The Theology of the Pentateuch

Worship of God as described in the Torah and the establishment of traditions to honor it became the binding lunge for the Israelites. Even the territory of the original twelve tribes which the Jews claimed is recorded in the Bible as a gift from God.

The interesting affair about the Pentateuch, however, is that it was only assembled once. After it was committed to writing it could be referred to by everyone and used as a source of authority. stack can fight what it means, but not what it says. "The truth is condition once and for all and need only to be familial" (193). It was the humble acceptance of the Pentateuch and the teachings embodied therein that gave it the power to receive the primeation of their society.

Having a written set of laws changes the way a society relates to its leaders, because the leaders draw their power from these laws. Cannon is an early(a) form of constitution. "It includes guidelines for the ruler, the judiciary, priests, and other cult officials" (60). The story of Kind David and Bathsheba, found in the second take of Samuel, chapters 11 and 12, shows how King David is field of operations not just to the individual laws, but to the whole life of justice from which they were written.

The Pentateuch acted like an anchor for the Jews during good and bad time alike. When things were going wellhead they gave praise to God for his goodness. When things were bad they diabolical themselv

This changed rather suddenly small-arm the country of Judah was under Grecian rule. When Antiochus IV outlawed the Torah in Jerusalem in 168 BCE, many of the Jews rebelled against it. The original groups lost soldiers because they would not fight on the Sabbath. Greek armies took advantage of this to slaughter them.

notwithstanding even today people hold fast to the Pentateuch as a basis for how we see the world. There is an ongoing debate in the United States about the teaching of evolution as the process of creation, rather than the story that is included in the book of Genesis.

Though some(prenominal) want evolution completely eliminated, a large number of others want at least a cursory bow to the idea that the world was created by some sort of higher being.

The Jews adhered to the laws of the Torah very closely for hundreds of years. Whenever their political particular was threatened, their oppressors attempted to force them to recant their religion as well and found it very difficult to do. Yet the refusal of the Jews to compromise mostly resulted in martyrdom, which does little to perpetuate political dominance.

es and returned to the shipway of their Torah in the hopes of regaining God's favor. This document became the very foundation of their society.

The Maccabees started a trend. From that point on society began to make moral decisions and search for the Pentateuch to confirm or refute them, rather than looking to the Pentateuch for accusation in the first place. Those who took an Orthodox view of religion believed that they were resile by the answers. Everyone else took this as license to "do what was necessary for the greater good".

Temple University Press, Philadelphia. 1989

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