Texts in Conversation
4 Ezra and Rabbinic tradition in Sifre Deuteronomy similarly interpret the giving of the Torah at Sinai as a unique event directed to Israel, portraying it as something only intended for them to observe.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
4 Ezra 9:31
2 Esdras
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
26 So I went my way, just as he commanded me, into the field which is called Ardat. There I sat among the flowers, and ate of the herbs of the field, and this food satisfied me. 27 It came to pass after seven days that I lay on the grass, and my heart was troubled again, like before. 28 My mouth was opened, and I began to speak before the Lord Most High, and said, 29 “O Lord, you showed yourself among us, to our fathers in the wilderness, when they went out of Egypt, and when they came into the wilderness, where no man treads and that bears no fruit. 30 You said, ‘Hear me, O Israel. Heed my words, O seed of Jacob. 31 For behold, I sow my law in you, and it will bring forth fruit in you, and you will be glorified in it forever.’ 32 But our fathers, who received the law, didn’t keep it, and didn’t observe the statutes. The fruit of the law didn’t perish, for it couldn’t, because it was yours. 33 Yet those who received it perished, because they didn’t keep the thing that was sown in them.
Sifre Deuteronomy 345
Halakhic Midrash
Rabbinic
(Devarim 33:4) "Torah was commanded lanu by Moses": This command is only "lanu," only for our sake. Similarly, (I Kings 8:20) "And I have built the house for the name of the L-rd, the G-d of Israel" — What is the purpose of this house? (Ibid. 21) "And I have built there a place for the ark" — This command is only lanu, only for our sake. Variantly: "Torah was commanded to us by Moses": It is not from Moses alone that we hold the Torah; for our fathers, too, acquired it, viz. (Devarim, Ibid.) "the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob." This tells me (only) of an inheritance for the sons of kings. Whence do I derive the same for the sons of non-kings? From (Devarim. 29:9) "You are standing this day, all of you, etc." Variantly: Do not read it "morashah" ("inheritance"), but me'orasah" ("betrothed"), the Torah being betrothed to Israel, and (it is forbidden) to the gentiiles as (is) a married woman. Similarly, (Mishlei 6:27-29) "Will a man draw forth fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned? Will a man walk on coals and his feet not be scorched? So, he who comes to his friend's wife. No one who touches her shall go clean." Thus "the betrothed of the congregation of Jacob."
Date: 200 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... 4 Ezra clearly views the Sinai event as a special experience of Israel alone (9:26-37) [compare] Sifre to Deuteronomy 345 (redacted mid-3rd century) ..."
Cirafesi, Wally V.
John within Judaism: Religion, Ethnicity, and the Shaping of Jesus-Oriented Jewishness in the Fourth Gospel
(p. 66) Brill, 2022
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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