The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page li
GENERAL INTRODUCTION And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. Compare this passage with Judges 18:27-29, in which it is said that this city which is called Dan in the Book of Genesis was first called Laish. About 80 years after Moses this city was conquered by Israel and renamed Dan. We read: And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were as quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. 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 Beth-rehob. And they built a city and dwelt therein. 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 point is that a name which was proposed 80 years after Moses, could not possibly occur in the Book of Moses. It is quite clear, therefore, that the Book of Moses had additions made to it after his death and many writers entered in it their own thoughts and speculations. This sort of editing is not confined to the Book of Moses. Other books of the Bible also suffer the same fate. In Joshua 24:29 we read: And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old. Similarly in Job 42:17 it is written: So Job died, being old and full of days. From these quotations it is quite obvious that the Book of Joshua was not recorded by Joshua and the Book of Job was not recorded by Job. They were instead the compilations of persons who came later, and who compiled these books from what they heard from other people. It is possible also that the Prophets whose teachings are recorded in the Bible collected the word of God as it was received by them, but the records left by them could not endure the ravages of time, and when they became extinct the people who came after wrote them again from their memory, and in doing so entered many of their own thoughts and judgements into them. Is it any wonder that these books, which on historical as well as on their own internal evidence are maimed and mutilated, ceased to give satisfaction to their readers? Is it any wonder that therefore, God also withdrew His protection from them so that mankind began XXV