descendants of Esau, who are called Edomites, and also a list by name of the kings of Edom, in enumerating of which it is said (verse 31) "And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel." This passage could only have been written after the first king began to reign over them, and consequently, that the book of Genesis, so far as having been written by Moses, could not have been written till the time of Saul, at least. But, the expression, any king, implies more than one king, at least two, and this carries it to the time of David, and taken in a general sense through all times of the Jewish monarchy. Had this verse been in any part of the Bible that professed to have been written after kings began to reign Israel, it would have been impossible not to have seen the application of it. It happens this is the case; the two books of Chronicles, which gave a history of all the kings of Israel, are professedly, as well as in fact, written after the Jewish monarchy began; and this verse, and all remaining verses of Genesis 36 after verse 34 are, almost word for word, in 1 Chronicles 1 beginning with verse 43. It is impossible for the list the kings of Israel to be used prior to the period after their reign, and it is certain, as anything can be proved from historical language, that this part of Genesis is taken from Chronicles, and that Genesis is not so old as Chronicles, and probably not so old as the book of Homer or AEsop's Fables; admitting Homer to have been, as the chronology indicated, contemporary with David or Solomon, and AEsop to have lived about the end of the Jewish monarchy.
And to the plea of prophesy, "the expressions are in the preter[ite] tense, and it would be downright idiotism to say that a man could prophesy in the preter[ite] tense." -Paine
Paine concludes his attack on the authenticity of Moses as the author of the Torah/Pentateuch by pointing out that he couldn't have known what the children of Israel ate or did after they came unto and crossed the borders of the land of Canaan (Exodus16:35) since he is said to have died in the wilderness. This account of manna eating extends into the time of Joshua, the successor of Moses. And finally in Deuteronomy 3:11 with the description of the giant Og, king of Bashan, and the way of proving the existence of this giant refers to his bed, saying, "is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon?", meaning that is is. But it could not be Moses that said this because Moses could know nothing about Rabbah, nor of what was in it. Rabbah was not a city belonging to this giant king, nor was it one of the cities that Moses took. The knowledge therefore that this bed was at Rabbah, and of the particulars of its dimensions, must be referred to the time when Rabbah was taken, and this was not till four hundred years after the death of Moses (see 2 Samuel 12:26).
"Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which the strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and there remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright lies." -Paine
[KJV for all biblical quotes]
He begins by disclaiming that the only source he will use to refute the Bible is in fact the Bible. He then proceeds to show that the grammatical style and manner in which Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers are written can only be written either by someone recounting the events of Moses' life (in which case said author is anonymous and thus not credible), or Moses speaking of himself in the 3rd person (which says quite a bit about Moses' character if he boasts of his meekness (Numbers 12:3), "because to boast of meekness is the reverse of meekness, and is a lie in sentiment" -Paine). There are also numerous "the Lord said unto Moses", or "Moses said unto the Lord", or "Moses said unto the people", or "the people said unto Moses" which are all references to past events indicating either a different author or Moses speaking of himself in the 3rd person.
Next Paine uses the chronology of the Bible itself to give evidence that Moses couldn't be the author starting with Deuteronomy. After the author of Deut. tells of Moses going to the top of "Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho" (Deut. 34:1), he tells us that "Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is" (Deut. 34:5-6); but there is no antecedent to the pronoun "he" and we are not told who did bury him, unless the writer meant "he" (God) buried him, but then how does the writer know of it? and why should the readers believe him? for surely its not Moses writing of his own death and burial. And to say that no one know where the grave is to this day in this way gives away that there has been a distance of time between Moses' death and this passage and also that the writer was not present for the death and burial of Moses, let alone his life, further discrediting the authenticity and credibility of the events.
In Genesis the writer gives an account of Lot being taken prisoner in a battle between the four kings against five, and carried off; and that when the account of Lot came to Abraham he armed his household and marched to rescue Lot from his captors and that he pursued them unto Dan (verse 14). Paine points out that the place called Dan in the Bible was originally a town of the Gentiles called Laish, and when the tribe of Dan seized upon this town they changed its name to Dan, in commemoration of Dan, the father of the tribe and great grandson of Abraham. Judges 18:27-29 says: "[sup]27[/sup]And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. [sup]28[/sup]And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein. [sup]29[/sup]And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first." The account of the Danites taking possession of Laish and changing it to Dan is placed in the book of Judges immediately after the death of Samson, which is said to have happened in ca. 1120 BCE and the death of Moses to be ca. 1451 BCE; therefore, according to the historical arrangement, the place was not called Dan until roughly 331 years after the death of Moses. Being dead there is no way Moses could have been the author of Genesis, adhering to biblical chronology, if Abraham took up arms against a city with a name his great grandson's children established.
Also in Genesis 36 there is a genealogy given of the sons and descendants of Esau, who are called Edomites, and also a list by name of the kings of Edom, in enumerating of which it is said (verse 31) "And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel." This passage could only have been written after the first king began to reign over them, and consequently, that the book of Genesis, so far as having been written by Moses, could not have been written till the time of Saul, at least. But, the expression, any king, implies more than one king, at least two, and this carries it to the time of David, and taken in a general sense through all times of the Jewish monarchy. Had this verse been in any part of the Bible that professed to have been written after kings began to reign Israel, it would have been impossible not to have seen the application of it. It happens this is the case; the two books of Chronicles, which gave a history of all the kings of Israel, are professedly, as well as in fact, written after the Jewish monarchy began; and this verse, and all remaining verses of Genesis 36 after verse 34 are, almost word for word, in 1 Chronicles 1 beginning with verse 43. It is impossible for the list the kings of Israel to be used prior to the period after their reign, and it is certain, as anything can be proved from historical language, that this part of Genesis is taken from Chronicles, and that Genesis is not so old as Chronicles, and probably not so old as the book of Homer or AEsop's Fables; admitting Homer to have been, as the chronology indicated, contemporary with David or Solomon, and AEsop to have lived about the end of the Jewish monarchy.
And to the plea of prophesy, "the expressions are in the preter[ite] tense, and it would be downright idiotism to say that a man could prophesy in the preter[ite] tense." -Paine
Paine concludes his attack on the authenticity of Moses as the author of the Torah/Pentateuch by pointing out that he couldn't have known what the children of Israel ate or did after they came unto and crossed the borders of the land of Canaan (Exodus16:35) since he is said to have died in the wilderness. This account of manna eating extends into the time of Joshua, the successor of Moses. And finally in Deuteronomy 3:11 with the description of the giant Og, king of Bashan, and the way of proving the existence of this giant refers to his bed, saying, "is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon?", meaning that is is. But it could not be Moses that said this because Moses could know nothing about Rabbah, nor of what was in it. Rabbah was not a city belonging to this giant king, nor was it one of the cities that Moses took. The knowledge therefore that this bed was at Rabbah, and of the particulars of its dimensions, must be referred to the time when Rabbah was taken, and this was not till four hundred years after the death of Moses (see 2 Samuel 12:26).
"Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which the strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and there remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright lies." -Paine
[KJV for all biblical quotes]
