Keep
in mind, that when we say the Israelites never really adhered to Torah law,
that is according to what we read in the Bible. According to what we know from
history, the ancient Israelites couldn’t have adhered to Torah law, because
most of the Torah hadn’t even been written yet.
The
Biblical account says that God had passed his laws to the Jews in the form of
the Torah by the time the Jews reached the holy land, as Moses was handing the
torch to Joshua. Then the Jews violated those laws under a few centuries of
judges, and again under four centuries of kings, until finally God lost
patience and allowed the Jews to be conquered by the Babylonians.
But
that’s not what really happened, in history. During the era of the judges, the
Torah had not been written yet. While Solomon was on the throne, the first
versions of Genesis and Numbers were being written; during the reign of one of
the later kings, Josiah, work began on Deuteronomy – by that time, most of the
history of the Israelites, as told in the Bible, was already over. After the
Jews were taken to exile in Babylon, they finished Deuteronomy and began
Exodus. Afterward, during the Persian period, they finished Numbers as well as
Leviticus, the book that is most involved in God’s laws.
In
other words, by the time the Jews actually had Torah law in their hands, most
of those sinning judges and kings were dead, so God could not possibly have
been punishing the Israelites for violating those laws. The entire theme of the
Old Testament, God’s wrath against the Israelites for violating his laws, was a
fiction, a fake. A bunch of priests had the inspiring idea of telling fellow
Jews – “Gee, if only our ancestors had listened to their priests, we’d still
have a kingdom. So maybe you guys need to listen to us and obey us: then God
will take care of us.” The Jews agreed – and then God let their nation be
invaded and destroyed yet again.
So
even if we accept the Biblical account, the Israelites ignored God’s law for
centuries; but if we use the historical account, the Israelites didn’t even
have the Torah until their kingdoms had already been destroyed.
And
by the way, where did Moses supposedly get the commandments? In Exodus, it's
Mount Sinai. In Deuteronomy, it's Mount Horeb. And even today scholars are
arguing about where both of these places are.
