Did the Generations of Post-Moses Israelites Know about the Torah?

  

written by   RABBI DR. ISRAEL DRAZIN 

Scholars reject the traditional teaching and suggest that the ancient Israelites knew nothing about the Torah until the time of King Josiah (649–609 BCE).[1] Among much else, it is significant that none of the biblical books before this time mention Moses’s Torah; none of the Israelite leaders and prophets, who frequently criticize their nation for its faults, ever criticize them for violating Torah laws; some post-Moses practices are significantly different than those mentioned in Moses’s Torah such as the levirate marriage of Ruth; and there is no indication in the Bible that the Israelites observed important holy days mentioned in the Torah such as the Sabbath and the Festival of Matzot that commemorated the exodus from Egyptian slavery. Joshua and the Israelites totally ignored the clear mandate in Numbers 33:50–56 that the Israelites must expel all Canaanites from Canaan lest they be a thorn upon them and entice them to worship idols. The Israelites not only failed to obey this Torah divine command, there is no indication that they even considered it; it is as if they knew nothing about this Torah command. Instead, they allowed the Canaanites to remain in the country and took tribute from them, until the Canaanites grew strong, became a thorn upon them, and enticed many to worship idols.[2] The following are four examples.

The prophet Micah

The eighth century BCE prophet Micah is an example of a prophet who apparently knew nothing about the Torah. The book of Micah contains seven chapters in which the prophet constantly criticizes both the southern nation of Judah and the northern nation of Israel for improper behavior and promises that they will be destroyed as a consequence of their acts. But despite the catalogue of wrongs, Micah never mentions that they violated the Torah of Moses or failed to observe the holidays, such as the Sabbath and the three festivals of Passover, Shavuot, and Succoth, mentioned in it.

Micah lived at the same time as Amos, Hosea, Jonah, and first Isaiah, around the time of the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE. He berates the people for basic immorality: “they covet fields, and seize them; and houses and take them away; they oppress a man and his household in this way, a man and his heritage” (2:2). “You cast out the women of my people from their pleasant houses; you take away my glory forever from their young children” (2:9). Micah castigates his people for lying, robbery, murder, bribery, priest and prophets charging for their teachings, merchants using deceitful weights, violence, disrespect of parents and in-laws. In 4:2, he mentions that non-Israelites will ascend the mountain of the Lord and God will teach them the divine ways and laws, but he does not mention the Torah of Moses. In 4:6, he states that the Israelites “will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever,” but does not say that they will observe the Torah of Moses.

In 6:4, Micah states that God sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to redeem the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, as if he did not know that the Torah states he sent only Moses.[3] In 6:6-8, he responds to the people who desire to offer God a thousand rams and ten thousand rivers of oil, and their first-born sons to atone for their transgressions. As in Hosea in 6:6, he tells his people that God does not want sacrifices but moral behavior, and does not mention the Torah. “It has been told to you, man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: only to act justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”

Cities of refuge

Despite Moses’s Torah stating that cities of refuge must be established, there is no evidence that such cities were ever created, either in any of the biblical books or other literature. True, they are mentioned in Joshua 20, but since there is no indication they were ever made and in view of other evidence, scholars feel that this chapter was composed centuries after the time of Joshua and it reflects an ideal situation that was never realized.[4]

Cities of refuge are mentioned in Exodus 21:12–14, Numbers 35:9–34, and Deuteronomy 4:41–43; 19:1–13. Numbers and Deuteronomy give details about the cities. In early times, Israelite and non-Israelite communities allowed people who killed other people sanctuary if they took hold of the temple altar. Exodus 21:14 later restricted this practice to only unintentional killings.[5] The Torah established the concept of refuge cities to save the lives of people who negligently but unintentionally killed others; there they would be safe from the revenge of the deceased’s relatives, called “blood avengers.”[6] As long as the manslayer resided in the city, he was safe, but if he left the city, the “blood avenger” could kill him.[7] There were three Levite families and each was assigned two of the six refuge cities.[8]

There are two significant problems relating to cities of refuge. (1) There are differences between these two Torah sources, such as Deuteronomy stating that Moses said that the Israelites should choose the cities of refuge while Numbers has Moses name them, and Numbers states that there should be three such cities in Canaan while Deuteronomy 19 states six.

(2) More significantly, both of these two Torah sources differ with the book of Joshua, as if Joshua did not know about the Torah details.[9]

The Urim and Tummim

The Urim and Tummim is another example suggesting that post-Moses Israelites knew nothing about the Torah until the age of King Josiah. Exodus 28:30, Leviticus 8:8, Numbers 27:21, and Deuteronomy 33:8 speak about an Urim and Tummim that the high priest wore to communicate with God in order to secure divine guidance. While Moses was able to speak to God directly, God advises Moses to have Eleazar the priest use the Urim to communicate with God whenever Joshua and the Israelites “go out.” Yet, there is no indication that either Joshua or Eleazar or any other post-Moses person used the Urim in the book of Joshua or any other

biblical book.[10] It is possible that they did not take advantage of its power because it did not exist. The Urim is mentioned in Ezra 2:63 and Nehemiah 7:65 as a hope for the future, but it was not used at the time and these books were composed after the first temple period,[11] when scholars agree the Torah existed. The sole time it is mentioned earlier is in I Samuel 28:6 where it states that God did not answer King Saul by any means, not by dreams, the Urim, or prophets. This may be a late interpolation.

Allowing or Commanding the Institution of a Monarchy

Another seeming proof is Deuteronomy 17:14–20. It states that when Israelites settle in Canaan and desire to appoint a king, they may do so,[12] but the king is restricted in certain ways. Yet I Samuel 8 and 12 describe Israelites requesting the prophet Samuel to appoint a king for them, and he scolds them and says he is opposed to a monarchy. Why didn’t the people respond by reminding him of Deuteronomy 17 or at least discuss whether the people are correct in petitioning for a king? Is it possible that neither they nor he knew anything about Deuteronomy 17?

Were the Israelites Enslaved in Egypt?

Arnold Ehrlich was convinced that the early post-Moses Israelites knew nothing about Moses’s Torah. He even questioned the history of the Israelite enslavement in Egypt.[13] He felt that he could support his view with: (1) None of the prophets, except Micah 6:5, mention the enslavement. (2) Micah 6:5 has a different version than the Five Books of Moses. It states that God sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to redeem the Israelites. The Five Books state that only Moses was sent, Aaron was only an assistant to Moses, and Miriam had no role in the redemption other than gathering the women to sing praises that the Israelites were saved at the Red Sea. (3) Scholars say that the song in Deuteronomy 32 is a very old composition. In this version, in 32:40, God found the Israelites in the desert. Thus, Ehrlich feels that the original Israelites were desert nomads who conquered parts of Canaan, settled it, forgot their origin after some generations, and invented a legend that they were saved by God from slavery and brought to Canaan.

Notes:

[1] See II Kings 22–23 and II Chronicles 34–35 for the history of the finding of part of the Torah.

[2] Joshua 22:5 reports Joshua warning the Trans-Jordanian tribes to “heed the commandments and the Torah that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cling to him, and to serve him with all your heart and entire being.” This could be seen as a refutation of the idea that the Israelites knew nothing about the Torah: it mentions Moses’s Torah and the words are similar to those in Deuteronomy 6. However, while the term Torah refers today to the Pentateuch or entire Bible or Jewish teachings, it simply means “teachings” when used in the Bible. Also the wording, while similar, is not exact and may not be a quote. As well, scholars claim that the book of Deuteronomy was discovered and used during the reign of King Josiah when the book of Joshua was composed, so this language could have been inserted at that time.

[3] The Targum invents a role for each. Moses to teach religion and law, Aaron to teach how to repent, and Miriam to give instruction to women.

[4] See Olam Hatanakh’s treatment of Joshua 20. Olam Hatanakh, Misrad Hachinuch Vehatarbut, Sifrei Chamad, Yehoshua, notes that some of the cities assigned as cities of refuge and as Levite towns were not conquered by Israel until the time of King David, suggesting a late composition of the book Joshua.

[5] This is discussed in the Babylonian Talmud, Makkot 12a, and Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Rotzei’ach 5:12. See I Kings 1:50 and 2:28–30 for instances in which manslayers sought refuge at an altar. The Roman Catholic Church retains the concept of sanctuary at a church, but not a field altar. The concept that an altar is not so holy that it saves murderers fits in with Maimonides’s concept that nothing has a holy essence; holiness depends on human behavior (Menachem Kellner, Maimonides’ Confrontation with Mysticism [Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2011]).

[6] Discussed in the Babylonian Talmud, Makkot 10a, and Tosephta Makkot 3. The rabbis added many details to this concept (see Makkot 13a and Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Rotzei’ach 8), including designating the forty-two cities assigned to the Levites (Joshua 21 and I Chronicles 6) as additional cities of refuge, making a total of forty-eight.

[7] Numbers 35:27.

[8] Although, as previously stated, Deuteronomy 19 seems to indicate that there are nine cities of refuge.

[9] There is a detailed discussion of the many differences in Olam Hatanakh. For instance, among others: (1) The Torah does not require the manslayer to defend himself before the elders of the city of refuge before he is allowed entry, but Joshua 20:4 does so. (2) 20:6 seems to have conflicting times when the manslayer can leave the city: “until he stands before the community” and “the death of the high priest.”

[10] The Urim and Tummim were placed in the folds of the choshen, a garment worn by the high priest. It contained the name of God and was used by the high priest to consult with God on matters requiring divine guidance (Numbers 27:21). Scripture does not reveal exactly what it looked like, or of what materials it was made of, or exactly how it was used. There is a tradition that the letters on it (in Jacob’s sons’ names) would light up and the high priest, by means of divine inspiration, would interpret their message. The Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 73a–b, states that they are called Urim and Tummim because they bring light (Hebrew: or) and are perfect (Hebrew: tam). Although the Urim is mentioned six times in the Torah (Exodus 28:30, Leviticus 8:8, Numbers 27:21, I Samuel 28:6, Ezra 2:63, and Nehemiah 7:65), we have no evidence that it was ever used. Arguably, this does not prove that the authors of post-Pentateuch books knew nothing about the Urim or that the Israelites never used it because this is “an argument from silence.”

[11] The first temple was destroyed in 586 BCE. Ezra and Nehemiah’s date is unknown, but probably around the fifth century BCE.

[12] Maimonides (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Melakhim 1:1) understood that the Torah obligated the Israelites to appoint a king when they entered Canaan.

[13] In his commentary Mikra kiPeshuto.on Numbers 13–15.

The Israelites may not have known about Moses’ Torah until around 620 BCE

written by RABBI DR. ISRAEL DRAZIN

It appears that the Israelites knew nothing about Moses’ Torah before a book of the Torah was found in the Temple around 620 BCE, a story told in II Kings 22. Scholars contend that there are many indications in the biblical books that support this view. During the writing of my 35th book, “Who was the Biblical Prophet Samuel,” a book that Gefen Publishing house will publish later this year, in which I examined only the 200 verses in the book of Samuel that deal with Samuel, I found 31 supports for this view and also verses that seem to show that the author of Samuel may not have known about the books of Joshua and Judges. 

1. Like all the biblical books after the Pentateuch and before the time of King Josiah (649-609 BCE), no mention is made in Samuel of the Torah.
2. This is especially troublesome in the book of Samuel. The prophet criticizes King Saul for two wrongs and makes them the basis for why Saul’s dynasty will cease, one of which was that he did not utterly destroy the tribe of Amalek.[1] As strongly as Samuel wanted to berate the king, why didn’t he say that Saul violated the Torah which requires the eradication of Amalek, and why in chapter 28 does he not tell the king he disobeyed the Torah law in Leviticus 20:27 and Deuteronomy 18:11 against using diviners?
3. Even when the biblical books criticize the Israelites for improper behavior, neither the leaders of the people nor prophets mention that they violated the Torah. It was not until II Kings 22:8ff that scripture relates that a Sefer Torah, “book of the Torah,” was found.
4. According to the Torah, only descendants of Aaron may function as priests in the temple and only members of the tribe of Levi may assist them.[2] The service of the Levites began at age 25 and ended at age 50.[3] This raises the question: What function was Samuel supposed to perform in the temple since the book of Samuel seems to say he was of the tribe of Ephraim and not Levi and since he was a child, below age 25?
5. Elkanah gave his wife Hannah manah achat apayim, which literally means “a double portion.” Leviticus 7:15 mandates that people offering sacrifices must eat it on the day of the sacrifice and not leave any of it until morning.[4] If Hannah received so much food, she could not have consumed it in the one day, and, as Ehrlich argues, this would violate Torah law. Accordingly, the Targum, Rashi, Radak, and others explain the words to mean “a choice part of the sacrificial meat.”
6. When Elkanah gave his beloved wife Hannah a double portion, he ignored the clear lesson that the Torah highlights about treating one wife or one son better than another. Jacob treated Rachel and Joseph better than his other wives and sons with the result that there was strife between Leah and Rachel, just as between Peninnah and Hannah, and Jacob’s sons teamed up to kill Joseph, which ended with the Israelites being enslaved in Egypt.[5]
7. Since the Torah in Numbers 30:3-17 allowed Elkanah to annul his wife’s vow to give up her son to the temple, why didn’t he do so? Did he not know about the Torah law? Did he not do so because Hannah felt so strongly that she should give up her son? If so, why did she act so unreasonably – the Torah allowed her to keep Samuel home?
8. Why does chapter 1 indicate that Elkanah’s family only visited the temple annually when the Torah demands three visits a year?
9. Although the ish elohim[6] goes into some detail in delineating the wrongs committed by Eli’s sons in chapter 2, why didn’t he mention that they violated the law of the Torah regarding sacrifices?
10. Verse 2:18 indicates that Samuel wore a linen ephod contrary to Torah law that only the high priest can wear the ephod.[7] This problem reappears in II Samuel 6:14 which states that King David donned an ephod.
11. Ehrlich contended that 2:27 and 28 are problem verses because contrary to the words of the ish elohim, God did not appear to Moses’ brother Aaron in Egypt and did not chose him there to be a priest and wear an ephod and allow him to eat parts of the sacrifices. In fact, according to Ehrlich, God never spoke to Aaron until after the erection of the tabernacle; all prior communications to Aaron where transmitted to him through Moses.
12. Verse 3:3 describes Samuel sleeping “in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was.” The rabbis pointed out that this was not allowed and amended the text.[8] The Aramaic translation, called Targum, for instance, states that he slept in the chamber of the Levites, and Gersonides wrote that he slept in an adjacent room, both saying what is contrary to the plain reading of Samuel 3:3.
13. In 4:8 the Philistines heard that the ark was brought into the Israelite camp which they had planned to attack. Thinking the Israelites had many gods, they wailed: “Woe is us! Who will deliver us from the hand of the mighty gods? These are the gods who smote the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.” The mistaken notion of the Philistines that the Israelites were polytheists aside, is it possible that the author of Samuel did not know that the plagues were inflicted in Egypt not in the wilderness? This bothered the translators of the Septuagint and the Aramaic Peshitta who changed the text to “and in the desert.” It also bothered traditional commentators. Rashi and Altschuler, for example, explain that “desert” means the Red Sea where God destroyed the Egyptian army.
14. Chapter 6:14 describes the Israelites celebrating the return of the ark that had been captured by the Philistines by, among other things, sacrificing female cows to God. This is a violation of Torah law in Leviticus 1:10. The problem reoccurs in 7:9 when Samuel offers a female as an offering. The Babylonian Talmud Avoda Zara 24b states this was an exigent circumstance, which Ehrlich mocks saying the rabbis come up with this solution whenever such a problem arises; there certainly wasn’t an emergency here, the people were celebrating and did not have to make the offering.
15. 6:14, where the people offer a sacrifice violates the law of Deuteronomy 12:10 which restricts sacrifices to “the place which the Lord your God shall choose.” The problem also exists in 7:17 where Samuel builds an altar in Ramah. The Talmud explains that after the destruction of Shiloh, when there was no longer a central sanctuary, sacrifices could be brought anywhere. There are several problems with this proposed solution. (1) There is no statement in the Torah that God ever chose Shiloh, and the Deuteronomy verse may mean that the Torah prefers one central location. If so, with the destruction of Shiloh, the people should have selected another central location and not allowed sacrifices everywhere. (2) There are many instances in scripture where people brought sacrifices outside of Shiloh or a central sanctuary, which seems to indicate that the Israelites offered sacrifices at will whenever and wherever they wanted to do so. Examples are the sacrifices of Gideon and the prophet Elijah.[9]
16. In 6:19, God “smote the men of Beth-shemesh because they looked at the ark of the Lord.” Over fifty thousand men were killed. Since looking at the ark is not prohibited, especially in this situation where it had just been returned to the Israelites, Kimchi suggest that, contrary to what is stated, the Israelites did something more, such as opening the ark to see its contents or treating it disrespectfully. Chapter 6 is also in conflict with II Samuel 6:6 where one man touched the ark and God killed him and no one else. In that section, the Israelites brought up the ark under the direction of King David and, contrary to the mandate of Numbers 3:31, 7:9, which states that the ark can only be moved on the shoulders of Levites, the ark was also driven in a cart.[10]
17. The ark was placed with Eleazar for twenty years after its return from the Philistines,[11] but there is no indication that Eleazar was a priest or a Levite.[12]
18. In 7:3, Samuel tells the people that they lost the war with the Philistines because of idol worship, and the way to secure divine aid in the future is to stop worshipping foreign gods and direct their hearts to God and serve him only. The Israelites did as Samuel instructed and were able to subdue the Philistines. The question arises again, if the Torah existed during the time of Samuel, why didn’t he tell them to observe the Torah?
19. In Samuel 8, the people demanded that Samuel appoint a king to rule over them. Samuel did not want to do it and only agreed when God told him to accept the people’s demand. Why didn’t the people and God say to Samuel that the Torah explicitly allows the appointment of a king in Deuteronomy 14? Also why didn’t Samuel know this and when he speaks about what a king will do, why doesn’t he include the items mentioned in Deuteronomy 14?
20. Verse 9:9 states that a person who is called today navi, “prophet,” was previously called ro’eh, “seer.” The narrator seemingly knew nothing about the Torah. The facts are just the opposite. The term navi, “prophet,” appears eighteen times in the Pentateuch, while the two synonyms for “seer,” ro’eh and chozeh, never appear in the Pentateuch. In contrast, ro’eh is found twelve times in Samuel and chozeh
21. The description of the location of Rachel’s tomb in 10:2 differs with the one in Genesis 35:16ff and 48:8 suggesting that the author of the book of Samuel was unfamiliar with the book of Genesis and the Pentateuch.
22. Leviticus 20:27 states that mediums and spiritists should be killed. Deuteronomy 18:11 calls the two kinds of witches an abomination and states they should be driven out of the land.[13] Yet neither the Bible in verse 28:3 nor the witch in verse 28:9 state that the command is biblical, and say instead that it is a decree by Saul, as if neither the author of Samuel nor any character in the book, including Samuel knew about the existence of the Torah.
23. The Urim is mentioned in Exodus 28:30, Numbers 27:21, Deuteronomy 33:8, as an instrument whereby the Israelites could communicate with God, but it does not appear in Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, except in 28:6.[14] This is a further indication that the author of these books did not know about the Torah. In fact, I Samuel 10:19–24 states that Saul was chosen as king by lots, 14:42 has King Saul using lots. Lots rather than the Pentateuchal Urim was the means of communication with God. Joshua used it in Joshua 7 to determine who was a guilty party, and Jonah’s guilt was established by frightened sailors in Jonah 1:7 by lots. The ancient Greeks also used lots, as seen in Odyssey 6:6, Plato’s Laws 5, 745, and other places.
24. With all the significance placed upon the ark, that it was “the seat of God,” that God spoke to Moses from between the cherubim that covered it,[15] why wasn’t the Torah set inside of it during the post-Moses period; the Torah with the multitude of commands is certainly more significant than the close to a dozen commands in the Decalogue? Is it possible that the more significant Torah was not placed in the ark because it did not exist until it was found during the reign of King Josiah, as many scholars claim? Is it also possible that the current practice of placing Torah scrolls inside synagogue arks and setting a replica of the Decalogue outside its enclosure, confirms that it was only after the discovery of the Torah that Judaism felt that it must place the Torah in the sacred place?
25. Some people may suppose that Deuteronomy 31:24-26 is opposite to what is stated above, for these verses say that Moses commanded the Levites to place “this Torah” on the “side” of the ark so that the people will be reminded when they see it that they will be punished if they abandon God. The words “this Torah,” stated twice, refers to the prior teaching that the people should not abandon God, for if they do so, they will be punished. The word “Torah” here, as in all other appearances in the Pentateuch, means “teaching,” a single teaching. Thus, the Torah was not placed inside the ark. Besides, the parchment was not placed in the ark, but on its side.
26. Having mentioned Deuteronomy 31:24-26, we see another problem, the Pentateuch states the Torah, meaning the parchment warning about punishments if the people abandon God, why didn’t the prophets who berated the Israelites repeatedly that they will be punished for abandoning God, mention this “Torah” that the Pentateuch states was on the side of the ark?
27. Verse 12:6 states that Moses and Aaron brought the Israelites out of Egypt. Strictly speaking, Aaron was not involved in bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. He was at best an assistant. In fact, God never speaks to him directly until he is high priest. Arguably, this is another indication that the author of Samuel was unfamiliar with the Pentateuch.[16]
28. In both the story of Joshua trying to find out who caused the Israelite defeat[17] and Saul’s attempt to discover who violated his oath in chapter 14, a lottery was used to identify the culprit, but the final decision that he was the guilty party and be sentenced to death was based on confessions. Both stories may be in violation of Torah law that a person may not testify against himself.[18]
29. According to a literal reading of chapter 14, Saul’s army returned from battle with cattle as booty and ate the cattle with the blood. This would be a violation of the prohibition in Leviticus 19:26 and Deuteronomy 18:10.
30. Saul appears to have violated the Torah in 14:34, which allows sacrifices only during the day. But, the Babylonian Talmud[19] tries to justify Saul’s act by saying that the biblical rule only applies to a national altar or because the animals were not sacrifices.
31. Samuel orders Saul to destroy the Amalek in chapter 15 but fails to mention that Moses and Joshua defeated the tribe, a story told in Exodus 17:8-16.

The book of Samuel also raises the question whether the author knew about the biblical books of Joshua and judges. It is possible that he did not because these two books were perhaps composed after the author of Samuel wrote his book, and the author relied on oral reports of the past that were sometimes contrary to what later appeared in Joshua and Judges. For example:

1. Verse 12:8 states that Moses and Aaron brought the Israelites into Canaan. If taken literally, as Ehrlich does, this is contrary to what is stated in the Pentateuch. Moses and Aaron did not bring the Israelites into Canaan. It was Joshua, who is not mentioned in the chapter.
2. Only four of the more than a dozen judges are identified in 12:11; Bedan is named but is not in the book of Judges, although tradition supposes that Bedan refers to Samson who was of the tribe of Dan, and Bedan is understood as Ben Dan, a member of (the tribe of) Dan.
3. The Book of Samuel implies that there were many citizens of the tribe of Benjamin were alive during the days of Samuel which was not long after the civil war described at the end of the biblical book of Judges which states that all but 600 males were alive in the tribe of Benjamin and only 400 virgins in Jabesh-gilead. While the accounts in Judges were most likely exaggerated statements and many more people survived, as indicated in Samuel, it is also possible that the Samuel author did not know what is stated in the book of Judges.

The fact that most biblical books have no idea that the Pentateuch existed is not unique to the book of Samuel. I pointed out examples in all of my “Unusual Bible Interpretations” books, in Joshua, Judges, Amos, Hosea, Esther, and Ruth. Rabbi Evan Hoffman showed the problem in Ezekiel in his weekly “Thoughts on the Parashah” of April 9, 2016. He wrote:

“The discrepancies are many:  Ezekiel instructs the priests to wear only linen vestments when ministering in the Temple’s inner courtyard (44:17).  According to the Pentateuch, the priestly uniform was made partly out of wool (Exodus 28:5).  Ezekiel forbids priests to marry widows, with the exception of women widowed from priests (44:22).  The Torah permits priests to marry widows.  Only the High Priest is forbidden to marry a widow and is required to marry a virgin (Leviticus 21:7, 13-14).  Ezekiel instructs priests undergoing the process of ritual purification to wait an additional seven days before re-entering the Temple compound (44:26).  No such requirement appears in the Pentateuch.  Numbers 19:19 states, without any caveat, that a person is entirely pure after the sprinkling ritual, immersion, and nightfall on the close of the seventh day.  Ezekiel forbids priests to eat carrion or the flesh of torn beasts, possibly implying that non-priests are permitted to eat such meat (44:31).  The Torah, however, prohibits all Israelites from eating neveilah and tereifah (Exodus 22:30, Deuteronomy 14:21).  Ezekiel instructs the prince of the nation to sacrifice a bull on Rosh Chodesh Nisan as a means of cleansing the Sanctuary (45:18).  There is no precedent for this in the Torah.  Ezekiel mandates a repeat performance of that sacrifice on 7 Nisan, though according to the Septuagint the text should read “in the seventh month” (45:20).  Either way, no precedent exists in the Pentateuch for such a ritual.  Ezekiel’s version of the holiday sacrifices (45:22-25) differs considerably from the Musaf offerings recorded in Numbers 28-29.  Most notably, he requires the same number and type of sacrifices on each day of Sukkot as on the days of Passover.  The Torah, famously, requires a diminishing number of bulls as the Sukkot holiday progresses.  Ezekiel’s Sabbath offering consists of six lambs and one ram (46:5), while the Torah mandates only two lambs (Numbers 28:9).  Lastly, Ezekiel calls for the same ephah measure of meal to be offered irrespective of which type of animal is being sacrificed (46:7), whereas the Torah requires different sized portions of meal to be offered as a function of whether the sacrifice is a bull, ram, or lamb (Numbers 28:12-13).” Rabbi Hoffman explains that the talmudic rabbis attempted to explain this problem in Shabbat 13b, Hagigah 13a, Sifrei Deuteronomy 294, Kiddushin 78b, Menahot 45a, and other rabbinic sources, including Rashi who gave homiletical explanations for the differences.

Notes:

[1] Chapter 13 for the first, that he did not wait for him, and chapter 15 for the second about Amalek.

[2] Numbers 1:50-53; 3:6-9; 4:1-33; 18:21-24 and elsewhere. It is true that non-Levites, such as the Gibeonites of Joshua 9 performed menial acts for the temple, such as bringing water, but it is clear that Samuel was not sent to the temple to perform such acts.

[3] Numbers 4:3, 8:24-28.

[4] According to the Bible, the day began at day break and ended when the sun arose the next day. See Rashbam to Genesis 1:5.

[5] The command against treating the son of an unloved wife improperly is in Deuteronomy 21:15-17.

[6] “Man of God” or “great man” or esteemed man.”

[7] Exodus 28:6ff is understood to say that only the high priest wore the ephod.

[8] Babylonian Talmud Kiddushin 78a and Tanchuma Leviticus 6:2

[9] See Babylonian Talmud Temurah 28b-29a, and Berachot 9b that discuss these sacrifices and say they were a necessary exception due to the exigencies of the time. See also Zevachim 106a, 112b, 119b; Avoda Zara 51b, Meilah 3b; Megilah 10a, and Berachot 4b. See also Encyclopedia Talmudit, volume 3, Yad Harav Herzog, 1973.

[10] No claim should be made that the Philistines also failed to observe the Torah law since they were not obligated to do so.

[11] 7:1 and 2.

[12] Olam Hatanakh.

[13] See also Leviticus 19:31 and 20:6.

[14] While the Torah states that the Urim will work and reveal God’s wishes, there is no indication that it was used in the post-Pentateuchal books, and in 28:6 it states that Saul received no information from it.

[15] Exodus 25.

[16] Both this and the next item are not very good proofs that the author of Samuel did not know about the Pentateuch. One can respond that verses 6 and 8 should not be taken literally.

[17] Joshua 7:19.

[18] See Aaron Kirschenbaum, “Self Incrimination in Jewish Law,” the Burning Bush Press, 1970, where the author adds II Samuel 4 and Judges 17:1-4. Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15, which require the testimony of two witness, can be construed to imply that self-incrimination cannot be used as evidence.

[19] Zevachim 120a.

Ezra

Ezra was not mentioned by Moses that he will revive the Torah to the Jews after the Babylonian exile. Nor did Jesus make any mention of Ezra, yet this man was a prominent figure to the Jews from saving them going back to disbelief. If Ezra can be a man of God i.e. a Prophet who was neither mentioned by Moses or Jesus, why then can't you accept Prophet Muhammad Pbuh as the final Messenger, rather than asking where is he mentioned by the Prophets in the Bible?

Even after we show you from your text where Prophet Muhammed Pbuh was mentioned, you still reject?

Narrated Ata bin Yasar:

I met `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-`As and asked him, "Tell me about the description of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) which is mentioned in Torah (i.e. Old Testament.") He replied, 'Yes. By Allah, he is described in Torah with some of the qualities attributed to him in the Qur'an as follows: "O Prophet ! We have sent you as a witness (for Allah's True religion) And a giver of glad tidings (to the faithful believers), And a warner (to the unbelievers) And guardian of the illiterates. You are My slave and My messenger (i.e. Apostle). I have named you "Al-Mutawakkil" (who depends upon Allah). You are neither discourteous, harsh Nor a noisemaker in the markets And you do not do evil to those Who do evil to you, but you deal With them with forgiveness and kindness. Allah will not let him (the Prophet) Die till he makes straight the crooked people by making them say: "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah," With which will be opened blind eyes And deaf ears and enveloped hearts." (Sahih al-Bukhari Vol. 3, Book 34, Hadith 335)

Compare this to Isaiah 42 :1-7, 18

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out,or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth;and the coastlands wait for his law.”

“I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles,to open eyes that are blind,to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!

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Ask yourself this question, who is Isaiah 42 speaking about?


The words of Qarāfī, who says: ‘If (the Christians) say, “how do you (Muslims) hold onto these scriptures [i.e. the Bible] when you consider them to be unauthentic?” we reply that the prophethood of our Prophet, peace be upon him, is proven by miracles and has no need for these books. Yet, we point to what they hold as proof of his prophethood, peace be upon him, only in order to force the ahl al-kitāb, who believe in their authenticity, to accept the argument (ilzām)’ (Qarāfī, Ajwiba, p. 463).

Muslim Exegesis of the Bible in Medieval Cairo Najm al-Dīn al-Ṭūfī’s (d. 716/1316) Page 350