Life After Death_ A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion - Alan Segal [376]
Many of the proofs are subjected to rigorous examination. For example:
Sectarians asked Rabban Gamliel: Whence do we know that the Holy One, blessed be He, will resurrect the dead? He answered them from the Torah, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa, yet they did not accept it [as conclusive proof]: From the Torah, for it is written And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold thou shalt sleep with thy fathers and rise up [again]. But perhaps, said they to him [the verse reads] and the people will rise up?
The Rabbis assumed that everyone is familiar with the passage to know that the next word in the sentence after “rise up” is “the people.” It happens that the two words occur in different verses in our Bible, so it is conventional to consider that there is a full stop between them, indicating that the sentence has ended. But the Rabbinic Torah originally had not yet received the standard punctuation. The issue, in effect, becomes one of punctuation. The word order of prose narrative Hebrew is exactly “Thou shalt sleep with thy fathers and rise up the people.” Normally, we think Moses slept and the people arose. But, by reading across the two sentences, one can also compose the following sentence: “Thou shalt sleep with thy fathers and rise up. [Now] the people …” even though the normal expectation in Hebrew syntax would be that Moses died and the people rose up to go astray. The Rabbis’ proof depends on moving the full stop one word into the next sentence. But they were not satisfied with this weak proof. Thus, the heretics were not satisfactorily answered, again raising the level of suspense. The Rabbis objected to a Rabbinic proof-text that was actually used to defend the faithful against the skepticism of heretics.
But Deuteronomy 11:21 or 4:4 is said to please them:
Thus he did not satisfy them until he quoted this verse, which the Lord swore unto your fathers to give … (Deut 11:21) to them; not to you, but to them is said: hence resurrection is derived from the Torah. Others say that he proved it from this verse. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day. (Deut 4:4)
On the other hand, there are places where the great inventiveness of one Rabbi is immediately admired by his colleagues. One imagines that the Rabbis admire the argument, were amused by its virtuosity, even when they question it.
Our Rabbis taught: I kill and I make alive (Deut 32:39); I might interpret, I kill one person and give life to another, as the world goes on. Therefore the Bible says: I wound and I heal. Just as the wounding and healing refer to the same person, so putting to death and bringing to life refer to the same person. This refutes those who maintain that resurrection is not intimated in the Torah.
It has been taught: R Meir said, “Whence do we know resurrection from the Torah? From the verse, Then shall Moses and the children of Israel sing this song unto the Lord (Exod 15:1): not sang but shall sing is written: thus resurrection is taught in the Torah. Likewise you read, Then shall Joshua build an altar unto the Lord God of Israel: not built, but shall build is written: thus resurrection is intimated in the Torah. If so, then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab? Does that too mean that he shall build? But there the writ regards him as though he had built. (b. Sanh. 91b)
Rabba said: Whence is resurrection derived from the Torah? From the verse, Let Reuben live, and not die (Deut 33:16). Rabina said, [it is derived] from this verse, And many of them