Curious about something...

[Prisca712]

Hello everyone, I had a question that came to mind after thinking about (and making a thread about) Christian views on the historicity of the Old Testament...being a Christian, I've seen and heard a lot of different sources defending and debating the historicity of various parts of the OT. It occurred to me that while I hear a lot from the Christian side (with respect to apologetics and whatnot), I have absolutely no idea what the Jewish perspective is. So overall I guess what I'm wondering is, how big of a deal is the debate over the exact historical accuracy of the OT? I hope my question is not offensive - this is something I'm genuinely curious about. Also, sorry if this question has been previously asked (I didn't really find any such threads while looking). Thanks in advance!

[Zach]

Your question is very broad.

First, it's not the "Old" Testament, it's the TaNaKh, or the Hebrew Bible, as there has not been another testment given to us. The Hebrew Bible contains the one and only covenant we Jews will ever have. You follow the Greek Testament, which Jews do not consider any kind of testament at all.

The TaNaKh is the bible that G-d wants us to have. It is unchanging and inerrant. However, it is not to be taken literally. For example, most Jews do not take the first few sentences of Genesis describing how the world was created in 6 "days" to be literally 6 solar earth-days.

The Oral Torah was given at the same time as the Torah, and it is impossible to understand everything the Torah has to teach without it. The Torah is the quick classroom notes, the Talmud does a lot more explaining. You cannot just take any random sentence out of the Torah and say "Jews believe this literally" without studying the Jewish explanation too.

Are there any other particular items in the Hebrew Bible that you are curious about?

[Prisca712]

Hi Zach,

First off, I just wanted to apologize for using the wrong terminology (saying 'Old Testament' rather than TaNaKh) - I wasn't familiar with the proper term so I used what I was familar with...I'll try to keep things straight the next time I ask a question

Second, thanks for the reply - actually, what you said pretty much perfectly answered what I was wondering about, especially in your Genesis example. Also, I really appreciate your description of the Talmud and Torah. Overall I was mainly wondering about if the TaNaKh was taken literally (which you answered) but I wasn't really able to properly articulate my thoughts....

Thanks again