The Significance of Ibn Ezra’s Position that Verses Were Added to the Torah

The principle reads:

והיסוד השמיני הוא תורה מן השמים. והוא, שנאמין שכל התורה הזו הנמצאת בידינו היום הזה היא התורה שניתנה למשה, ושהיא כולה מפי הגבורה, כלומר שהגיעה עליו כולה מאת ה’ הגעה שקורים אותה על דרך ההשאלה דבור, ואין יודע איכות אותה ההגעה אלא הוא עליו השלום אשר הגיעה אליו, ושהוא במעלת לבלר שקורין לפניו והוא כותב כולה תאריכיה וספוריה ומצותיה, וכך נקרא מחוקק. ואין הבדל בין ובני חם כוש ומצרים ופוט וכנען, ושם אשתו מהיטבאל בת מטרד, או אנכי ה’, ושמע ישראל ה’ אלהינו ה’ אחד, הכל מפי הגבורה והכל תורת ה’ תמימה טהורה קדושה אמת… כל אות שבה יש בה חכמות ונפלאות למי שהבינו ה’…

The eighth principle is that the Torah is from Heaven. This means that we believe that the entire Torah that is in our hands today is the Torah that was given to Moses, and that it is from the Powerful One entirely. Meaning, that it came to [Moses] entirely from God, in the kind of transmission that may be referred metaphorically as “speech.” No one knows the nature of that transmission except the person, may peace be upon him, who received it. He was akin to a scribe before whom something is dictated and he writes it all down, dates, numbers and commands. Thus he is called a legislator. There is no difference between [the verse] “and the sons of Ham were Kush, Mitzrayim, Put, and Canaan” (Gen. 10:6) or “and his wife’s name was Mahetbael daughter of Matred,” and [the verse] “I am the Lord” (Exod. 20:2; Deut. 5:6) or “Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone” (Deut. 6:4). All is from the Mighty One, and all is ‘the perfect Torah of the Lord’ (Psalms 19:6), pure, holy and true… every letter of the Torah contains within it wisdom and wonders to whomever the Lord has granted the wisdom to discern it.

Introduction to Maimonides Commentary on Mishna Sanhedrin, Chapter 10; my translation from the ibn Tibbon Hebrew edition.

This principle has many facets to it, and I will only touch on one of them in very general terms here. For a more thorough analysis of this principle, see Sam Fleischacker, “Making Sense of the Revelation at Sinai” TheTorah (2014).

For a contemporary challenge to this belief, based upon alternative sources in rabbinic literature, see R. David Bigman, “I Shall Fear God Alone and not Show Favor in Torah,” TheTorah (2014).

In biblical Hebrew, there is an inconsistent use of the four consonants aleph, heh, vav, and yod as vowels. Grammarians refer to these letters by the Latin word “mater” (in Hebrew, אמות קריאה). If a word is spelled without a mater it is called defective; with a mater it is called plene. It is worth noting that Qumran spellings often contain multiple maters.

According to rabbinic tradition, some words are read (the keri) differently than they are written (the ketiv). Scholars debate whether this reflects multiple traditions that have been preserved or ancient corrections..

My translation.

I discussed this belief in “Ibn Ezra’s Secret: Late Editorial Comments in the Opening Chapters of Deuteronomy,” TheTorah (2013).

http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/kitveyet/deot/broyer4.htm English based on quote by Rabbi Nathanial Helfgot in, “Torah Min Hashamayim: Some Brief Reflections on Classical and Contemporary Models.”

Only King Og of Bashan was left of the remaining Rephaim. His bedstead, an iron bedstead, is now in Rabbah of the Ammonites; it is nine cubits long and four cubits wide, by the standard cubit!– (Deut. 3:11)

In theory, one could argue with Bonfils and say that the verse, although it could not have been written by Moses, could have been written at a time of peace between Ammon and Israel, such that the author of the verse could imagine Israelites touring the city of Rabbah and visiting the bed, but for the purposes of this piece we will follow R. Bonfils suggestion.

This point is emphasized in, R. Yuval Cherlow, “The Authorship of the Torah,” TheTorah (2013).

It is true that ibn Ezra has at least one precedent to defend himself with. According to one opinion in the Talmud (b Baba Batra 14b), Joshua was the author of the last 8 verses of the Torah. That said, one can imagine that a 12^th century version of the RCA statement would have told ibn Ezra that it may be permitted to believe that about the last eight verses, but that he would have to believe that all the rest of the verses were from Moses or else be declared an apostate.

Logical reasoning seems to be the basis for the Talmudic position about the last eight verses as well; if Moses dies in verse 5, how could he have written the rest of the chapter?