From: Shoshanna Walker <rosewalk AT concentric.net>
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] Harold: Re: To Harold: Tanach book order - different in Christian Bibles
Date: Sun, 3 Sep 2006 00:35:07 -0500
That is because NOT EVERYTHING was written in the Torah.
How could the (great) Sanhedrin NOT have existed in pre exilic times
- it had to meet at least in Eretz Yisrael, although its authority
was diminished if it didn't meet in the Lishkat haGazit
G-d didn't say anywhere in the Torah that the 70 elders that He
commanded Moshe to appoint (and sit at their head), existed for the
sake of Moshe.
Why do you resist, despite all the information we have, that this
wasn't the first Sanhedrin, even though it got that particular name
later?
Shoshanna
First, I note that the on line version of the Jewish encyclopedia ( http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=229&letter=S )
states, ". . . but the fact that no passage whatever in the pre-exilic
books of the Bible refers to this institution seems to indicate that
it was not introduced before the time of the Second Temple." Is there
any written or archaeological evidence for the existence
of the Sanhedrin in pre-exilic times?
HH: This is part of the problem. Moses appointed seventy elders to
assist him, but this institution may have existed for the sake of
Moses.