BENEDICT DE SPINOZA: Theological-Political Treatise

Remaining Old Testament books
several divergent epistles of genealogy for each man, and in copying from
them, followed the majority version, but when the number of discrepant
genealogies was equal on either side, then he copied out both versions’.
He thus concedes without reservation that these books were compiled
from originals which had not been adequately corrected or were less than
altogether certain. Furthermore, the commentators themselves, when
attempting to reconcile passages, very often do nothing but reveal how
these errors arise. In any case, I do not think that anyone with a sound
judgment believes that the sacred chroniclers had the deliberate intention
of writing in such a way that they would be seen as continually contradicting
themselves.
[16] Possibly someone will say that I am completely undermining
Scripture by my manner of proceeding, since it may lead everyone to suspect
that the Bible is everywhere full of mistakes. But, on the contrary,
I have shown that my methodology works in favour of Scripture by preventing
passages which are clear and pure from being corrupted to ¢t
defective passages and simply because some passages are defective, we are
not justi¢ed in placing every passage under suspicion. There has never
ever been a book without mistakes: has anyone (I ask) therefore ever supposed
that they were defective throughout Of course not, especially when
the expression is lucid and the meaning of the author is clearly evident.
[17] This completes what I wanted to say about the history of the books
of the Old Testament. Our conclusion is evident: no canon of sacred books 150
ever existed before the time of the Maccabees. 18 The books we now possess
were selected, in preference to many others, by the Second TemplePharisees
who also set out the forms for prayers, and these have been accepted purely
as a consequence of their decisions. Hence, those who seek to demonstrate
the authority of Holy Scripture must prove the authority of each individual
book. It is insu⁄cient to demonstrate the divine character of just one book,
if one wishes to prove the divinity of all. Otherwise we would be obliged to
suppose that the council of the Pharisees could not have erred in their
selection of books, and no one will ever demonstrate that.
The reason driving me to assert it was the Pharisees alone who selected
the books of the Old Testament, placing them in the canon of sacred
18 Spinoza’s footnote: see Annotation 25.
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