TORAH! TORAH! TORAH!

RECEIVING TORAH.

There is a great type scene working around the giving and or public reading of Torah in the Hebrew Bible. But the “receiving Torah” type scene is one of the most clever in the Hebrew Bible, because the scenes which detail recommitment to Torah are actually redefining Torah. We can see the progression when we line up the giving of the Law at Sinai (Exodus 19), in Josiah’s court (2 Kings 23), and in Ezra-Nehemiah’s Jerusalem (Nehemiah 8). More importantly, we can ask: What is meant by Torah and when?

The answer to this question unlocks the genius of the type scene, while dispelling a simple, chronological reading of the three readings of the Law. The type scene goes something like this:

1. A leader with unique authority receives Torah.

2. The leader reads or tells Torah to the gathered people.

3. “Torah” is read to the people.

4. They repent of how they have not fulfilled it.

5. The people agree to do what Torah says.

And so Moses has unique authority and meets Yahweh on Mount Sinai. He gathers the people and tells them the law God has given him. Moses recites the story of Israel so far with God. When he tells them that God wants to covenant Godself to them, all the people agree to carry it everything God commands:

EXODUS 19.3-8

3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” 7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. 8 The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.

TORAH AS COVENANT CODE.

Now, what will follow in terms of what the people agreed to do is called the Covenant Code. The Covenant Code, or “Book of the Covenant,” is found in Exodus 21.1-23.19. This law collection is most likely the oldest collection of laws in the Bible. The laws line up best with much older ancient Near Eastern collections and they also reflect an agricultural lifestyle. There is a lot less content about how to sacrifice and approach God appropriately, or “cultic” matters. Instead, the laws are about slavery, violence, liability and restitution, social justice, marriage, the Sabbath and the Sabbatical Year, the three annual festivals, etc… Many scholars assign this to the monarchy, perhaps quite early when most of Israel was rural and village life was the context. Here’s the point: Were we to ask “what is Torah?” at this point, it would be the covenant code and perhaps the Priestly Code which has been pulled into Exodus and Numbers much later. Torah is the “law of Moses” given at Sinai in this story.

This is not the case in the next type scene where we expect the Torah to be one in the same. After Hilkiah sends word to Josiah that the ספר תורה (“book of the torah”) has been recovered, Josiah gathers the people and reads it aloud and they agree to carry it out…again:

2 KINGS 23.1-3

1 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. 3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.

TORAH AS DEUTERONOMIC CODE.

This version of the type scene cuts out the story of Israel’s history with Yahweh. I am not sure why exactly. In any case, after reading the law were we to ask what the people pledged to carry out— that is, what precisely is Torah?— we would have to answer differently than the Moses/Sinai version of the type scene. What Josiah orders up as perfect obedience to the Torah is the Deuteronomic Code. The Deuteronomic Code is found in Deuteronomy 12-26, and the collection has generally been associated with with Josiah’s reform because of this text (2 Kings 22-23).

The Deuteronomic Code is stringently monolotrous (belief in many gods but exclusive worship of one: Yahweh), for centralization of worship (Yahweh cult only in Jerusalem), and systematizes correct piety versus apostasy, defines impurity, and tightly regulates tithing, the Sabbatical Year, religious festivals, leadership roles of judges, officials, kings, Levitical priests, prophets, and diverse issues concerning the cities of refuge, witnesses, warfare, murder, inheritance, property, sexual matters, marriage, slavery, various ‘humanitarian’ considerations, and more. The thing that stands out as “Torah” in Josiah’s form, orin the Deuteronomic Code, is the centralization of cult and the exclusive worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem.

Many interpreters have felt that these legal traditions may be Northern Kingdom laws that were brought south to Jerusalem by fleeing northerners after Assyria sacked Samaria in 722 BCE. Either way, these are the laws put forth in King Josiah’s reform in the 620s. The Deuteronomist stream of thought continued into the exilic period and was largely responsible for the editing of the book of Deuteronomy and for drafting the history which runs from Joshua through 2 Kings.

Josiah, upon reading the ספר תורה becomes a Deuteronomistic zealot. He vies for stringent monolatry (worship of Yahweh exclusively) only in Jerusalem. Everything else is out of bounds. But here’s the thing to remember— this was not the program God gave Israel through Moses at Sinai. This is a swapping of the law at Sinai for the religious program of the writers of Deuteronomy who want centralization.

This move for centralized worship followed by Josiah smashing all the other shrines outside of the holy city has led scholars to believe that Deuteronomy is actually a product of Josiah’s religious reform. And so rather than “discovering” the Law…they rewrote it. And that’s not all— they used a type scene to pull it off.

So what is Torah to King Josiah in 2 Kings? The Deuteronomic Code.

And then a third time, Ezra the scribe gathers the returnees from the exile to read the Torah and they agree to carry it out…again… again.

NEHEMIAH 8.1-6

1 all the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel. 2 So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. 3 He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

4 Ezra the teacher of the Law stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion. Beside him on his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.

5 Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. 6 Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

TORAH AS DC DOUBLE DOWN.

After Ezra reads from “Torah” the Levites in unison all know what to say (like in some sort of musical)… They rehearse the story of Israel up to this point. Except this time they “put it in writing” and the priests fix their seals— like imprints you would press into wax— onto the scroll. It is akin to the signatures on the United States Declaration of Independence:

NEHEMIAH 8.8

38 “In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.”

Now, what is Torah to the writer of Ezra-Nehemiah? It is a double down on the Deuteronomic Code. The author of Ezra-Nehemiah, which is one book in structure and critical tradition, employs the same type scene when the exiled Jews return to the land under Persian auspices. And his goal is a similar program to Josiah’s— this author wants centralized worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem. The Samaritan Yahweh cult on Mount Gerizim is an abomination to this author. And so are the Samaritans, because the author of Ezra-Nehemiah is one of the most ethnocentric authors in the Bible. He goes as far as to write how Nehemiah works to annul marriages and break up families in order to separate the true Israel from the nations. We might call this the dark side of the Type Scene :D. Seriously though, Ezra-Nehemiah’s author doubles down on the Deuteronomic Code.

WHAT IS TORAH AND WHEN?

If Deuteronomy’s program is Torah for Josiah and Ezra-Nehemiah. Is it a stretch to say these authors are either ignoring the Law of Moses given at Sinai… or more likely, it is not finished yet? This means the five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) what tradition would come to call “torah”, and view as “the five books of Moses” is not in its final form yet, or it is being rewritten.

Most scholars believe Deuteronomy gets added to Genesis through Numbers sometime in Exile or the Persian period. Perhaps this is a harmonizing of the two traditions. Think about it. Why do we need a second and very different reading of the law if God gave the law at Sinai a generation ago? Maybe it is better to recognize Torah, not as a specific collection of books at this time, but as the commandment or “teaching” or “instruction” of Yahweh for his people. This definition of Torah allows what is in purview to change conceptually like everything else in the Bible. It allows Torah to be a moving target, which may mean different things at different time. Functionally this happens anyways. Moses, Josiah, Ezra, Jesus and Paul, later rabbinic tradition— each has a nuanced definition of Torah and interpretive tradition. They are all part of the great discussion of God in the Bible/

And so the type-scene is used to pull different ideas about what Torah actually is together. The public readings of the law SEEM to renew Israel’s commitment to Genesis through Deuteronomy…but not in essence. In essence they are subtly shifting what is meant by ספר תורה.