You are here: Home / A Categories / A ICCEBERG - 5* / IS THE TORAH DIVINE? AND YES IT DOES MATTER THAT IT IS NOT. 5*

IS THE TORAH DIVINE? AND YES IT DOES MATTER THAT IT IS NOT. 5*

by 102 Comments

 

The traditional Jewish position is that the Torah is all divine in origin. Yet nowhere does the broader Bible suggest that it was all written by God and in no way is this belief necessary to live as an observant Jew. The Jewish Bible, the Tanach, attributes authorship of some of its sections to God, but these are few and far between.

Let’s start with the second part of the Jewish canon, the Prophets (Nevi’im). The early prophets — the Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings — claim to tell the history of Israel from the time of the conquest of the land after the Exodus through the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE. Nothing in the style of these books suggests that they are divine in origin. Though in places they certainly talk about God (in the third person), they present many different perspectives on this era and share all the pitfalls of humanly written histories.

Some of the later prophets — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the twelve minor prophets — explicitly claim to reflect divine revelation. The second verse of the Book of Jeremiah states that “the word of the LORD came to him [Jeremiah] in the days of [King] Josiah …” In case this is not definitive enough, the first real prophecy in the book opens: “The word of the LORD came to me.” (Jeremiah 1:4) Several other prophetic books contain similar claims, though not all. Isaiah simply begins: “The prophecies of Isaiah son of Amoz, who prophesied concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the reigns of…” (Isaiah 1:1). The book makes no explicit assertion of divine origin, though this was surely assumed by his audience.

Most of the books of the Writings (Ketuvim), the third section of the Tanach, completely lack the suggestion that they are from God. Psalms is a book of prayers to God, not from God (though some early Jews considered it divinely inspired). In most of the Book of Job, God is spoken of in the third person. Proverbs is mostly human wisdom. The five Megillot (scrolls) also lack any suggestion of divine authorship. Song of Songs, for example, is explicitly attributed to Solomon, with no hint of divine inspiration.  Only some sections of Daniel contain prophecies attributed to God—though unlike earlier prophecy, these are mediated by an ange

In sum, much less than half of the Prophets and the Writings contain any internal suggestion that it originated from God. Much of later Jewish tradition assumes that these books may have a divine hand behind them —whatever that might mean. But this idea developed only in the post-biblical period.

Even the Torah itself – the first five books of the Bible—nowhere suggests that it is all divinely authored. Only in Exodus, the Bible’s second book, does the ubiquitous formula “The Lord spoke to Moses saying” begin. Absolutely nothing in Genesis suggests that it was originally understood as given from God. The first words of the Bible are, “When God began to create heaven and earth” — not “God said to Moses, ‘When I began to create heaven and earth.’” The final book of the Torah, Deuteronomy, presents itself as Moses’s speech, not God’s.

And yet, the traditional Jewish position is that it is all divine in origin. This position is taken for granted in rabbinic literature, but is already suggested by some late biblical books that call it “the Lord’s Torah,” “the Torah of Moses,” or even “the Lord’s Torah given by Moses” (2 Chronicles 34:14).

The classical formulation of the divine origin of the Torah comes from Maimonides: “The eighth fundamental principle is that the Torah came from God. We are to believe that the whole Torah was given us through Moses our Teacher entirely from God … through Moses who acted like a secretary taking dictation….”  (For a longer version of my claims here, see the second chapter of “The Bible and the Believer: How to Read the Bible Critically and Religiously.”) This assertion has some roots in earlier rabbinic literature and, as noted above, in the very latest books of the Bible. But its status as dogma is debated, and is connected to the fraught issue of whether Judaism is just a religion of deeds or also has central creeds like Christianity.

Even so, Maimonides’s position concerns the Torah only—not the entire Bible, and as noted above, goes beyond the explicit claims of the Torah concerning its authorship.

Modern biblical scholarship even casts doubt on the divine authorship of the sections of the Torah which explicitly claim to have come from God, including those that follow the formula “The Lord spoke to Moses.” The Torah contains too many contradictions to all be seen as divine. Do servants get released after six years, as stated Exodus, or at the Jubilee year (once every fifty years), as noted in Leviticus? Which divine speech is the correct one?

Biblical scholars have shown that the Torah contains too many contradictions and infelicities to be divine, and it instead came into being over a very long period of time, reflecting the understanding of various ancient Israelites, living in different places at different times, of what God wanted of them. (For more on this, see TheTorah.com.) But a text that reflects people’s understanding of God is quite different from a text dictated by God to Moses and preserved without error for three millennia — the view of Maimonides and a position upheld by many Jews within the Orthodox community.

Should this matter? Does scripture need to be perfect in order to retain its scriptural status?

For many Jews, the Bible does not get its power, or even its authority, from being a divine document. When reciting the initial blessings before reading from the Torah, we laud it as Torat emet— a Torah of truth. That need not mean that it is entirely true, but only that it contains profound truths. Sometimes these truths are close to the surface. Other times they are brought out through interpretation — even radical interpretation that fundamentally changes the original meaning of the text.

Truths can be found in many places, but as Jews it is our obligation to search out and to follow the truths we find in the Torah—to make the Torah, indeed the whole Tanach, into our central orienting text. The Jewish community has created the books of the Bible and placed them — most especially the Torah — as the central compass of Jewish life.

Being Jewish means adopting this Bible-centric position — buying into the Torah and using sections of it (along with other wise texts from other traditions) as a guide for our lives and to create continuity with our ancestors — even if we are not following the Bible as God’s revealed truth.

Marc Zvi Brettler is a professor of Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at Duke University.

 

DISCOVER MORE

GOD

God 101

In Judaism, who or what is God?

BIBLE

What Is the Torah Portion?

How the Five Books of Moses are divided up into weekly portions.

must a jew believe in god

BELIEFS & PRACTICES

Must a Jew Believe in God?

The centrality of God in Judaism may not be as straightforward as you think.

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. Undeniably believe that that you stated. Your favourite justification appeared to be at the net the simplest thing to take note of. I say to you, I definitely get irked whilst folks consider concerns that they plainly do not realize about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the top as smartly as defined out the whole thing with no need side effect , folks can take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thank you

  6. Useful info. Fortunate me I found your site by chance, and I am surprised why this twist of fate did not happened in advance! I bookmarked it.

  8. I don’t even understand how I stopped up here, however I thought this submit was good. I don’t realize who you are however definitely you are going to a famous blogger for those who are not already. Cheers!

  9. It’s awesome to go to see this website and reading the views of all friends concerning this post, while I am also eager of getting knowledge.

  12. Hello! I’ve been following your website for a long time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Austin Tx! Just wanted to tell you keep up the great job!

  14. Fantastic goods from you, man. I’ve keep in mind your stuff prior to and you’re simply too wonderful. I really like what you’ve acquired here, really like what you’re stating and the best way through which you assert it. You are making it entertaining and you still take care of to stay it sensible. I can not wait to read far more from you. This is actually a great website.

  15. Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Many thanks, However I am going through difficulties with your RSS. I don’t know why I am unable to subscribe to it. Is there anyone else getting the same RSS problems? Anybody who knows the solution will you kindly respond? Thanx!!

  16. My spouse and I stumbled over here coming from a different page and thought I might as well check things out. I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward to looking over your web page again.

  19. Wonderful beat ! I wish to apprentice whilst you amend your web site, how can i subscribe for a blog web site? The account aided me a applicable deal. I were tiny bit familiar of this your broadcast provided shiny transparent concept

  22. I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one these days.

  23. Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this web site before but after browsing through some of the posts I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back frequently!

  27. This is very interesting, You are a very skilled blogger. I have joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your fantastic post. Also, I have shared your site in my social networks!

  29. Hi, i think that i saw you visited my web site so i got here to go back the prefer?.I am trying to in finding things to improve my site!I guess its ok to use some of your ideas!!

  30. Your style is very unique compared to other people I have read stuff from. Many thanks for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess I will just bookmark this page.

  34. Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates. I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.

  35. Im not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later. Cheers

  39. I got this site from my friend who informed me regarding this website and now this time I am visiting this website and reading very informative posts here.

  42. I don’t know if it’s just me or if everyone else experiencing problems with your blog. It seems like some of the text on your posts are running off the screen. Can someone else please comment and let me know if this is happening to them too? This could be a problem with my browser because I’ve had this happen before. Cheers

  47. I would like to thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this blog. I’m hoping to view the same high-grade blog posts from you in the future as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has motivated me to get my own blog now 😉

  50. Excellent post. I was checking continuously this blog and I am impressed! Very useful information particularly the last part 🙂 I care for such info a lot. I was seeking this particular info for a long time. Thank you and good luck.

  51. I like what you guys are up too. This sort of clever work and exposure! Keep up the very good works guys I’ve added you guys to blogroll.

  54. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You definitely know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your site when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?

  57. You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be really something which I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!

  59. Hello there, You have performed an excellent job. I will definitely digg it and individually recommend to my friends. I am sure they will be benefited from this site.

  62. Hi there, I found your website by the use of Google whilst searching for a similar matter, your web site got here up, it seems good. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.

  63. Nice post. I used to be checking continuously this blog and I am inspired! Very useful information specially the final part 🙂 I take care of such info a lot. I used to be seeking this particular info for a long timelong time. Thank you and good luck.

  64. This is the right website for anybody who would like to find out about this topic. You realize so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I personally would want toHaHa). You definitely put a brand new spin on a topic that has been written about for decades. Great stuff, just excellent!

  65. I am extremely inspired with your writing skills and alsowell as with the layout for your blog. Is this a paid subject matter or did you customize it yourself? Either way stay up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to peer a nice blog like this one these days..

  77. I am extremely inspired with your writing talents and alsowell as with the layout in your blog. Is this a paid subject matter or did you customize it yourself? Either way stay up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to peer a nice blog like this one nowadays..

  79. I have been surfing online more than three hours nowadays, yet I never found any fascinating article like yours. It’s lovely worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all website owners and bloggers made just right content as you did, the internet will probably be much more useful than ever before.

  80. Can I simply say what a relief to find somebody that really knows what they’re talking about online. You certainly know how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More and more people have to read this and understand this side of the story. It’s surprising you aren’t more popular because you definitely have the gift.

  82. I feel this is one of the such a lot significant information for me. And i’m satisfied reading your article. However wanna statement on few common things, The site taste is perfect, the articles is in point of fact excellent : D. Just right activity, cheers

  84. Hey there I am so grateful I found your site, I really found you by error, while I was searching on Aol for something else, Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to say many thanks for a marvelous post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I dont have time to read through it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the fantastic jo.

  86. I think what you postedtypedsaidbelieve what you postedwrotesaidbelieve what you postedtypedbelieve what you postedtypedWhat you postedwrotesaid was very logicala ton of sense. But, what about this?consider this, what if you were to write a killer headlinetitle?content?typed a catchier title? I ain’t saying your content isn’t good.ain’t saying your content isn’t gooddon’t want to tell you how to run your blog, but what if you added a titlesomethingheadlinetitle that grabbed a person’s attention?maybe get people’s attention?want more? I mean %BLOG_TITLE% is a little vanilla. You might look at Yahoo’s home page and see how they createwrite news headlines to get viewers interested. You might add a video or a related pic or two to get readers interested about what you’ve written. Just my opinion, it could bring your postsblog a little livelier.

  90. My coder is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type on numerous websites for about a year and am nervous about switching to another platform. I have heard very good things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress content into it? Any kind of help would be really appreciated!

  92. Hi, i think that i saw you visited my website so i got here to go back the choose?.I am trying to in finding things to improve my site!I assume its good enough to use some of your ideas!!

  101. I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one nowadays.

  102. Hmm it appears like your website ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I submitted and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I as well am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to the whole thing. Do you have any suggestions for beginner blog writers? I’d genuinely appreciate it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *