EE & R, 3_1: Between the Torah and the Prophets: To Know or Not to Know

(For the previous installment of "Exodus, Exile and Redemption," click here. For ToC, click here.)

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Revelation cannot contradict revelation. This self-evident truth would lead one to expect perfect harmony between the Torah and the Prophets. Yet, the books of Hashem’s words present disparate, even contradictory messages about man’s relationship with God. While the Prophets are replete with exhortations to know Hashem, elevating this knowledge as man’s supreme achievement, the Torah does not even once explicitly champion this ideal.

Consider the following sources from the Prophets:

The wise person should not boast in his wisdom; the strong should not boast in his strength; the wealthy should not boast in his wealth. The one who boasts should boast in this: that he understands and knows Me – for I am Hashem, Who acts with kindness, justice and righteousness in the land (Jeremiah 9:22-23)

And I will give them a heart to know, for I am Hashem (ibid, 24:7)

Now Shmuel did not yet know Hashem (I Samuel 3:7)

For the earth will be full of the knowledge of Hashem (Isaiah 11:9)

And you shall know Hashem (Hosea 2:22)

For I desired kindness and not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings (ibid, 6:6)

These are but a few of the numerous passages in the Prophets calling for knowledge of Hashem.¹ In contrast, the Torah never promotes the only attainment in which man should boast.² How could man’s greatest achievement be absent from his greatest book? Additionally, the prophets’ authority derives from the Torah itself; they are “not permitted to introduce anything new from here on” (Talmud, Shabbos 104a) – and yet their most important message is a novel teaching not found in the Torah!

The last verse quoted above provides a clue to deeper understanding. To assert that God desires our knowledge of Him rather than burnt offerings suggests that the dichotomy between the Torah and the Prophets regarding knowledge of Hashem relates to another apparent contradiction between the holy books, this one regarding the value of sacrificial worship. In line with the prophets’ oft-repeated condemnatory stance towards this method of worship so central to the Torah’s teaching, Hosea dismisses the value of sacrificial worship, saying that Hashem prefers instead that we serve Him through kindness and knowledge. The same attitude is echoed by other prophets, who consistently downplay sacrificial worship and elevate kindness, justice and righteousness – the principles that follow from knowing Hashem³ – in its stead.

Isaiah said that God doesn’t need our sacrifices, but desires only that we do good and be just:

“Why do I need all your sacrifices,” says Hashem. “I am sated with the burnt offerings of rams… and the blood of bulls and sheep and he-goats I do not desire. When you come to appear before Me, who asked this of you?! … Learn to do good. Seek justice” (Isaiah 1:11-17)

Jeremiah said that God’s command to the newly freed nation of Israel did not concern sacrificial worship – an assertion that stands in seeming contradiction with the Torah:

Thus said Hashem… “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. For I did not speak to your forefathers nor command them on the day I took them out from the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Jeremiah 7:21-22)

Likewise, Amos said that God despises sacrifice and desires from His people only justice and righteousness:

I hate, I despise your festivals… should you offer up to Me burnt offerings or grain offerings, I will not accept them… But let justice well up like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Did you bring Me sacrifices and grain offerings for forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel? (Amos 5:21-25)

And Michah stated clearly that there is nothing God demands from us but for living ethically:

With what shall I come before Hashem and bow before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? Will Hashem be pleased with thousands of rams, with myriads of streams of oil? Shall I give Him my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, man, what is good, and what does Hashem demand from you but for doing justice and loving kindness and walking humbly with your God? (Michah 6:6-8)

Hashem demands from us not sacrifices but only that we be good people, kind and just and righteous.

This prophetic message stands in sharp contrast with the Torah, in which sacrificial worship appears clearly as something demanded by Hashem. Much of the Torah is dedicated to the numerous mitzvahs involving sacrifices, the priests, and the temple, which earn His people Hashem’s favor and forgiveness.

Understanding the reason for this difference between the Torah and the Prophets is key to understanding the other difference about knowing Hashem. Hosea said: “For I desired kindness and not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings”; apparently, these two ideals are mutually exclusive. The verse suggests that if Hashem desires knowledge of Him and its associated way of life, then He doesn’t desire burnt offerings and sacrifice, and if He does desire sacrifice, then He doesn’t desire knowledge – an equation consistent with the Torah, which repeatedly commands to sacrifice but never to know Hashem.

What is the core idea that informs these two differences, and how could one book of Hashem contradict another? These questions will guide our exploration in the coming chapters.

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(For the next installment of "Exodus, Exile and Redemption," click here.)

1. This ideal is referenced also in Jeremiah 2:8, 4:22, 9:2-5, 22:15-16, 31:34; Hosea 4:1-6, 5:4, 6:3; 1 Chronicles 28:9. See also Numbers 12:6, discussed above, in reference to all prophets other than Moshe.

2. The Torah teaches to “know… that Hashem is God” (Deuteronomy 4:39), but never simply to know Hashem, i.e., to be familiar with him (as explained above).

3. As discussed here.