Oral Torah

EVIDENCE OF ORAL TORAH IN THE BIBLE

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Dr. Paul Manuel—2016

When Christians think about Old Testament law, they often consider only the Decalogue, but the people of Israel had one of the most detailed legal codes in the Ancient Near East (613 precepts in the Pentateuch alone by rabbinic count). These regulations covered many aspects of life—religious and secular—for many classes of people—priests, merchants, farmers, kings. Because even such an extensive list cannot encompass every contingency, including new situations, there arose a need to supplement the list with additional laws. Hence, two legal corpuses developed, one written and another oral. Written law, the main legal body, was copied and recopied. Oral law, a lessor legal body (with varying degrees of authority), was memorized and transmitted by word of mouth. Consequently, what was written was more enduring, whereas what was oral was less enduring (until some of it was codified, first in the Mishnah). Still, remnants of oral law remain even today, as do later additions to meet new situations.

I. Early evidence of Oral Torah (in the Old Testament)

A. Some unwritten laws existed alongside the written law.

There are hints in Written Torah of an Oral Torah that was transmitted with it. Two passages in particular suggest that God revealed more details to His people about what He expected than what Moses recorded:

If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. (Exod 21:22-27)

Oral Torah explains that the second group of infractions has a greater monetary fine.

Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel (Num 15:38).

Oral Torah explains that the blue dye come from a particular mollusk.

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads (Deut 11:18).

Oral Torah explains the construction of tefillin.

If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put his Name is too far away from you, you may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you... (Deut 12:21).

Oral Torah details the various requirements for ritual slaughter.

If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house (Deut 24:1).

Oral Torah details the various requirements for certifying divorce.

These laws came originally to Moses with additional information that explained how God's people should implement them.

B. Other unwritten laws developed after the written law.

An Old Testament patriarch (Recab) broadened the recipients of one of God's written commands by applying it to his family. God prohibited alcohol to on-duty priests:

The LORD said to Aaron, "You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. (Lev 10:8-9)

There was no such prohibition for laymen, among whom God only condemned the abuse of alcohol (inebriation):¹

Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise (Prov 20:1).

Do not join those who drink too much wine... 21 for drunkards...become poor... (Prov 23:20).

It is not for kings...to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights (Prov 31:4-5).

Racab, doubtless cognizant of these warnings and of the trouble that might follow people who ignore them, adopted the priestly prohibition for his descendants:

We have obeyed everything our forefather...commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine.... Then Jeremiah said to...the Recabites, "This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'You have obeyed the command of your forefather...and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.' Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'Jonadab son of Recab will never fail to have a man to serve me." (Jer 35:8, 18-19)

This prohibition was a 'fence' (see below), because it did not represent an actual precept but a barrier to prevent people from transgressing the precept.² What is particularly interesting is that this non-Mosaic ordinance receives the Lord's approval, indicating that such additional laws are not necessarily outside the purview of acceptability to God.

II. Later evidence of Oral Torah (in the New Testament)

By the first century some oral laws were well established while others remained in a state of flux. Still others had yet to be formulated. Jesus recognized the validity of Oral Torah and instructed his disciples to respect it:

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. (Matt 23:2-3a)

Jesus also expected his disciples not to assign all laws, even written laws, the same weight:³

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! ...You have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. (Matt 23:23)

Some laws are more important than other laws. As God says through Hoses, for example, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" (6:6a). He commands both offering sacrifices and extending mercy, yet some situations require the former more than the latter, and his followers must be able to recognize the difference.

Along with oral law, there developed a supplemental body of legal material to serve as a 'fence' around the original commandment.⁴ The pious often avoided the possibility of transgressing one of God's commands by establishing such an artificial barrier (i.e., a lessor rule) that would keep them at a safe distance from transgressing the primary commandment:

Make a fence for the Torah (m Avot 1:1).

R. Aqiba says, "Tradition is a fence for the Torah" (m Avot 3:13).

Some fences were effective: The Rechabites' avoidance of alcohol prevented drunkenness. Other fences were ineffective: The Pharisees' avoidance of oaths did not prevent profaning God's name (see below). In all cases, however, it was important that God's people not confuse the fence with the precept itself.

A. Some unwritten laws were settled.

A written law may be too restrictive prima fascia and require further explanation, such as the need to limit Sabbath activity to one's home:

Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out (Exod 16:29b).

Most Jews understood that God's intention was not so restrictive⁵ and that He actually allowed short distance travel (approximately 3/4 mile):⁶

They returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city (Acts 1:12).

This extended the boundary of one's domicile and expanded the possibilities of one's activity on the Sabbath (e.g., visitation).

B. Other unwritten laws were unsettled.

If ever there was a need for clarification, it concerned one of God's oldest commands for His people, the Sabbath, and what constituted 'work' on that day:⁷

The seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work... (Exod 20:10).

Because this was far too general, Oral Torah addressed the desideratum. The Mishnah specifies what activities work entails:⁸

The main labors [prohibited on the Sabbath] are forty less one: sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, cleansing, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool and washing or beating or dyeing it, spinning, weaving, making two loops, weaving two threads, separating two threads, tying a knot or loosening one, sewing two stitches, tearing in order to sew two stitches, hunting a deer and slaughtering it or flaying it or salting it or curing its skin or scraping it or cutting it up, writing two letters, erasing in order to write two letters, building, demolishing, extinguishing, kindling, striking with a hammer, carrying from one domain into another. These are the main labors [prohibited on the Sabbath]—forty less one. (m Shabb 7:2)

Despite this extensive list, there remained considerable disagreement about what was and was not permissible on the Sabbath.

Some religious leaders had a strict view of Sabbath observance that allowed exceptions to the prohibition against work only in the most extreme circumstances:

A matter of doubt as to danger to life overrides the prohibitions of the Sabbath (m Yoma 8:6).

When Jesus was traveling in Galilee, he encountered two situations that brought him into conflict with religious leaders who held to few exceptions.

• Some Pharisees thought Jesus had violated the Sabbath prohibition against work by healing on the seventh day and castigated him for it:

He went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" ...Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. (Matt 12:9-10, 13-14)

Cf. [On the Sabbath] they may not [even] set a fracture (m Shabb 22:6).

Jesus, however, regarded the extenuating circumstances of the cripple's health as sufficient to override the Sabbath prohibition against (such) work.

• Some Pharisees thought disciples had violated the Sabbath prohibition against work by harvesting on the seventh day and castigated them for it:

Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath." (Matt 12:1-2)

Cf. R. Ishmael says, "Just as ploughing [is prohibited on the Sabbath] so harvesting [is prohibited on the Sabbath] (m Shev 1:4).

Jesus, however, regarded the extenuating circumstances of the disciples' hunger as sufficient to override the Sabbath prohibition against (such) work.

A practice some people adopted (like the Recabites) from ordinances God gave priests was a concern for ritual purification outside the sanctuary:

When they approach the altar to minister by presenting an offering made to the LORD by fire, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die (Exod 30:20-21).

Pharisees in the first century followed this practice before eating, a custom Jesus did not promote among his disciples, yet neither did he prohibit:

The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.... So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?" (Mark 7:1-3,5)

The problem these Pharisees had was their being careful with a lesser command God had not given to them, while being neglectful of a greater command God had given to them:

You say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God; Mark 7:11).

Contra Honor your father and your mother (Exod 20:12a).

Jesus did not condemn the rules of fences unless, as here, people elevated them above what God actually commanded. When the two conflict, Written Torah takes precedence over Oral Torah.

An ineffective (and invalid) 'fence' was the alternative oath formula that would supposedly insulate a speaker against any responsibility to fulfill his word:

I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. (Matt 5:34-36)

In this case, the fence was futile, even delusionary, and only gave the speaker a false sense of security. As Jesus said, "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one" (v. 37).

When people review God's various instructions in scripture, they see Evidence of Oral Torah in the Bible. There is much more to biblical precepts than most people imagine, from the revelation at Sinai to rabbinic precepts in the gospels.⁹ Although some Christians look askance at such rules, considering them antithetical to grace. Most of the rules, even those subject to abuse, were beneficial in helping God's people remain faithful to him.

For a pdf including Bibliography and Endnotes, see here.