The Oral Law

Christians will loudly boast their rejection of the oral law, saying it's made up by the rabbis. It is for this reason that I draw exclusively from the Bible in my essays, not using discussions you find in the Talmud. The Talmud is useless in debate if Christians don't find it valid. Yet, some will ransack it trying to find things they can use to Christianity's advantage. This is hardly a new strategy. The great Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman) encountered this in public disputations in Spain centuries ago. It would thrill me if Christians found the Talmud to be authoritative. The Talmud states repeatedly that Jesus was neither divine nor the Messiah. If a Christian were to think that the Talmud was binding in a debate, I'd simply refer them to those pages.

Someone should have just told these people ahead of time that classic Jewish thought never included a suffering Messiah who dies for our sins. It would have saved them a lot of time.

The oral law is quite real. It came down from Sinai with Moses. The Written Torah tells us to do things, but the Oral Torah tells us HOW to do those things.

Exodus 22:16 And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. [17] If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. (KJV)

Where are the instructions of this dowry? How much is it? It's not in the written Torah anywhere, because it's part of the oral law.

Deuteronomy 12:21 If the place which the LORD thy G-d hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the LORD hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul lusteth after. (KJV)

In this verse, we are told to slaughter animals as we had been commanded to do so. However, you don't find the instructions for kosher slaughter written anywhere. Hence, this is an example of the oral law, dating back to Sinai.

Nehemiah 8:8 So they read in the book in the law of G-d distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. (KJV)

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our G-d [is] one LORD: [5] And thou shalt love the LORD thy G-d with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. [6] And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: [7] And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. [8] And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. [9] And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. (KJV)

Verse eight above is the commandment of tefillin. Without the oral law, this verse is up to more speculation and interpretation than one could ever hope to wade through. Tefillin is called "phylacteries" in the New Testament. Verse nine is about the mezuzot that adorn the doorposts and gates of Jewish homes. The oral law teaches how the tefillin and mezuzot are made properly. Without the oral law, these verses would be hopelessly misinterpreted in a thousand different ways.

In the Book of Ezra, we find that Jewish men had violated the prohibition of marrying gentile women, which is a written prohibition we find in Deuteronomy 7:3. However, how the Torah rectifies this crime is rather extreme, and is something that we find in Ezra:

Ezra 10:3 Now therefore let us make a covenant with our G-d to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our G-d; and let it be done according to the law. (KJV)

So, the Torah had it that the means of rectifying the situation of a Jew intermarrying is to not only cut off the gentile wife, but also cut off the children as well. The Written Torah is but only the beginning. The Oral Torah completes it. They are inseparable companions.

Jeremiah 17:21 Thus saith the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring [it] in by the gates of Jerusalem; [22] Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. (KJV)

The prohibitions on the Sabbath in the Torah are rather vague. We are told to "do no work," we are told that the punishment for working on the Sabbath is death, but the Torah doesn't tell us what work is! The oral law, however, go into detail explaining what work is. One of the prohibitions is against carry items with you (wallets, pocket change, keys, writing impliments, etc.). This verse from Jeremiah shows the prohibition in Scripture. Had this not been part of the law and Jeremiah was adding to it, he would have instantly become a false prophet. However, the people knew that these laws predated Jeremiah.

Zechariah 8:19 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth [month], and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace. (KJV)

Here we have four rabbinically ordained fasts that predate the Second Temple period. Any orthodox Jew will be able to tell you what these four fasts are, and what they commemorate. These are the Fast of Tammuz, Tisha B'Av, the Fast of Gedaliah, and the Fast of Tevet, respectively. The rabbinical authorities of the time ordained that the Jewish people fast on those days to commemorate these events, those being the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem (Fast of Tammuz), the destruction of the Temple (Tisha B'Av), the assassination of Gedaliah (Fast of Gedaliah), and the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem (Fast of Tevet).

Now, where on earth did the rabbis get their authority? People who say that the rabbis made things up as they went along believe that they had no right to do so. However, this is essentially incorrect. Had the rabbis been overstepping their authority, one would certainly think that G-d Himself would not have approved of the fasts. And He most certainly would not have been responsible for the passage below:

Deuteronomy 17:8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, [being] matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy G-d shall choose; [9] And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment: [10] And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee: [11] According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, [to] the right hand, nor [to] the left. [12] And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy G-d, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. [13] And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously. (KJV)

In Deuteronomy 30, the Lord tells us that the Torah is not in Heaven, but it is with us. He placed it in our hands. The judges were rabbis. The sages of two thousand years ago were of the same line of ordination. The Pharisees and the Sanhedrin weren't exceeding their authority. G-d had told them to legislate! Whatever direction that took the society in was therefore correct provided they didn't step outside existing law from Sinai. The people were bound by the Torah to follow their instructions, told not to deviate to the right or to the left. So, even if you think that the rabbis made it all up it's still binding because it's given authority by the Bible! G-d knew that people would come to view rabbinical law in the terms which Christians define it. That's why the dealth penalty is attached to publically defying it -- to prevent such behavior.