which assumption cannot be substantiated. In
the first place, it is well to note that in less than one fifth of the
New Testament {93} quotations from the Old Testament is a personal name
connected with the quotation; Jesus himself, in quoting from the
Pentateuch and other Old Testament books, frequently omits all
reference to the alleged author, which shows that he considered the
question of authorship of no special significance in comparison with
the truth taught. Moreover, in some cases at least, the exact form of
quotation is doubtful. Compare, for example, Matt. 15. 4, "God said,"
with Mark 7. 10, "Moses said"; and Luke 20. 37, "Moses showed, in the
place concerning the Bush," with Mark 12. 26, "Have ye not read in the
book of Moses, in the place concerning the Bush how God spake unto
him," with Matt. 22. 31, which, referring to the same statement,
introduces it by, "Have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by
God?" Which one of the evangelists has preserved the actual words of
Jesus?

But even admitting that Jesus used in these and other passages a
personal name, does this imply a decision respecting authorship? In
extra-biblical literature no one would raise serious objection to the
use of the name of a man to designate a book without implying that the
man named was the author of the entire book. This is done also in the
New Testament. In the sermon of Peter, "Samuel" evidently is used in
the sense of "book of Samuel," for the reference {94} is not to an
utterance of Samuel but of Nathan,[20] and it cannot imply authorship,
for some of the events recorded in First Samuel and those in Second
Samuel occurred after Samuel's death. In the Epistle to the
Hebrews,[21] a psalm is referred to as "David," which is not even by
the title assigned to the great king of Israel.[22] Might it not be,
therefore, that "Moses" was used as a designation of a book, without a
thought of authorship. This seems to be the case in 2 Cor. 3. 15:
"Whensoever Moses is read, a veil lieth upon their heart."[23] All
these facts suggest that while Jesus frequently quotes the Pentateuch,
and in some cases connects the name of Moses with it, _he never does so
to prove that Moses wrote it_. W. T. Davison describes the situation
correctly when he writes, "A study of the whole use of the Old
Testament made by Christ in his teaching shows that the questions of
date and authorship with which criticism is chiefly concerned were not