JUDAISM, IS IT THE RELIGION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ?
Part 5
In this article you will learn how the Jews continued under the Government of God until the time of Alexander
the Great and who authorized the building of synagogues in Judea.
The canonization of the Old Testament by members of the Great Assembly was the real stabilizing factor in the
religious life of the Jews. Ezra and Nehemiah bound upon the people the law of Moses as the constitutional law
of the land. After the deaths of Ezra and Nehemiah the Great Assembly continued to enforce this same law in
every respect.
Judea was a province of the Persian Empire and the Jews maintained a semi-independent community. Since the
days of Ezra, the Persians had shown extraordinary consideration to the Jews. “For we were bondmen; yet our
God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to
give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in
Judah and in Jerusalem” (Ezra 9:9).
“The Persian rulers, living far from Judea, seldom interfered with the internal affairs of their Jewish subjects,
and were content to leave their public business in the hands of the governor of the province. If the royal taxes
were paid, the order maintained, the Jews might organize their life as a community in the way that seemed best
to them” (Herford’s, Talmud and Apocrypha, pg. 45).
The Persians had rule over Palestine until 331 B.C.--for about one hundred years after Ezra and Nehemiah.
During this entire period, the Jews were allowed full freedom to practice their own customs and traditions. This
Persian period was especially propitious to them because they were allowed to observe the Scriptures as ordained
of God” (Kent, History of the Jewish People, pg. 224).
At this time the Jews were under the direction of the High Priest, the president of the Great Assembly, and the
other authoritative priests who comprised its membership. No religious splits or schisms were tolerated and all
the people were kept in obedience to the laws of the Old Covenant. There was a peaceful condition in Palestine
that led to many advances in the social and religious life of the Jews.
At that time the Priests were teaching the truth of God. The canonization of the Old Testament and the
establishment of the Law of Moses as the constitutional law, brought about the teaching of the Law on a large
scale.
A large number of priests had come with Ezra from Babylon. The priest were brought back to Palestine in order
to assume their position as religious teachers of the people, for the Bible had ordained that priests were to teach
the people the law of God. “And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath
spoken unto them by the hand of Moses” (Lev. 10:11). “Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe
diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall
observe to do” (Deu. 24:8). “And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice”
(Deu. 27:14).
In the book of Malachi, written after the return of Ezra and Nehemiah, is recorded what these priest were
ordained to do. “For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he
is the messenger of the LORD of hosts” (Mal. 2:7).
The law of Moses had become the law of the land, and it became the job of the priest to teach the Law! These
commands required meeting every Sabbath in all the villages and towns. It was at these Sabbath services that
finally merged into regular synagogue services. Over time they began to build their own synagogues. In some
of the larger areas, a body of priests would take up residence and have charge of the synagogue. Before the
Babylonian captivity, synagogues had existed throughout Israel and Judah. “They said in their hearts, Let us
destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land” (Psa. 74:8 ). The previous
synagogues had been completely destroyed by the invading armies of the Assyrians and Babylonians. The Jews
had to start fresh after their return from Babylon to build new synagogues.
Building for religious assemblies are essential in every age and dispensation. It was impossible for all the Jews
to travel to the Temple in Jerusalem every Sabbath in order to learn of the law and to worship God in Holy
convocation. “Under the benevolent rule of the Persians, with peace and safety everywhere and there is no reason
to doubt that synagogues dotted the land from one end to the other” (Herford, Talmud and Apocrypha, pg. 58)
.
Priest and Levites in Authority! “It is plain that the people during this one hundred year period under the Persians
had adequate instruction in the Laws of God, not only on the Sabbath, but also the Holy Days. The priest were
kept busy teaching the people the Law. For their helpers the priest had the regular Levites who gave them proper
assistance in teaching the people. These helpers were under the authority of the priests who were the responsible
organization for the over-all well being of the nation” (ibid., pg.59). The real leader of the whole nation was the
High Priest, who was actually the head of state being leader of the Great Assembly.
The Great Assembly was the one organization that was the governing authority. This religious assembly, as
previously pointed out, was composed of the chief priests of the land with the High Priest as official president
and over-all ruler. All members of this authoritative assembly in the Persian period were priests and priests
alone” (Lauterbach, Rabbinic Essays, pg. 28).
“For the priests were the actual leaders of the community, since they alone were recognized by the Law (Deu.
17) as its official teachers and competent interpreters” (ibid., PG. 28) These priest were not elected by the people
to hold a high office in the Great Assembly. They assumed this position by heredity, as ordained by God (Deu.
17). Actually, no one but the priests according to the Law of God, could teach or direct the people in their
religious life. This is the reason why the Great Assembly was composed exclusively of the priests, with the High
Priest being the recognized leader!
With the canonization of the Scripture and establishment of synagogues through the land, a problem confronted
the Great Assembly. In order to teach the Law of God, it was necessary that the priests and Levites have copies
of the canonization, books were not made with all twenty-two scrolls of the Old Testament combines together.
Many scrolls of the Scripture were made. Now that the Scriptures had been authoritatively assembled, it became
necessary to disburse the complete word of God. The synagogues needed the Holy Scriptures as did many
individual priests. So, it fell the lot of the Great Assembly to remedy this situation. They had the responsibility
to see that many scrolls of Scripture were made and distributed to those who were in authority to teach the Word
of God. They had to be extremely careful and make sure that only individuals who were thoroughly qualified
would undertake such a sacred task of copying the Scriptures. Such a job could not be entrusted to just anyone,
lest from inexperience or carelessness the transcription was not an exact reproduction.
It became obvious that the only body of men who were qualified to do such a work were the members of the
Great Assembly themselves. It was necessary that the new scrolls be perfect and that each scroll be sanctioned
by these authoritative priest. This led the Great Assembly to assume the task of copying the Scriptures. They
assumed this occupation sometime not long after the deaths of Ezra and Nehemiah. From this time forward the
Great Assembly became known as Sopherim. This word “Sopherim” in Hebrew signifies “counters.” “They were
called Sopherim because they counted all the letters in the Torah [the Scriptures] and interpreted it” (Herford,
Talmud and Apocrypha, pg. 44).
In order to have an accurate transcription of the Scriptures, the Sopherim, the members of the Great Assembly,
counted each letter on each section of a scroll. They made sure that when they copied the letters onto a new
scroll, that there would be exactly the same number of letters on the new section as had existed on the old. To
do this, they had to count each of the letters on the new scroll several times to make certain that the exact number
was transcribed. This method of copying the Scriptures was followed by later Jews until the invention of the
printing press. In fact, about eight hundred years after Christ, this method was so highly developed among the
Jews that they knew the middle letter of each book in the Bible, and even the middle letter of the whole Bible.
(To learn more about this method, see the book, “Ginsburg’s Introduction to the Hebrew Bible.” This book is
out of print and would be found in some of the larger libraries).
“Once the members of the Great Assembly became the copiers of the Law (the Sopherim), we find the two names
synonymously referring to the one group of priests. To speak of the Sopherim was to speak of the Great
Assembly and vice versa” (Herford, Talmud and Apocrypha, pg. 44,45). We will refer to these men by the name
most used in history--we will call them the Sopherim. The term Sopherim, denotes that the one major job of the
Great Assembly was to copy faithfully the Scriptures, and teach these Scriptures to the priests and lower rank
who in turn would teach the people. Their lives were centered in the study of the Scriptures and in teaching the
law of God. This was the occupation that God had ordained for the priests! They were also to regulate the
religious life of the people. History show that the member of the Great Assembly, the Sopherim of Persian times,
following the examples of Ezra and Nehemiah carried out their commission with fidelity.
The Sopherim interpreted Scriptures correctly. Scripture says, “So they read in the book in the law of God
distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them (the lay people) to understand the reading” (Neh. 8:8). When Ezra
taught the people, he would read from the Law of God and then give the sense of it, that is he would give the true
explanation of it so the common people could understand what God meant from the law. This is what any true
minister of God will do!! A true minister of God will allow the Scripture to interpret Scripture. This is the only
way of arriving at the truth of God’s Word. This is exactly what Ezra and his successors, the Sopherim did! They
simply expounded the Law of God, the Scriptures. They did not make up their own ideas about Scripture
teaching. They taught the Word of God and it only!!
When using this manner of teaching the Scriptures, which is the only proper way, is known among the Jews as
the Midrash-form. The word Midrash means “to Comment.” The term Midrash-form designates that manner of
teaching which depends only on the written Word of God for doctrines--letting the Bible explain itself. The
reason this type of teaching has been designated among the Jews is because they later had different methods of
teaching, which did not rely upon the Word of God. It became a later custom to refer to the true type of teaching,
which expounded or commented on the Scriptures, and the Scriptures only, as teaching in the Midrash-form. It
was the Midrash-form of teaching that the Sopherim used, for they were following Ezra’s example of reading
in the Scriptures and then giving the sense or the meaning so the common people could understand. This is the
method of teaching that began with Moses and was exclusively used from his day and throughout the period of
the Sopherim. For it was and still is the only proper way to teach the Word of God” (Herford, Talmud and
Apocrypha, pg. 47).
The Jews later, as mentioned, came to the place of teaching religion in an entirely different method than “after
the manner of Moses” and the Sopherim. We will see that they did not utilize the Midrash-form as the only
method of teaching!
Ezra and the Sopherim, following the example of Moses, taught exclusively in the correct form. They never
departed from teaching directly from the word of God. No other form of interpretation was used or allowed.
The Sopherim completed final additions to the Old Testament. Being the successors of Ezra and Nehemiah, as
well as the custodians of the Scriptures, they were responsible for adding the final portions to the Old Testament.
While they were the authority, they added a few names to certain genealogical tables in order to bring them up
to date. (I Chron. 3:17-24 and Nehemiah 12:10,11) these are recorded lists of certain men. “The last mention of
these men live just before the coming of Alexander the Great in 331 B.C.
In 1 Chron. 3:17-24 is mentioned a sixth generation after Zerubbabel. This last generation would have lived about
the time of Alexander the Great. Nehemiah 12:10-11, refers to Jaddua the High Priest, who was alive when
Alexander the Great came to Palestine” (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, xi, 8, 4). Thus the names were added
to the genealogical table by the Sopherim just before the coming of the Greeks in 331 B.C.
This plainly shows that the Sopherim who were established about 440 B.C. were in authority for a period just
over one hundred years--until 331 B.C. and also that the Old Testament, as we have it today, was made into its
final form by the Sopherim with the addition of a few names to the genealogical table, about 330 before the birth
of Christ. The Sopherim had complete authority for doing this. They were the proper custodians of the Law and
ordained of God for this purpose.
What does this mean to us today? We must emphasize that the Sopherim were all priest--there were no lay men
among them. “In the days of the Sopherim, when the High Priest was the head of the community, and when the
teachers under his leadership formed an official body vested with authority to arrange all religious matters in
accordance with the Law as they understood it, the knowledge of the Law was limited to the priests who were
the only official teachers. On the one hand, the priests who were in possession of the Law and tradition of the
fathers considered the teaching and interpreting of the religious law as their priestly prerogative” (Laterbach,
Rabbinic Essays, pg. 197).
This priestly authority was in accord with the Word of God. The priests had been ordained to be the teachers of
the people in religious matters. No layman was permitted to assume this authority. As long as the Sopherim
remained as the official body among the Jews, this direction of God was adhered to. During the entire period of
the Sopherim--from the days of Ezra until the coming of Alexander the Great--the Jews were keeping the Law
of God as given to Moses. However, in 331 B.C. when Alexander came to Palestine and defeated the Persians,
the whole complexion of Palestine government changed.
The Greeks, unlike the Persians, did not allow the Sopherim to hold their authoritative positions among the Jews.
After 331 B.C. the Sopherim disappeared from history as a body of priests directing the religious life of the
people. The whole organization was dismantled by the Greek conquerors. With the coming of the Greeks, came
complete change in practically every mode of life in Palestine. With the Sopherim taken away from their position
of authority, the Scripture teachings ceased being enforced. A whole new way of life was forced upon the Jews.
In the next issue we will look at what happened in this very important period of Jewish history! (To be continued
in the next Prove All Things. Information for this article was taken from the April 1961 issue of the Good News
Magazine, published by Ambassador College. We encourage you to read the original article entitled “Is Judaism
the Law of Moses?” Part 5).
IT IS NOT THE CHURCH OF GOD, IN TRUTH’S INTENTION TO DEGRADE THE JEWISH PEOPLE. IT
IS OUR INTENTION TO SHOW AND PROVE THAT JUDAISM IS NOT THE RELIGION OF THE OLD
TESTAMENT, JUST LIKE CATHOLICISM IS NOT THE TRUE RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST!