Imagine yourself as a Jewish teacher in first-century Palestine. A foreign empire rules over you and your land. A rival group, centered on the famous rabbi Jesus of Nazareth, is spreading rapidly even though he was condemned for blasphemy by Jewish leaders and executed by the Romans. The greatest headscratcher eventually happens to be the destruction of the holy city and the Temple. What to do? Will you, a respected teacher, convert to Christianity? The “followers of the way” claim these events to be a vindication of their belief. Or will you push through and persevere together with the emerging rabbinic movement? After all, God destroyed Jerusalem under the Babylonians as well. You decide that this event is not proof of Christianity but of unfaithfulness to the Torah.
In this article, I will introduce the development of Rabbinic Judaism from 70 AD to the seventh century. At the center will be the rabbis’ relationship to the Hebrew Bible, specifically the idea that God revealed both a Written Torah and an Oral Torah. This concept is key to understanding authoritative texts such as the Mishnah and the Talmud, as well as understanding Midrashic commentaries and the Targumim.
Yavneh c. 90 AD
Shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem, Jewish teachers established centers of learning and gathered to reason together regarding their future. After 70 AD, the Sadducees (the priestly sect associated with the Temple) largely disappeared from the historical record, while the Pharisaic tradition became the stream from which Rabbinic Judaism developed.
The most famous of the early learning centers was located in Yavneh, about six kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea, and is traditionally associated with rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, who is portrayed in the Talmud as having secured a future for Torah study after the loss of the Temple. There, Jewish teachers gathered to debate and preserve the continuity of Jewish life.
Among the issues later associated with Yavneh is the recognition of the books that constitute the Hebrew Bible, which contains the same books as the Protestant Old Testament, though arranged differently. A significant difference from Protestant theology, however, was the rabbinic understanding that such deliberations formed part of the transmission of the Oral Torah.
Two Torahs
The Written Torah is familiar to Christians. What may confuse us is when, in a theological conversation, appeals are made to the Torah, and we know that what has been said is not in the Torah. The Jew will insist: “It is in the Torah.” In Rabbinic Judaism, the Oral Torah is a transmitted tradition going back to Moses. It was “given at Sinai, but from that point orally transmitted, which explains and deepens the Written Torah, and depending on the time period, also applies the Torah according to the demands of time.” (Lindqvist 2021, 245 fn. 2).
The usual first question raised by this idea is: “If the Oral Torah was already given at Sinai, why do the Mishnah and Talmud contain centuries of new debates?” The short answer is that the Oral Torah was not understood primarily as an “unwritten book” dictated at Sinai. It does include an authoritative body of traditions, but also interpretive principles through which the Torah could be applied to new situations.
One passage in the Babylonian Talmud, Menachot 29b, recounts that Moses was shown a vision of Rabbi Akiva ben Yosef. First, Moses sees God “sitting and tying crowns on the letters of the Torah” (29b:4). The “crowns” refer to small decorative strokes added to certain Hebrew letters in Torah scrolls. Concerning these crowns, God says of Rabbi Akiva: “He is destined to derive from each and every thorn of these crowns mounds upon mounds of halakhot” (29b:4). Halakhotis the plural of halakha, a term used for Jewish legal rulings and practical guidance for life. Finally, Moses listens to a discussion between Rabbi Akiva and his students. Moses does not understand the discussion. When Akiva is asked, “Where do you derive this?”, he replies: “It is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai” (29b:5). Moses’ mind is put at ease.
This, then, is a foundational idea to grasp when making sense of Rabbinic Judaism. The rabbis and their prudential reasoning are at the center and derive authority from Sinai. In fact, the Written Torah is not understandable without the Oral Torah.
Rabbinic Judaism is Meticulous – The Mishnah
Compiled and edited by Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi around 200 AD, the Mishnah is divided into six orders (sedarim). These orders contain tractates that deal with specific legal matters. The form is remarkably consistent throughout, so one example will suffice.
The first tractate of the first order is Berakhot (blessings), which opens with the question: “From what time may they recite the Shema in the evening?” (1:1A). This question is then discussed for eleven pages in the standard edition by Neusner (1991). The Mishnah approaches such questions by (1) collecting the sayings of famous rabbis and schools (e.g., Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Joshua, the House of Hillel, and the House of Shammai). These opinions often contradict one another, yet the Mishnah does not always declare one side wrong or provide a final ruling. (2) It examines a variety of purity-related scenarios, such as how one should pray after a seminal discharge. (3) It asks highly detailed questions, such as whether the Shema has been validly recited if it was spoken “so softly that he could not hear it” (2:3A), or whether craftsmen may “recite while atop a tree or atop a scaffold” (2:4A).
The meticulous nature of the Mishnah reflects a broader transformation in Jewish religious life after the destruction of the Temple. As sacrificial worship was no longer possible, the study and application of Torah became increasingly central. For the rabbis, careful deliberation about God’s will was itself a form of devotion. Since the Torah was understood to speak to every area of life, even the smallest practical questions were worthy of sustained attention. Today, the rabbis continue to answer new questions, such as whether it is allowed to own pets for recreational purposes (Jachter, 1992).
The Mishnah is a relatively small work, comprising roughly 1,200 pages in English translation, especially when compared to the Babylonian Talmud, which often fills around thirty volumes in modern editions.
Radical Departures from Biblical Texts – The Babylonian Talmud and the Midrashim
There are two Talmuds: the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud. The Jerusalem Talmud is an earlier and comparatively shorter unfinished work, while the Babylonian Talmud is an extensive collection produced over several centuries (c. 200–700 AD). Both works are essentially a commentary on the Mishnah. In addition to halakha (rabbinic law), they use aggadah (legend) as a pedagogical device.
Aggadah expands, supplements, and even changes biblical narratives. This is especially clear in the Midrashim (biblical commentaries). The rabbis were often unsatisfied with the brevity of biblical stories. The result is what Schwartz describes as a process in which “legends emerged that are a radical departure from the biblical text” (Schwartz 1998, 3). He highlights several striking examples (1998, 4–11). In Genesis Rabbah 56, Targum Jonathan on Genesis 22:19, and Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 31, commenting on the offering of Isaac, Isaac dies, and his soul ascends to heaven to study for three years in the Heavenly Academy of Shem and Eber. He then returns to earth, and Abraham thereby learns of the reality of resurrection. Another tradition concerns Enoch, who, after being “taken by God” (Gen. 5:24), is taught the secrets of heaven, returns to earth, and is later transformed into the fiery angel Metatron, an exalted heavenly being entrusted with carrying out divine decrees on earth.
Lindqvist (2010, 149–168) discusses rabbinic interpretations of the episode in which Moses breaks the stone tablets at Sinai. This I see as a good example of a recurring tendency in rabbinic literature to defend or explain the actions of revered biblical figures. Whereas many Christians read the narrative as evidence of Moses’ human weakness and remaining sinfulness, rabbinic sources do not agree. Instead, they offer the following explanations: (1) the tablets flew from Moses’ grasp, and he struggled to hold them, (2) God instructed Moses to break the tablets, (3) God approved of their destruction, or (4) the tablets became so heavy that Moses could no longer carry them.
One of the hermeneutical rules of the rabbis is that scripture interprets scripture. This sounds exactly like the Westminster Confession 1:9, but in practice, there is a big difference. In rabbinic exegetics, the scripture that “sheds light” on a passage does not have to speak about the same event, doctrine, topic, or have obvious similarity. There are several of these middot (rules) by Rabbi Hillel, Rabbi Ishmael, and Rabbi Eliezer ben Jose.
To the Christian reader, some of the rabbinic methods of interpretation will most certainly look strange and suspicious on many grounds. But can we also appreciate and agree with certain traditions?
Where Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity Meet
Despite major departures from and a clear polemic against each other, there are shared traditions between Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. Some of the traditions found in rabbinic literature go back to the prophets and possibly even back to Enoch. Some traditions are explicitly accepted or implied in the New Testament. We know them to trace to oral interpretive traditions when they are not found in the Hebrew Bible.
The celebration of Hanukkah in John 10:22 was based on a miracle that is not mentioned in the Maccabean books. The miracle is explained in Talmud Shabbat 21b:11. In 1 Corinthians 10:4, Paul refers to a spiritual rock that followed Israel in the desert. The Hebrew Bible does not use this language, but rabbinic interpretative tradition does in Tosefta Sukkah 3:3. We identify that rock as Christ. Paul identifies Jannes and Jambres, who resisted Moses (2 Tim. 3:8). They are not named in Exodus. Jude refers to Satan disputing with Michael about the body of Moses (Jude 9). This tradition is also found in rabbinic commentaries on Deuteronomy.
Jesus and the inspired apostles knew how to distinguish between true and false traditions. Jesus placed the written word of God above the oral tradition in Mark 7:5–13. Jesus and the apostles also recognised some traditions as divinely sanctioned and true.
One feature of rabbinic commentaries is that they often interpret and apply the text like a Christian would. Commenting on Lamentations 3:21, Eikah Rabba tells a parable of a king who left his bride for a while. The wife is then scorned that the king will never return to her. But the king had left great proof of his love and return: a marriage covenant. This they have in the Torah, and so they will have hope and must persevere. Christians have heard similar encouragements in sermons from 2 Peter 3. This parallel, among many others, should cause sympathy in our hearts and lead us to pray for the conversion of the Jews. As of now, a veil remains on their eyes, just as it did when Christ stood before them.
Sources
Eikah Rabbah 3:7 https://www.sefaria.org/Eikhah_Rabbah.3.7?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
Jachter, Rabbi Howard (1992). Halachic Perspectives on Pets. Journal of Halacha & Contemporary Society – No. XXIII, Spring, 1992, Pesach 5752.
Lindqvist, Pekka (2010). “Rewritten Broken Tablets”. In Erkki Koskenniemi & Pekka Lindqvist (edit.) Rewritten Biblical Figures, 149–167. Turku: Abå Akademi University.
––––– (2021) “Kaikki pyhät kirjoitukset tekevät kädet epäpuhtaiksi: Pyhät kirjoitukset talmudisella ajalla”. In Jutta Jokiranta and Nina Nikki (edit.), Kirjakääröistä digiraamattuun: Pyhän tekstin idea, muoto ja käyttö, 244–270. Helsinki: Suomen eksegeettisen seuran julkaisuja 122.
Menachot 29b:5, https://www.sefaria.org/Menachot.29b.4?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
Neusner, Jacob (1991). The Mishnah: A New Translation. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Schwartz, Howard (1998). Reimagining the Bible: The Storytelling of the Rabbis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
