nomy_ signifies--might well be spoken of as
"this law," without any denial of an earlier law; just as the
covenant made with the people at this time is called "this
covenant," ch. 29:14, without any denial of an earlier covenant.
The reverent scholar will be careful not to be wise above what
is written. It might gratify our curiosity to know exactly in
what outward form Moses left the Law with the historical notices
woven into it; whether in one continuous roll, or in several
rolls which were afterwards arranged by some prophet, perhaps
with connecting and explanatory clauses; but it could add
nothing to our knowledge of the way of salvation. In either case
it would be alike the law of Moses and the law which Moses
wrote, invested with full divine authority.

11. It being established that Moses wrote the whole law with the
historical notices appertaining to it, we naturally infer that he must
have written the book of Genesis also, which is introductory to the law.
For this work he had every qualification, and we know of no other man
that had the like qualifications. On this ground alone the Mosaic
authorship of the book might be reasonably assumed, unless decided
proofs to the contrary could be adduced. But we find, upon examination,
that the book of Genesis is so _connected with the following books_ that
without the knowledge of its contents they cannot be rightly understood.
The very first appearance of God to Moses is introduced by the remark
that he "remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with
Jacob." In addressing Moses he calls the children of Israel "my people,"
Exod. 3:6-10; and sends Moses to Pharaoh with the message, "Let my
people go." All this implies a knowledge of the covenant which God made
with Abraham and his seed after him, by virtue of which the Israelites
became his peculiar people. It is not simply as an oppressed people that
God undertakes to deliver them and give them possession of the land of
Canaan, but as _his_ people. Again and again does Moses describe the
promised land as "the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after
them." With the book of Genesis these declarations are plain; but
without it they are unintelligible. The Abrahamic covenant, which is
recorded in the book of Genesis, is not a subordinate, but an essential
part of the history of the Israelites.