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Originally Posted by Gizzmoe
The article concluded that itīs absolutely impossible to make up such a story. Do you agree with that or can you imagine thatīs there is a chance (however small) that the story isnīt true?
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I don't know. The Torah's text has retained its text wherever we Jews have traveled. There is no major difference (other than a letter or pronunciation vowel here and there) between Torah scroll written in the past or in Israel, Europe, Morocco, England, Russia, etc.
The entire Torah is read, in portions, every Sabbath, over the span of each Jewish calendar year, repeated again every year. This is listed as one of the commandents instituted by Moses himself.
The article early on quotes verses in Deuteronomy that state:
[Moses told the Israelites]: 'Only beware for yourself and greatly beware for your soul, lest you forget the things that your eyes have beheld. Do not remove this memory from your heart all the days of your life. Teach your children and your children's children about the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horev [Mount Sinai]...
God spoke to you from the midst of the fire, you were hearing the sound of words, but you were not seeing a form, only a sound. He told you of His covenant, instructing you to keep the Ten Commandments, and He inscribed them on two stone tablets.' (Deut.4:9-13)
'You have been shown in order to know that God, He is the Supreme Being. There is none besides Him. From heaven he let you hear His voice in order to teach you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words amid the fire.' (Deut. 4:32-36)
Moses called all of Israel and said to them: 'Hear, O Israel, the decrees and the ordinances that I speak in your ears today -- learn them, and be careful to perform them. The Lord your God sealed a covenant with us at Horev [Mount Sinai]. Not with our forefathers did God seal this covenant, but with us -- we who are here, all of us alive today. Face to face did God speak with you on the mountain from amid the fire.' (Deut. 5:1-4)
I will get a little bit smirky again and add that the importance of education has always been a high priority religious obligation in Judaism.
Now explain to me how an entire nation accepted as fact the above verses if they were introduced to them "after the fact", with no continuity that anyone beforehand ever heard of? I wouldn't. I don't know anyone that would. Would you? I assume not.
Again, think about it. :hmm: