INTRODUCTION
5
to Moses, and by him handed down along with the
written Torah. The question here again is not as to
the historical facts of the development of the Rabbin-
ism out of the O.T., but only of the view which the
Rabbis themselves held of the connexion between
them. And that view was, that after the time of the
men of the Great Synagogue, those whose names are
recorded as teachers taught by word of mouth the
Torah as it was now written, together with such
interpretation of it-not written, but handed down-
as would serve to apply it to cases not distinctly
provided for in the scriptures. It was, as always,
the
Torah of Moses that was taught and expounded ; and
the object was, as always, to teach men how they
ought to "Love the Lord their God with all their
heart and soul and strength and might." Historically,
we distinguish between the prophetical and the legal
elements in the contents of the O.T. The Rabbis
made no such distinction. In their religious
instruc-
tion they distinguished between 'halachah' (precept)
and' haggadah '(edification), terms which will be more
fully explained below. For the purposes of halachah'
they interpreted the whole of Scripture from the legal
standpoint ; and, in like manner, for the purposes of '
haggadah ' they interpreted the whole of Scripture
from the didactic standpoint, in neither case making
any difference between
the several books of the O.T., as
legal, historical or prophetic.
On the legal side, the task to which Rabbinism,
from the days of Ezra to the closing of the Talmud,
devoted itself with all its strength and ingenuity and
patience, was to develop a set
of rules for the right
conduct of life, a code of laws, wherein the original
 |  |  |