Concepts of Scripture in Moshe Greenberg 255“existential values” should we off er priority? Which of the various bibli-
cal texts and beliefs is most important? Greenberg off ers three suggestions:
(1) there are certain “postulates” that are expressed in the Bible and stand
behind other biblical texts; (2) several biblical epitomes off er suggestions of
what is most central; and (3) rabbinic texts may off er a guide to evaluating
confl icting biblical texts that deal with important values.
Th e notion that there are certain postulates that stand behind aspects
of the Bible is audacious: aft er all, as Greenberg clearly acknowledges, the
Bible is a composite book, representing the work of many people in diff er-
ent places over a long time period. Yet he insists in his 1960 essay “Some
Postulates of Biblical Criminal Law,” his most reprinted essay, that such
postulates or “underlying principles” do exist. He claims that the “unique-
ness and supremacy of human life” is such a postulate and, further, sees his
isolation of such postulates as a Jewish activity. He views Genesis 9:5 — “But
for your own life-blood I will require a reckoning: I will require it of every
beast; of man, too, will I require a reckoning for human life, of every man
for that of his fellow man!” (NJPS translation) — as the central expression
of this postulate. By defi nition, a postulate may not be disputed, so such
postulates are helpful guidelines for determining which variant biblical
view is authoritative.34
Greenberg also believes that the key biblical beliefs are found in several
texts which he labels “epitomes.” Th ese include the Decalogue and several
texts collected in the Babylonian Talmud in Makkot 24a, including Psalm
15, Isaiah 33:15, Micah 6:8, Isaiah 56:1, Amos 5:4, and Habakkuk 2:4. In
discussing the alleged obligation to conquer the (entire) land of Israel, he
claims that such oft -repeated epitomes trump a smaller number of bibli-
cal texts that discuss land conquest. Such epitomes emphasize the interper-
sonal, prophetic idea of justice rather than national liberation and include
the ideal of proper treatment of the non-Jew in your midst. Th ough these
epitomes recognize God, they highlight the interpersonal. Greenberg dis-
cusses this idea in disproportionate detail while commenting on Ezekiel
18, which he also believes contains a list of such epitomes; he concludes
that section by observing, “the predominance of sociomoral injunctions
stems from the distinctively prophetic appreciation of them as the essence
of God’s requirement of Israel.”35
Greenberg believes that when there are a variety of biblical positions
on a particular issue, the rabbis may off er important insight into which is
normative. Toward the conclusion of his essay on Israel and humanity, he
notes, “Our sages left us a criterion to distinguish between what is more