THE STORY OF RABBI ELIEZER BY PROFESSOR STONE
The Story of Rabbi Eliezer by Professor Julius Stone.
Divine authority and Scholarly reason:
From Julius Stone’s book ( 1965) HUMAN LAW AND HUMAN JUSTICE PUBLISHED WORLDWIDE. USA, India United Kingdom and Australia. P 27.
The famous struggle between Rabbi Eliezer as a sole dissenter, and the rest of his colleagues who took the opposite view on the matter before them, has been given diverse interpretations. We ourselves find it most significant in its reflection on the divine authority of the law and the reasoned consensus of scholarly interpreters. To persuade his colleagues (we are told) Eliezer invoked divine intervention, solemnly causing a tree to uproot itself and move, and water to flow backwards. But the company of scholars declared that ‘Trees were no evidence” nor was water either. Then Eliezer called upon the walls of their assembly place to witness that he spoke the divine truth. And the walls indeed began to topple down, until Rabbi Yehoshua of the majority shouted angrily at them not to interfere. ( When scholars debate the Halakha, ( Jewish common law) its none of your business!”; but though they thereupon ceased to topple down, out of respect for him, they did not stand quite erect either out of respect for Eliezer. Finally Eleizer sought help from the voice of Heaven itself, the Bath Kol, and this great voice was indeed heard to declare that the Halakha was “always as Eliezer says.” But now Yehosua arose and spoke saying, “The law is not in heaven: the law has been handed down to us on earth from Mount Sinai, and we no longer take notice of heavenly voices, for the law which we were handed down provides that decisions shall be taken by majority”.
And so it was; and we are also told that at that moment the Lord was speaking to Elijah the prophet; and the Lord smiled and said, “My children have defeated me, my children have defeated me.” Not only in short did the learned stand their ground even against divine intervention, the ground on which they chose to stand was of such reason and wisdom as it had lain in them to find by study and counsel amongst themselves.
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Hebrew Notions of Justice through Law and rational proof.
P 29: The exigencies of finding the true facts were thus used to mitigate the rigours of the substantive law. When Solomon prayed for “an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad.” It “pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing” (96) And when Isiah denounced the straying of Israel from the ways of justice, the claims of truth, judgment and vengeance , and of the orphan, the widow, the weak and the oppressed were inextricably woven together in his timeless words.
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My Comment:
Jewish thoughts on justice are essentially tribal. The Tribe decided by majority, and when that was done meted out punishment. Christian teachings are anti-tribal, and stress individuality. The return to tribalism, called communism, fascism, and certain types of Christian worship, with paternal or tribal structures, is not within the spirit of the teachings of Christianity. Christianity separated the power of the King and or his officers, military or otherwise, to make judgments, and the individuality this encouraged eventually led Europe out of the dark ages, and the United Kingdom into about 400 years of unbridled prosperity, and the establishment of colonies worldwide. Ironically Jews have flocked to Christian Justice, and flourished under its protection. Likewise Europeans from under various patriarchial denominations have taken root here. Like God Almighty, Australia has accepted all who come, and benefited greatly from their presence.
What we probably need, is another Elisha the Prophet, to warn against the adoption of failed tribalistic law, in the form of absolute power in public officers, and a call for a return to the Christian separation of powers as taught by Jesus Christ.
Peter Gargan. June 2005.