In this posting, I want to remind us of how intentional God has always been in wanting His people to have a written record, memorial, or testimony of what He has said and done. That written record is then to be copied, taught, and memorized. Moses left behind a body of writing, as commanded by the LORD.
Jesus, a prophet greater than Moses, would likewise have been expected to leave behind a written record, a memorial, a testimony.
My point being that the early church would have fully expected for the disciples to quickly produce something like a Gospel.
From Exodus:
- Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” (17:14 ESV)
- The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. (32:16)
- And the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” (34:27)
From Deuteronomy:
- “And when he [the future king] sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. (17:18)
- Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep the whole commandment that I command you today. And on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over to enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you. … And you shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.” (27:1–3, 8)
- “Now therefore write this song and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel. (31:19)
- When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, “Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. (31:24–26)
