Revelation Introduction

INTRODUCTION TO REVELATIONS : M.M.NINAN
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APOCALYPSE LITERATURE
Rabbinic Judaism, and contemporary Orthodox Judaism, hold that the Torah (Pentateuch)
as we have today is essentially the same one that the whole of the Jewish people received
on Mount Sinai, from God, upon their Exodus from Egypt . The Thirteen Principles of
Faith of Orthodox Judaism according to Maimonides insists
that God gave the Torah to Moses and the Israel .
Moses was the greatest of the prophets, and
that the Law given to Moses will never be changed,
Maimonides explains: "We do not know exactly how the Torah was transmitted to
Moses. But when it was transmitted, Moses merely wrote it down like a secretary taking
dictation…(Thus) every verse in the Torah is equally holy, as they all originate from
God, and are all part of God's Torah, which is perfect, holy and true."
According to tradition, God apart from the written tradition gave Moses unwritten oral
teachings, called the Oral Torah. These are handed down by word of mouth. In addition
to this revealed Torah, Jewish people were given laws and principle by prophets, rabbis,
and sages over the course of Jewish history.
The Nevi'im, the books of the Prophets, are considered equally sacred and valid as the
Torah. Unlike the Torah by tradition the prophets are not always read literally. Jewish
tradition has always held that prophets used metaphors and analogies. There exists a wide
range of commentaries explaining and elucidating those verses consisting of metaphor.
In contrast revelation to Moses was generally clearer than revelation to other prophets,
Maimonides in The Guide for the Perplexed said that accounts of revelation in the
Nevi'im were not always as literal as in the Torah and that some prophetic accounts
reflect allegories rather than literal commands or predictions. Thus early Jewish
Christians also considered the prophetic utterance are symbolic and indirect that they may
belie direct literal interpretation always.
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