Numbers 3:23

Behind the tabernacle westward. The term “westward” is, literally, “seaward,” referring to the Mediterranean Sea. The Hebrew mentally faced eastward when thinking of the points of the compass (see on Ex. 3:1). Of course, the Mediterranean Sea would be considered “westward” only from the viewpoint of a person situated in the land of Palestine. Some have asserted that use in the Pentateuch of later terminology, such as “seaward” to mean “westward,” is obvious evidence of later, non-Mosaic authorship. That later terminology appears occasionally in the Pentateuch and elsewhere in the OT is a fact not open to question; but the conclusion that this necessarily indicates later authorship than that commonly accepted is entirely unwarranted.

The republication of a 17th-century account of the founding of New Amsterdam, for instance, would be rather meaningless to many modern readers unless New Amsterdam was explained as the original name for New York City. The substitution of “New York” for “New Amsterdam” would, however, in no way affect either the accuracy, reliability, or authorship of the account. Thus it was with terminology in the books of Moses if the inspired record was to remain intelligible to later readers. The Hebrew people, however, regarded the Sacred Scriptures with too much respect to permit any change that would alter the thought.