ACCURATE TRANSMISSION The destruction of the first Temple and ensuing exile were incredibly traumatic experiences for the Jewish people: The Temple and its daily service were gone as was the monarchy. The Jews found themselves in an alien land with none of the normative institutions fundamental to Judaism. As the Jewish people struggle with the aftermath of exile, accurate transmission of this oral tradition becomes essential. And here is where the Men of the Great Assembly made the greatest contribution. As we see in history, to the extent that the Jews stop living according to Jewish law and tradition, to that extent they assimilate and disappear. Therefore, the contributions of these men can be said to account to a large measure for Jewish survival. The Mishna pays them great homage: [Moses received the Torah from Sinai and conveyed to Joshua, Joshua to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly ... Shimon HaTzaddik was one of the remnants of the Great Assembly. He used to say, "The world stands on three things: on the Torah; on the service of God, and upon acts of loving-kindness..." (Ethics of the Fathers, 1:1)] THE CONTENTS OF THE BIBLE In addition to insuring the accurate transmission of the Oral Torah, the Men of the Great Assembly decide which of the multitude of Jewish holy writings should be in the Bible. The Jewish people have produced hundreds of thousands of prophets (both men and women). Which of their writings should be preserved for future generations and which had limited applicability? The Men of the Great Assembly made this decision and gave us what is known as the Hebrew Bible today -- or the Tanach. (Tanach is a Hebrew acronym which stands for Torah, Prophets, Writings.) This is what Christians call the "Old Testament" but traditionally Jews never call it that. "Testament" is derived from the Latin word testari meaning "to be a witness." The Hebrew Bible was named the Old Testament by the then Christians because of their belief that God cancelled the covenant he made with the Jews and made a new covenant, that is the "New Testament," with the followers of Jesus. Jews deny that God would ever "change His mind" after promising the Jews they would be His "eternal nation", they find that term unfortunate. The Hebrew Bible consists of the five books of the Torah, eight books of the prophets (the last of which consists of twelve short books) and 11 books of various writings, which include the Psalms (largely attributed to King David), the writings of King Solomon (Song of Songs, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes), the books of Job, Ruth, Esther and Daniel etc. The apostle Shaul (Paul) attested to this fact when he made it clear in Romans 3:1,2 "What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there in circumcision? Much in every way; chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God." KJV
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 17:43:09 +0000
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