Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture # 103
103. The existence of a Word among ancient peoples is clear also in the writings of Moses, who refers to it and quotes something from it in Numbers 21:14-15, 27-30; 21:14-15, 27-30. And the narrative portions of that Word were called The Wars of Jehovah, and the prophetic portions Oracles.
From the narrative portions of that Word Moses quoted the following:
Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah: “Waheb in Suphah, and the streams, the Arnon, and the channel of the streams which went down to the dwelling place of Ar and stops at the border of Moab.” (Numbers 21:14-15)
The wars of Jehovah in that book — as in ours — meant and described the Lord’s combats with hell and His victories over it, which would take place when He came into the world. These same combats are also meant and described in many places in the narrative portions of our Word—such as by the wars of Joshua with the nations of the land of Canaan, and by the wars of the judges and kings of Israel.
[2] From the prophetic portions of the Ancient Word Moses quoted the following:
Therefore the Oracles say: “Go into Heshbon; the city of Sihon will be built and established. For a fire has gone out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it consumed Ar of Moab, the possessors of the heights of the Arnon. Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, O people of Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives, and given his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites. We finished them with arrows; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon. And we laid them waste as far as Nophah, which [reaches] even to Medeba.” (Numbers 21:27-30)
Translators render the source as “those who speak in proverbs, ” but they ought to be called Oracles or Prophetic Utterances, as can be seen from the meaning of the word moshalim in the original Hebrew, which means not only proverbs but also prophetic utterances—as in Numbers 23:7, 18, 24:3, 15. In each of these verses Balaam is said to have uttered his oracle, which was a prophetic one (prophetic, in fact, of the Lord). His oracle each time is called mashal, in the singular. Moreover, the words quoted by Moses in these verses are not proverbs, but prophecies.
[3] That the Ancient Word was likewise Divine or Divinely inspired is apparent in Jeremiah, where almost the same words occur, namely:
...a fire has gone out from Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, which consumed the corner of Moab and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult. Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished! For your sons have been taken off into captivity, and your daughters into captivity. (Jeremiah 48:45-46)
In addition to these references, a prophetic book of the Ancient Word, called the Book of Jashar or Book of the Upright, is also cited by David and Joshua. By David:
David lamented...over Saul and over Jonathan..., and he wrote to teach the children of Judah [the Song of] the Bow; is it not written in the Book of Jasher? (2 Samuel 1:17-18)
And by Joshua:
...Joshua...said...: “Sun, stand still in Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon." ...Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? (Joshua 10:12-13)
Moreover, I have been told that the first seven chapters of Genesis are found in the same Ancient Word, so completely that not the least word is missing.
Hosea 2
1
"Say to your brothers, 'My people!' and to your sisters, 'My loved one!'
2
Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
3
Lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.
4
Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy; for they are children of unfaithfulness;
5
For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.'
6
Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can't find her way.
7
She will follow after her lovers, but she won't overtake them; and she will seek them, but won't find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.'
8
For she did not know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
9
Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.
10
Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand.
11
I will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.
12
I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, 'These are my wages that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest,' and the animals of the field shall eat them.
13
I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me," says Yahweh.
14
"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.
15
I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
16
It will be in that day," says Yahweh, "that you will call me 'my husband,' and no longer call me 'my master.'
17
For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name.
18
In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.
19
I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.
20
I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know Yahweh.
21
It will happen in that day, I will respond," says Yahweh, "I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth;
22
and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel.
23
I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, 'You are my people;' and they will say, 'My God!'"
