What Moses was commanded to teach to the ancient Hebrews is not identical to the written words that he recorded in the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament). The Jews also believed that he received oral tradition on Mt. Sinai, when he received the Ten Commandments. The mainstream pharisaic tradition passed into early Christianity, since St. Paul called himself a Pharisee twice, after his conversion to Christianity (Acts 23:6; 26:5), and Jesus opposed the doctrine of the Sadducees, but not that of the Pharisees (Mt 23:2). The Pharisees adhered to oral tradition and the Sadducees rejected it.
Scripture indicates such an oral Torah, not — in its specifics — recorded in the written Torah. The 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia (“Oral Law”) provides some examples:
It appears from the other books of the Old Testament also that certain traditional laws were considered to have been given by God, although they are not mentioned in the Pentateuch. Jeremiah says to the people (Jer. 17: 21-22): “Bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.” In the Pentateuch, on the other hand, there is only the interdiction against work in general (Ex. 20:9-11); nor is it stated anywhere in the Torah that no burdens shall be carried on the Sabbath, while Jeremiah says that the bearing of burdens, as well as all other work, was forbidden to the fathers. It is clear, furthermore, from Amos 8:5, that no business was done on the Sabbath, and in Neh. 10:30-32 this prohibition, like the interdiction against intermarrying with the heathen, is designated as a commandment of God, although only the latter is found in the Pentateuch (Deut. 7:3), while there is no reference to the former. Since the interdictions against carrying burdens and doing business on the Sabbath were regarded as divine laws, although not mentioned in the Pentateuch, it is inferred that there was also a second code.
God made this requirement, that He “commanded” the ancient Hebrews in oral tradition, binding, under pain of Jerusalem being destroyed:
Jeremiah 17:27 (RSV) . . . if you do not listen to me, to keep the sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched.
They “did not listen” and didn’t “hear and receive instruction” (Jer 17:23), so Jerusalem was destroyed for sins not even condemned in the written Law (only the oral Torah).
One contrary argument is Deuteronomy 4:2: “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it; that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” But this was intended only against the common people, not the teachers and judges and Levitical priests, who were given the responsibility of interpreting and elaborating upon the laws and statutes (Deut 17:9-11; Neh 8:7: “. . . helped the people to understand the law . . .”). They did so by consulting existing traditions and in accordance with the rules of how to understand Holy Scripture.
In the written Torah, sacrifices were not permitted anywhere but in the tabernacle (Lev 17:1-5). But, strikingly, the prophet Samuel continued to sacrifice at the “high places” (1 Sam 9:12-13), which sure seems to be contrary to Leviticus 17:8-9; 26:30; and Joshua 22:29. Assuming the rightness of his actions (the immediate context doesn’t indicate otherwise), we must posit an additional oral law that he was aware of.
Surprisingly enough, the written Torah never specifies that Jerusalem would be the central place of worship, or that a temple was to be built there. Neither the words “temple” (i.e., a building) nor “Jerusalem” ever appear. The Torah never foresees a permanent structure for worship.
The early Christians at the Jerusalem Council held views about proper eating, (or, kashrut) – see Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25 — that must have come from the oral Torah. The notions of not eating things sacrificed to idols [Mishnah Avodah Zorah 2:3 in the Jewish Talmud], or things strangled [Mishnah Chullin 1:2] are not found in the written Torah. Jesus, in Revelation 2:14, 20 chides the churches in Pergamum and Thyatira for not observing the ban on eating food sacrificed to idols.
Jesus’ teaching on lust in the Sermon on the Mount was derived from the oral Torah. He stated:
Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
The written Torah had never stated this. Jesus, therefore, appears to be drawing from the oral teaching that Moses received on Mt. Sinai, “Not only is he who sins with his body considered an adulterer, but he who sins with his eye is also considered one.” [Leviticus Rabba 23:12].
The same thing applies to His teachings on prayer. Jesus taught His disciples not to “heap up empty phrases” or use “many words” when they prayed (Mt 6:7), and to not give up or lose heart praying for something they really needed (Lk 18:1-6). Calculating and babbling were forbidden by the oral Torah [Babylonian Talmud, Berekhot 32b], and like Jesus advising His disciples to keep asking God for righteous requests in prayer, the oral Torah likewise stated, “If a man realizes that he has prayed and not been answered, he should pray again” [Babylonian Talmud, ibid.].
Conclusion: the oral Torah seems to be fairly conclusively established from the written biblical record. By analogy, Christian oral apostolic tradition is also upheld as valid in the new covenant, which was a direct development of the old covenant (Matthew 5:17-20).
Photo credit: Moses Descends from Mt. Sinai; print from the Phillip Medhurst Collection of Bible illustrations in the possession of Revd. Philip De Vere at St. George’s Court, Kidderminster, England (1 January 1970); Philip De Vere [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license]
Summary: I summarize arguments from Holy Scripture suggesting that Moses received extensive oral commandments from God on Mt. Sinai in addition to the Ten Commandments.
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