Strong Questions Of Faith

DovBear asks:

Why is the law collection that makes up parshas Mishpatim addressed to people who live in houses, and not tents?

Why is the Torah talking to a type of society that hadn't yet come into being? And if we're meant to extrapolate from the cases given in the Torah, why isn't there any mention of commerce? There are no merchants, and no artisans. Everyone is presumed to be a farmer who owns sheep, oxen and slaves. Strange. Very strange.…

DNA posted this answer (he is being sarcastic, but this is the standard answer given in yeshivot) on DovBear:

That's simple. You see every time the torah talks about something which didn't yet exist at the time of moshe, it was a book written with prophecy and written for future generations as well.

And every time it seems outmoded and only to deal with ancient circumstances which are irrelevant, or even barbaric, by modern standards, that's because it was written for that time.…

In other words, when the Torah fails we say it was written for a time long ago. Where it succeeds in "predicting" the future, we say it proves God's existence and his Authorship of the Torah. Can't get more closed circle than that.

What do you think? Do you have any better answers?

Comments

[chief doofis]

For a people newly emergent fron Egypt, the concept of houses, rather than tents, would be a familiar one. Ancient Egyptians, unlike the stereotypical Ahab the A(i)rab, did not live in tents. Mud and sand are readily available in Egypt, the sources of hide and other durable tent material, were either scarce or sacred in Pharaonic Egypt.

Commerce, as we know it, existed in Mesopotamia, Egypt was more agrarian. Furthermore, the Hyksos invasions restricted what little commerce there was. Most Egyptian artisans catered to a select few, rather than to the masses. Read your Breasted!!

[Yochanan Lavie]

Although people go through mental gymnastics to defend a literalist reading of the torah, others do the same to disprove the torah. As CD above stated, Egypt was a civilization of houses, and the sojourn in tents was temporary. Canaan was also a settled society, except for the bedouin, who would at least know of houses. The children of Israel weren't meant to stay nomadic forever. What's the issue?

According to the minimalists, either the Exodus never took place, in which we never lived in tents, anyway. Or it did take place, meaning the torah could only talk of dwelling in tents. Make up your mind!

[Yochanan Lavie]

Although people go through mental gymnastics to defend a literalist reading of the torah, others do the same to disprove the torah. As CD above stated, Egypt was a civilization of houses, and the sojourn in tents was temporary. Canaan was also a settled society, except for the bedouin, who would at least know of houses. The children of Israel weren't meant to stay nomadic forever. What's the issue?

According to the minimalists, either the Exodus never took place, in which we never lived in tents, anyway. Or it did take place, meaning the torah could only talk of dwelling in tents. Make up your mind!