4
CHRISTIANITY IN TALMUD
other scriptures, according to the Rabbinical
theory.
That is to say, they were to be interpreted in confor-
mity with the Pentateuch, or rather with the Torah,
or Teaching, of which the Pentateuch was the written
expression. The Rabbis held that the Torah, or
teaching, which Moses was commissioned to give to
Israel, was partly written and partly oral. It is the
written Torah which is found in the Pentateuch, and
developed in the other scriptures. The oral Teaching
was said to have been handed down, from one genera-
tion to another, as the key
to the interpretation of the
written Teaching. That the Pentateuch was regarded
as the standard to which the other scriptures must
conform is shown by the well-known discussion as to
whether the books of Ezekiel and Ecclesiastes were
to be included in the Canon. The reason alleged
against them was that they contradicted the Torah ;
and it was only after this contradiction had been
explained away that they were recognised as canonical
(b. Shabb. 13b, 30b). What may be the value of this
statement for the critical history of the O.T. Canon
is a question which does not arise here.
The Rabbinical theory thus regarded the O.T.
scriptures as a body of instructions based upon the
Torah of Moses ; and when it is said, in the passage
above referred to,
that the prophets delivered the
Torah to the Men of the Great Synagogue, this
probably means that the Rabbis traced their own
system to Ezra and Nehemiah, and thus could regard
it as the continuation of the Teaching handed down
by the Prophets from Moses himself. It is certain
that they did thus regard it, even to the extent of
believing that the whole of the Oral Law was
given
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