jefff@cadovax.UUCP (Jeffery H. Fields) (05/10/85)
Micha Berger writes: > ................................................. Also, the bible >was never handed down by word of mouth (not the OT at least). The prophets >wrote the pooks themselves. It is referred to in the Talmud as "the >written law", as opposed to the talmud itself, the mishna, and other >similar texts, "the oral law", which was handed down by word of mouth, >and are abound with arguements. (see the first mishna, it contains an >arguement between the Rabbis and Rabbi Judah.) Who ever said >that it was ever handed down as a tradition? Most Bible scholars agree that most of the OT was handed down through an oral tradition. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers (The Pentateuch) were certainly not written until much later after they were first composed orally. There is no evidence that Moses wrote anything. In fact, there is no evidence that any of the OT prophets wrote anything. The first book of the OT that was written was The First Book of Samuel, sometime during the reign of David (c. 700 BC), hundreds of years after Moses. It was written by court scribes and its main purpose was to justify the Monarchy established by King Saul. The transcribing of the oral traditions into the written OT was accomplished by court scribes, who were mostly foreign slaves, and continued from the time of David and Solomon until about 200 BC. -- Jeff Fields {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!jefff Your navel is a bowl well rounded with no lack of wine, your belly a heap of wheat surrounded with lilies. Your two breasts are two fawns twins of a gazelle. -"The Song of Songs" 7:3-4
arig@cvl.UUCP (Ari Gross) (05/14/85)
> Most Bible scholars agree that most of the OT was handed down through an > oral tradition. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers (The > Pentateuch) were certainly not written until much later after they were first > composed orally. There is no evidence that Moses wrote anything. In fact, > there is no evidence that any of the OT prophets wrote anything. > Jeff Fields > {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!jefff It would seem that the contention that the OT wasn't written down until much later is refuted in the Bible. At the end of Deuteronomy there is the following injunction: "Write down for yourselves this Song (these verses)...Put it in their (the Children of Israel's) mouths." This would seem to indicate that the OT was written (at least the five books of Moses) while the Children of Israel were still in the desert. Ari Gross arig@cvl.arpa