Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George F Somsel <gfsomsel AT juno.com>]

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 17:09:17 +0100 "Read, James C"
<K0434995 AT kingston.ac.uk> writes:
> 
> I have always been led to believe that the torah (in its canonical 
> form) was originally kept on 1 
> scroll and considered as 1 book and not 5.
> The LXX has the allegedly first occurence of the now accepted 5 
> books of the torah and the names are 
> obviously of Greek origin. However, I notice that BHS also has the 
> torah divided into 5 books, albeit 
> with different names, and was wondering what evidence there is to 
> suggest that the torah was originally 
> without divisions (in its canonical form).
> 
> Are the LXX names of Greek origin only or are they attempts to 
> translate common Jewish practise?
> Was the torah originally one scroll? What is the evidence?
> What is the modern day Jewish practise? 1 scroll or 5?
> Why did such a change come about? Just to deal with the size or... ? 
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It would be almost impossible for the Torah to have been on one scroll. 
The problem is space.  The books Luke / Acts in the NT may have been
divided along the lines of what would fit on one scroll.  If that is the
case, compute how much of the Torah could have been on one scroll.

george
gfsomsel
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