Q&A: The Testimony Argument
The Testimony Argument
Question
How is it possible that, as believers, we still use the argument from testimony (of the Sinai revelation) even though the Hebrew Bible explicitly says in Judges 2:10, “And another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord, nor even the deed that He had done for Israel,” and in II Kings 22 (the book of the Torah found by Shaphan the scribe), that generations arose who did not know at all about the Exodus from Egypt and the stories of the children of Israel? It seems that, in any case, there was a time when they did not know about the Sinai revelation, and it became ingrained only over time. ??
Answer
That doesn’t say very much. “Did not know” means they did not act accordingly. “Knowledge” can sometimes mean connection or intimacy (“And the man knew Eve his wife”).
Discussion on Answer
The style recalls the verse, “A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.” As is well known, according to one opinion, he acted as though he did not know.
You could say that… I’m not ruling out that they acted as though they did not know the Lord… but that’s not what I meant. What I meant was that when they sin and forget the Lord and turn to idolatry and to the statutes of the nations, the Torah that was written will come, and through it the people will remember that they are the people of Israel who belong to the Lord, and that they have only the Lord and no other — “Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One” — and they will be stirred to return in repentance (as in II Kings 22). See also Nehemiah chapter 8, where the same thing happens when Ezra reads the book before the people.
Regarding “they did not know the Lord,” as Rabbi Michi said, “knowledge of the Lord” in the Bible usually comes in the context of connection to the word of the Lord, which is known to all.
An explicit example of this is the verse about the sons of Eli the priest: “Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the Lord” (I Samuel 2:12). The Bible calls Eli’s sons worthless men because “they did not know the Lord,” and in the verses that follow, their sins are spelled out. About Eli’s sons, one cannot say that they simply did not know the laws of the Torah, since they were priests and presumably also took part in instructing the people.
Moreover, in this context their father, Eli, rebukes them for their evil deeds; he does not teach them about the Sinai revelation.
In other words, “they did not know the Lord” means that they did not behave as the Lord expects.
Good for you, Meir, for the clarification!
Allow me to jump in, Moshiko, and say that even if in the book of Judges the intention really is that they did not know who the Lord was at all, and not merely that they sinned against the Lord—for that very reason the Five Books of the Torah were given, especially Deuteronomy, so that when the people sin or forget their God, this book will be there. And see II Kings 22 (even though I’m sure you know this, I’ll still mention it), which you cited above: when King Josiah heard the words written in the book of the Torah, he tore his clothes and immediately returned and brought the people back to repentance.