تويت
In his Introduction to Chelek, Maimonides lists thirteen fundamental principles of Judaism. The eighth is that the entire Torah that we possess today was given by God to Moses. It is true that many Maimonidean scholars such as Yeshayahu Leibowitz,
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Ibn Ezra’s secret of the twelve
Ibn Ezra mentions his “secret of the twelve” in his commentary to Deuteronomy 1:2. The “secret” is not spelled out in any detail, most likely because of his fear of offending those with a contrary view. It is explained by ibn Ezra’s super commentator Josef Bonfils in his Zophnat Panei’ach, which he wrote in 1370. Ibn Ezra lists six biblical passages that he felt could not have been composed by Moses.
1. Deuteronomy 1:1 relates that God spoke to Moses on the “other side of the Jordan.” This implies that the writer wrote from the eastern side of the Jordan, but Moses never crossed the Jordan.
2. Deuteronomy 31:9 uses the third person “and Moses wrote.” This seems to indicate that some other writer is narrating the deeds and writings of Moses.
3. Genesis 12:6 recites that Abraham traveled throughout the land of Canaan. It adds “and the Canaanite was then in the land.” The statement appears to exclude the time when the passage was written when Canaanites were no longer in the land. Therefore it must have been composed after Moses’s death, after the Canaanites had been driven from Canaan.
4. Genesis 22:14 calls mount Moriah the mount of God. Since the mountain probably did not acquire this name until after the building of the Temple on this site, the choice of the Temple site was not made during Moses’s lifetime, and Moses did not indicate any spot chosen by God in the Torah, the phrase must have been composed many years after Moses’s death.
5. Deuteronomy 3:11 states that the bed of Og, king of Bashan, was nine cubits long and four cubits wide. Since the bed was probably not discovered until the city of Rabbath, where it was located, was conquered by David, it could not have been written before the Davidic era.
6. Deuteronomy 27:1 reports that the entire Torah was written on stones and the rabbis explain that there were twelve stones. Ibn Ezra remarks, if Moses wrote all of the material that we consider the Torah today, it could not be placed on only twelve stones
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Ibn Ezra’s secret of the twelve
Ibn Ezra mentions his “secret of the twelve” in his commentary to Deuteronomy 1:2. The “secret” is not spelled out in any detail, most likely because of his fear of offending those with a contrary view. It is explained by ibn Ezra’s super commentator Josef Bonfils in his Zophnat Panei’ach, which he wrote in 1370. Ibn Ezra lists six biblical passages that he felt could not have been composed by Moses.
1. Deuteronomy 1:1 relates that God spoke to Moses on the “other side of the Jordan.” This implies that the writer wrote from the eastern side of the Jordan, but Moses never crossed the Jordan.
2. Deuteronomy 31:9 uses the third person “and Moses wrote.” This seems to indicate that some other writer is narrating the deeds and writings of Moses.
3. Genesis 12:6 recites that Abraham traveled throughout the land of Canaan. It adds “and the Canaanite was then in the land.” The statement appears to exclude the time when the passage was written when Canaanites were no longer in the land. Therefore it must have been composed after Moses’s death, after the Canaanites had been driven from Canaan.
4. Genesis 22:14 calls mount Moriah the mount of God. Since the mountain probably did not acquire this name until after the building of the Temple on this site, the choice of the Temple site was not made during Moses’s lifetime, and Moses did not indicate any spot chosen by God in the Torah, the phrase must have been composed many years after Moses’s death.
5. Deuteronomy 3:11 states that the bed of Og, king of Bashan, was nine cubits long and four cubits wide. Since the bed was probably not discovered until the city of Rabbath, where it was located, was conquered by David, it could not have been written before the Davidic era.
6. Deuteronomy 27:1 reports that the entire Torah was written on stones and the rabbis explain that there were twelve stones. Ibn Ezra remarks, if Moses wrote all of the material that we consider the Torah today, it could not be placed on only twelve stones