One in Messiah Congregation
Reasons Why we Don't Accept the Oral Law
The Oral Law is not mentioned even once in the entire Hebrew Bible. When God told Moses to come up to Mount Sinai to receive the tablets He said: "Come up to me into the mountain, and be there: and I will give thee tablets of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written;" (Ex 24,12). No mention is made of an Oral Law.
The Hebrew Bible reports that the written Torah was both lost and completely forgotten for 75 years and only rediscovered by the Temple priests (2Ki 22,8; 2Chr 34,15). Also, after King Josiah died, the other Kings forsook the Lord and His Law again for more the 30 years.
It is inconceivable that an Oral Law could have been remembered when even the written Law was forgotten and forsaken many times.
The words of the Mishnah and Talmud are clearly the words of men living in the 2nd-5th centuries CE and absent are the familiar Biblical formulae "And the Lord spoke unto Moses saying," and "Thus saith the Lord".
The Rabbis claim that the "Oral Law" is the official interpretation of the Torah given on Mount Sinai. Yet if one actually looks at the Mishnah and Talmud they are full of the opinions of Rabbis who disagree with each other on almost every issue . The Rabbis explain that whenever there are such disagreements, "both opinions are the words of the living God".
We maintain that it is unreasonable to believe that God would contradict Himself.
2Kgs.22[ 8] And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
2Chr.34[ 15] And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.
Deut.17[
14] When thou art come unto
the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt
dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations
that are about me;
[15] Thou shalt in any wise
set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among
thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger
over thee, which is not thy brother.
[18] And it shall be, when he
sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall
write him a copy of this law in a book out of that
which is before the priests the Levites:[19
] And it shall be with him, and
he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the
LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:
[20]
That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that
he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand,
or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his
days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
2Kgs.21
[1]
Manasseh was twelve years old when
he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years
in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzi-bah.
[2] And he did that which was
evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom
the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
[18] And
Manasseh slept with his fathers,
and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of
Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
[19]
Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and
he reigned two years in Jerusalem.
And his mother's name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
[20] And he did that which was
evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did.
[21] And he walked in all the
way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served,
and worshipped them:
[22] And he forsook the LORD
God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD.
2 Kings 22
[1]
Josiah was eight years old when he
began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's
name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.
[2] And he did that which was
right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father,
and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.
[3] And it came to pass
in the eighteenth year of king Josiah
, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam,
the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,
The book was lost or forsaken for 75 years ( 55 + 2 + 18 = 75 )
One thought is, with great probability, that the passages
read to the king, was a portion of Deuteronomy, the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth,
and thirtieth chapters, in which is recorded a renewal of the covenant, and
an enumeration of the curses denounced against all who violated the law. Yes,
the Blessing and the curses.
In a little more detail....
No written law for a long time
2Chr.12 [1] And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.
2Chr.15 [1] And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:
[2] And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.[3] Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
2Kgs.22 [8] And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
[10] And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.
[11]And it came to pass, when the king ( In the 18th year of king Josiah ) had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. ( There is appox. 338 years from Asa to Josiah)
[12] And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying,
[13] Go ye, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.
2Kgs.23 [21] And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. [24] Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. [28] Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
2Kgs.23 [22] Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
2Chr.34[15] And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.
Shalom