BENEDICT DE SPINOZA: Theological-Political Treatise

Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings
the tenth commandment is set out there also diverges from that in
Exodus. These alterations, in this case and in others, were I think
introduced by Ezra in the course of explaining the Law of God to his
contemporaries, as I have said, and hence this is the ‘Book of the Law of
God’ as explained and elaborated by him.
This is also, I think, the earliest of the books that I claimed he wrote.
This I infer from the fact that it contains the laws of the country which is
what the people most needs, and also because the book is not connected
by any link with what comes before in the way that the others are but
begins with the unconnected phrase, ‘These are the words of Moses’, 31
etc. After he had completed this book and taught the laws to the people,
I believe he then turned his attention to writing a complete history of
the Hebrew nation, from the foundation of the world to the ¢nal
destruction of the city, into which he inserted this book of Deuteronomy
in its place. Perhaps he called the ¢rst ¢ve books by the name of Moses,
because it is here above all that his life is related: he took the title from
the most prominent character. For the same reason he called the sixth
book by the name of Joshua, the seventh by the Judges, the eighth by
Ruth, the ninth and perhaps also the tenth by the name of Samuel, and
the eleventh and twelfth by the name of the Kings. But whether Ezra
produced a de¢nitive version of this work and completed it as he intended
to do, on this see the following chapter.
31 Deuteronomy 1.1.
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