THE TORAH
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The first books of the Bible, taken together, are named “Pentateuch”, a Greek word meaning “five books”. The Israelites named “Torah” meaning the “law”. Originally, the Torah was a single book, not five, but the separation and its names appeared in the Greek Bible named “Septuagint”, which is a translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, its writing began in the Third Century BC and it was concluded at the end of the Second Century BC.
The author of the Torah was God through Moses. Moses began its writing, around the year 1496 BC. The Holy Scriptures confirm that Moses wrote the Torah: “And the LORD said to Moses, Write this, a memorial in a book…”[1]; “And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD…”[2]; “And Moses wrote this law…”[3]; “And keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses…”[4]
Jesus also confirmed that Moses was the writer of the Torah: “For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings…”[5]
It is also possible, because of the longevity of the patriarchs, the oral tradition came to Moses through six stages:
1. Adam: He lived until the 243 years old of Methuselah.
2. Methuselah: He lived until the 98 years old of Sem.
3. Sem: He lived until the 50 years old of Jacob.
4. Jacob: He lived until the 60 years old of Levi, his son.
5. Levi: He lived until around the 77 years old of Amram.
6. Amram: He was the Moses’s father.
7. Moses: He was the seventh stage.
But we can find something extremely important in the forty days and forty nights that Moses was with God on Mount Sinai, perfect time for divine inspiration. We must not discard that God revealed His law to Moses.
Theologically, the Torah is the column for the Old Testament and New Testament.
But is the Torah really word of God?
The events occurred on Mount Sinai were not only witnessed by Moses, but for all the people of Israel, that when they journeyed from Egypt they were around three millions people.
They were witnesses about the events surrounding, when the tablets were given, as it is written: “And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw, they trembled, and stood afar off.”[6] “And you came near and stood under the mountain. And the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.[7]” “The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, all of us here, alive today.”[8]
Is it true the Torah? If we consider that directly involves the millions of witnesses who were at the scene of the events and that none of them rejected the written word, but they took them as genuine historical evidence; then, we can say that it is evidenced that the Torah is entirely truthful. If it had been a lie or a fallacy, we would face the certainty of a malicious plot of more than three millions people and they all plotted the biggest scam of all time. If the words that are in the Torah were false, the millions witnesses had refused so big lie.
When we find stories that happened to a person or an isolated group and its veracity has not way to be demonstrated, we are in front of a legend, wonderful traditional events that have not something historical or real. In that way, for those who are not witnesses, their credibility is based simply on the blind faith. A legend may not be false all times, maybe it is true, but the conviction of the people that were not at the scene, is based in the faith. On the contrary, when a story is based on the assertion of the large number of eyewitness, we are in front of the history. With regard to the Torah, there are evidences that is not legend but factual history, and that witnesses who did not deny the facts, they obeyed the commandments of the Lord. This means that the conviction about all that is written in the Torah, for those who witnessed these events and for their descendants, it is history, but for those who did not watch the events, but we believe like true, it is faith.
I am a believer by faith, but the descendants of these witnesses are the Jews, who as we know, they were subjugated by the Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Jews were an independent nation until May 1948, and even then, they did not become extinct nor their beliefs. Where are Babylon and its gods? Where are the Medes and Persians? What happened to the wisdom of the Greeks and their deities?, And even more so, what happened to the great Roman Empire? However, the Jewish people prevail and it is because they have the true God (except in all matters relating to Jesus). What other evidence can be found about the veracity and authenticity of the Pentateuch?
No doubt, the Torah was revealed by God to Moses. What is written in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, it is definitely and absolutely “Word of God”.
[1] Exodus 17:14
[2] Exodus 24:4
[3] Deuteronomy 31:9
[4] 1 King 2:3
[5] John 5:46-47
[6] Exodus 20:18
[7] Deuteronomy 4:11
[8] Deuteronomy 5:3