BENEDICT DE SPINOZA: Theological-Political Treatise

Theological-Political Treatise
b o oks , is that Dani el 12.2 a⁄r ms the re su r re ction of the dead which the
Sadduce e s deni e d. Equally, the Phar is e e s the ms elve s plainly tell us a s
much in the Talmud. For in the treat is e Sa b b a t (c h . 2 , folio 30 , p.2)
‘Rabbi Jehuda , sp e aking in the name of Rab, s aid: the le ar n e d s ough t to
suppres s the b o ok of Eccle s ia ste s , b e c aus e its words are not c ons iste n t
with the words of the Law’ (n.b., the b o ok of the Law of Mo s e s). ‘But why
did they not withdraw it Be c aus e it b e g ins with the Law and e nds with
the Law’. Sligh tly fu r the r on he adds ,‘and they als o s ough t to suppre s s
the b o ok of Prove rbs’, e tc. Finally (in ch. 1, folio 13 , p.2 of the s ame
treatise) he remarks: ‘Remember that man for his generous spirit, whose
name was Neghunja, the son of Hiskia; for without him the book of
Ezekiel would have been discarded, because its words contradicted the
words of the Law’, etc. It very clearly follows from this that the learned in
the Law called together a council to determine what kind of books
should be received as sacred and which should be excluded. Hence,
anyone desirous of being sure about the authority of them all, must go
through the entire deliberative process afresh seeking justi¢cation for
each of them.
[18] Now it should be time likewise to examine in the same manner
the books of the New Testament. However, I am well aware that this has
already been done by men expert in the relevant ¢elds of knowledge and
especially the [requisite] languages whereas I myself do not have so
accurate a knowledge of Greek that I would dare to enter this ¢eld; on
151 top of which we lack the originals of the books originally composed in
Hebrew. For all these reasons I prefer not to undertake this task, though I
do want to note the things most relevant to my design and I shall do this
in the following chapter.
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