Origins of Mosaic Law questioned
Thu 6:39 pm +00:00, 2 Jul 2026
Source: Pages 79 to 84 in the following book
SYMBOLS, SEX, AND THE STARS – Internet Archive
SYMBOLS, SEX,
AND THE STARS
In Popular Beliefs
An Outline of the
Origins of Moon and Sun Worship, Astrology, Sex Symbolism, Mystic Meaning of
Numbers, the Cabala, and Many Popular
Customs, Myths, Superstitions and Religious
Beliefs.
by
ERNEST BUSENBARK
While engaged in the preparation of a graduation thesis
for the University of Jena, in 1805, William M. L. De Wette,
decided that “the Book of Laws” found by Hilkiah was none
other than the Book of Deuteronomy. If Moses had placed
the Code of Laws in the Book of Exodus, reasoned De Wette,
why should he have written another Book treating of the
same subject in which he gave commands directly contrary
to those contained in the first Book. Yet, in Exodus, every
son of Israel had been commanded to set up altars and
offer sacrifices whereas, in Deuteronomy, observance of these
rites was denied to all but the priests.17
After careful study of the spirit and language of the
new Book, De Wette observed that it seemed perculiarly
well adapted to meet the situation confronting Josiah and,
in fact, appeared to have been written, not by Moses, but
by a much later author.18 Continued researches by modern
authorities have fully confirmed De Wette’s keen deductions
and it is now generally conceded that Deuteronomy was
written (probably in Babylon) during the reign of King
Manasseh or King Josiah.
De Wette’s discovery not only threw new light on
Deuteronomy, it also made it necessary to reconsider the
entire story of the life of Moses. Scholars had long known
that many details in the life of the great law-giver were
similar to events in the myths of the Greek god Bacchus.
Like Moses, Bacchus was born in Egypt, was found floating
in a basket and had both real and foster mothers. Like
Moses, he made water gush from a stone by striking it with
his staff; like Moses, he wore two horns on his head: he
became a lawmaker and wrote his laws on two tablets of
stone. Moses performed miracles with snakes and Bacchus
was always portrayed with snakes. Moses waved his staff
and made the waters of the Red Sea turn back and Bacchus
did the same thing with the waters of the Orantes river in
Syria and the Hydaspes in India.
17-Deut. 12:8,15.
18-In 1679 Spinoza observed that in the Pentateuch certain towns
and places bore names that were not given to them until several
centuries after Moses. Repeated occurrence of such expressions
as “the Lord said to Moses” and “Moses said,” etc., also indicated
that the Pentateuch was written, not by Moses but by another
author writing about him. The fact that the Book of Deuteronomy described the death and burial of Moses was seen as
final proof of the theory. For further reference to the authorship of the Books of the
O.T. see Unravelling the Book of Books, Ernest Trattner, 1931.
80 SYMBOLS, SEX, AND THE STARS
It has always seemed peculiar that the so-called Books
of Moses give practically no information about the culture
of the Egyptians during the four hundred years in which
the sons of Israel are said to have lived in Egypt. No mention is made of Egyptian achievements in astronomy, mathematics or architecture nor are the pyramids, the great monuments and temples at Thebes and Karnak even mentioned
in the Scriptures.
It is equally strange that the Book of Exodus· gives
the only record we have of the plagues of Moses and the
slaughter of the first-born of the Egyptians. Yet, the sickness, disease and death caused by these acts of vengeance
would have brought panic and disaster so extensive as to
make it inconceivable that Egyptian historians could have
failed to mention them.
Although· the Tell-el-Amarna tablets give much information regarding Canaan at about the period of the Exodus,
they make no allusions to the Jews in Egypt or to the great
catastrophe caused by the events preceding their escape.
In their Exodus from Egypt, the Israelites are said to
have assembled right before the eyes of the Egyptians and
escaped by night to the Red Sea where, at the command of
Moses, the water rolled back and remained suspended in the
air until the whole caravan walked across the dry bed of
the sea to safety on the shore of Sinai.
The enormity of this miracle can better be appreciated
when it is recalled that offspring of the seventy-two descendants of Israel who originally migrated to Egypt increased
with such rabbit-like rapidity that their number doubled
about every thirty years, so that, when the Exodus began
four hundred years later, descendants of the original group
numbered 600,000 men; the women, children and servants not being counted. This great army, with its cattle and
personal effects, traveling in Oriental fashion, formed a
caravan probably more than two hundred miles long. To
contrive the escape from Egypt of this great multitude of
people, then to make the waters of the Red Sea remain
rolled back until all of them had crossed would have been
a miracle of miracles.
The conclusions of modern authorities regarding the
mythical nature of the remarkable incidents in the life of
Moses and the discoveries regarding the authorship of Deuteronomy have been supplemented, in recent times, by the
SUN AND MOON WORSHIP AMONG THE JEWS 81
finding of important evidence concerning the authorship of
the so-called Priestly Laws, contained in other Books of the
Pentateuch. The ideas they contain, and the language employed, closely resemble the writings of Prophet Ezekiel
who was exiled to Babylon in 597 B.C. He is now generally
looked upon as the spiritual father of all the Priestly Laws,
although they were probably compiled by a group of exiled
priests in Babylon about 500 B.C. In 444 _B.C. they were
taken to Jerusalem by Ezra , and proclaimed to the people
by Ezra and Nehemiah by almost the same method that
had been used to proclaim Deuteronomy two hundred years
earlier. But, let us return now to Deuteronomy.
When the Book of Deuteronomy was shown to Josiah,
he became terrified by the realization that for centuries his
people had not been governed by the “true” laws of Moses.
After consulting the prophetess Huldah, he assembled all
the people at the temple, read the long-lost Book to them
and declared that, henceforth, it would supersede all other
Books of Law.
The newly-found Book commanded all Jews to forsake
the heathen gods, customs, and rites and to pay obeisance
only to Jahveh. The death penalty was prescribed for
dreamers of dreams, foretellers, observers of time, magicians,
sorcerers, witches, enchanters, consulters of familiar spirits,
etc. Priests of the pagan cults were to be stoned to death;
all images, idols, pillars, groves, high places and altars were
ordered destroyed. Then a code of statutes was provided
which regulated the daily lives of the people, certain of the
statutes being intended forever to discourage marriage and
social intercourse between the Jews and the people amongst
whom they lived.
The new Book significantly abrogated the right of the
people to make sacrifices and set up their own altars. These
ancient customs had originated when the Jews were nomatlic
tribes and the new laws took recognition of their changed
status as an agricultural people. Thereafter the temple in
Jerusalem was to be the only legitimate sanctuary of Jahveh
and it was to be served only by the Zadokite, or hereditary
priests. Thus, by one sudden, shrewd maneuver, the authority of the priests was greatly strengthened. Local shrines
were declared illegal, pagan cults and practices were outlawed, a line of social demarcation was drawn between the
Jews and their pagan neighbors and the ground was pre-
82 SYMBOLS, SEX, AND ‘l’HE S’l’AUS
pared for a sweeping reformation. With prophecy discredited and declared illegal, the day of the great prophets, who
had played an important part in earlier history, was coming
to a close.
After promulgating the new laws, Josiah went about the
country breaking down the high places and cutting down the
sacred groves. He destroyed the horses and chariots of the
sun god which the kings of Judah had kept in the suburbs;rn
he “brake down the houses of the Sodomites that were by
the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for
the groves. “20 “He slew all the priests of the high places
that were upon the altars and burned men’s bones upon them
and returned to Jerusalem. “21 “He killed the priests who
burned incense to the sun, moon and to the planets and to
all the host (stars) of heaven.”22 Then he killed the wizards,
the workers with famiilar spirits, astrologers, foretellers,
sorcerers, etc.
Even Solomon’s temple was purged of idols and images
which had long been permitted to contaminate it. During
the reign of King Manassah and other pagan kings who preceded Josiah, Baal and Ashtoreth had been worshiped openly
in the temple and worship of Jahveh had become secondary.
The altars which King Manasseh had built in the two courts
of the temple and vessels which had been used in the worship of Baal, the groves and the host of heaven had been
permitted to remain in the holy sanctuary up to the very
time Deuteronomy was “discovered”. The campaign which
he launched against pagan worship immediately thereafter
was begun for the specifie purpose of carrying out the
commands supposedly laid down by Moses in the newlyfound Book.
In considering the causes which spurred Josiah into
such sudden and violent activity it is very important that
we bear in mind the fact that other Books of the Pentateuch
contain substantially the same statutes against pagan worship and practices that are found in Deuteronomy. The Books
of Exodus and Leviticus give repeated warnings of the terrible penalties prescribed for the worship of pagan gods,
19-Il Kings 23:11.
20-Ibid, 23:7.
21-Ibid, 23:20.
22-Ibid, 23:5.
SUN AND MOON WORSHIP AMONG THE JEWS 83
images and idols, for worship at high places, for practicing
magic and sorcery, for consulting wizards, witches, etc.28
If the statutes contained in these Books were transmitted to Moses on Mount Sinai, they should have been
known to every son of Israel, yet Josiah knew nothing of
them until he read the Book of Deuteronomy. The priests,
judges and kings who had kept graven images, worshiped
at high places and consulted witches, wizards, etc. had done
so without having appeared to be aware that· they were
violating the commands of Moses.
Several other discrepancies in the record. also require
consideration. The Books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings are
supposed to cover nearly 1000 years of Jewish history, yet
they make no reference to Jahveh’s talks with Moses; they
say nothing about the miracles Moses performed in Egypt, .
his passage of the Red Sea or his wanderings in the Wilderness. Nor do they make any illusions to the stories given
in Genesis of Creation, Adam and Eve and the Deluge. Although the names of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses are
mentioned a few times, nothing is said about their lives and
they are treated as if they were merely obscure, legendary
figures.
On almost every page of the Books Amos, Hosea, Micah,
and Isaiah the great prophets complain that their people
have forsaken Jahveh to worship Baal, Ashtoreth and the
host of heaven. They give repeated warnings of the terrible
punishment awaiting those who worship the heathen gods
but, at no time do they refer to Moses as their authority
for such warnings.
It is now generally conceded by Bible authorities that
the legends and historical records appearing in the Pentateuch were put into written form about the seventh century,
possibly not more than 100 years before Deuteronomy.
Thereafter revisions and additions were made in the Books
up to the 4th or 3d century. Apparently the Jewish people
were not sufficiently awed by the commands given in
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers and it became
necessary for the priests to prepare a new Book ( Deuteronomy), written in clearer· and much more vigorous language, that is, the new work put more “teeth” into the
23-Exod. 20:3,4; 34:12 to 17; 23;24 to 33. Lev. 17:7; 19:4,31; 20:2 to 6;
20:27; 26:1: 26:15 to 46.
84 SYMBOLS, SEX, AND THE STARS
Laws. Then the new Book was presented to the people with
much dramatic fanfare. This was followed immediately by
a savage blood-letting which was calculated to instill so
much fear into the minds of the people that they would
not dare to continue worship of the pagan gods.
De Wette contended that the reason certain laws in
Deuteronomy contradict laws in other Books of the Pentateuch is because Deuteronomy was written at a later time,
to meet conditions which had not existed when the other
Books were written. But, in his effort to disprove the Mosaic
authorship of Deuteronomy, he failed to observe that there
was just as much reason to doubt the authenticity of all the
other so-called Books of Moses.
