The reason why there is no existing manuscripts
from the time of Moses is, all the Torah scrolls were burnt.
Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the
secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the
LORD." He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. (2 kings 22:8)
Rashi Commentary
I have found the Torah
Scroll. It
was hidden under a layer of stones where they had concealed it when Achaz
burned the Torah.1 According
to II Divrei Hayomim 34:14, this was the original Torah Scroll written by Moshe. God had
commanded Moshe to write this Scroll at the end of his life. See Devarim
31:24-26.
Ahaz nullified the Templeservice and sealed the Torah, prohibiting
its study, as it is stated: “Bind up the
testimony, seal the Torah among my disciples” (Isaiah 8:16). Manasseh excised the mentions of God’s
names from sacred books and destroyed the
altar. Amon burned the Torah and sacrificed a gecko, an impure
creeping animal, upon the altar. ( Talmud
Sanhedrin Daf 103b)
There were five events that happened to our
ancestors on the seventeenth of Tammuz and five on the ninth of Av. On the
seventeenth of Tammuz: The tablets were shattered; The tamid ( offering was
cancelled; The [walls] of the city were breached; And Apostomos burned the
Torah, and placed an idol in the Temple. ( MISHNAH
Mishnah Danes Chapter 4)
The Gemara further asks: Anddoes anyone
who performs one mitzva in addition to his other merits have goodness bestowed upon him in
this world? The Gemara raises a
contradiction from a baraita: Anyone whose merits are greater than his sins is
punished with suffering in order to cleanse his sins in this world
and enable him to merit full reward for his mitzvot in the World-to-Come. And due to this punishment he appears to observers like one who burned the entire Torah without leaving
even one letter remaining of it. (that would be Apostomos) (Talmud
Kiddushin Daf 39b:5)
On the seventeenth of Tammuz the tablets were broken [by Moshe Rabbeinu upon seeing the golden calf], the Tamid
[twice-daily] offering ceased, the city [Jerusalem] was breached, Apostomus burned
the Torah and an idol was
erected
in the sanctuary. ( HALAKHAH There Orach Chaim, Siman 549:1)
On the ninth of that month the Temple
was burned and the Torah with it. (Rabbeinu Bahya, Bamidbar 33:38:1)
And the city of Jerusalem was breached at the [time
of] the destruction of the second Temple. And
Apostimos burned the Torah and set up
an image in the [Temple] chamber. (Arukh HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 549:3)
Therefore the Sages relate that when the
Torah scroll was burned by the Romans together with Rabbi Chanina ben Teradyon,
the letters flew off and only the parchment was burned (Avodah
Zarah 18a). Similarly,
in the pogroms of Poland thousands of Torah scrolls were burned (MUSAR
Kav HaYashar Chapter 102)
Interestingly, the rabbis admit the scrolls of the Torah were
burnt by the Romans. MUSAR
Kav HaYashar Chapter 102 to save the embarrassment tries to cover the story by
saying the letter flew off? Sorry sir such story wont work with us.
If
you don’t believe the Torah which Moses wrote was not burnt, then where is it
now? In fact, you don’t have to go as far as showing us the Torah scrolls which
Moses wrote on, just show us the Septuagint manuscripts copied by the Hebrew (note
the original Septuagint manuscripts not copies of copies). Again, Christians
will fail to show us the original scrolls written by Moses or any of the original
Septuagint manuscripts.
Now lets get back to the verse which says
Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the
secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the
LORD." He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. (2 kings 22:8)
Notice how the high priest said he found the “Book
of the Law” in the temple? Now why would that be such a big fuss if they had
multiple copies of the Torah with them? unless they didn’t have the Torah with
them, then it’s a matter of urgency to declare such a discovery. Thus, the
Torah was already gone burnt and somehow this one survived withing the pillars
of the temple and rediscovered later to be lost again.
