ers, going back at least to the time of Ezra, “asageskilled in the law of Mo-
ses” (Ezra 7:6). Although Scripture’s interpreters included people from
many different orientations and walks of life, wild-eyed visionaries, priests
and temple officials, experts in law and jurisprudence, and so forth —all
appear to have been touched by this crucial consilience of scriptural inter-
pretation and ancient Near Eastern wisdom.***
Such was biblical interpretation in early Judaism. To modern eyes, some of
it may not appear to be interpretation at all; certainly some of the claims
made about the meaning of this or that verse or passage seem to us highly
fanciful, if not patently apologetic or forced, though in fairness one ought
to note that modern biblical commentaries are themselves not entirely free
of such traits, even if they are usually more subtle about their intentions.
But whatever one’s judgment of the work of these interpreters, their im-
portance can scarcely be gainsaid. It is not just that, as mentioned earlier,
they determined the basic way that the Bible would be approached for the
next two millennia. Their Four Assumptions continued to be assumed by
all interpreters until well after the Renaissance and the Protestant Refor-
mation of the sixteenth century; indeed, they are, to a great extent, still
with us today. But still more important was the effect that these ancient in-
terpreters had on their own contemporaries. Had they not succeeded in
persuading their listeners that biblical texts did indeed have a message vital
to people in their own day; and that the biblical corpus was perfectly con-
sistent and harmonious, free of any error or defect; indeed, that these texts
had been given by God for the purpose of guiding humans on their path, if
only they were clever enough to understand the hidden meaning of many
of its verses — had they not succeeded in getting these basic ideas and this
basic approach across through myriad examples of actual interpretations,
it seems quite unlikely that the writings of ancient Israel would ever have
become what they did, the centerpiece of two great biblical religions, Juda-
ism and Christianity.bibliography
Anderson, Gary. 2001.The Genesis of Perfection: Adam and Eve in Jewish and Chris-
tian Imagination.Louisville: Westminster John Knox.176james l. kugelEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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