How We Know that the Trinity is Not in the Torah?

September 7, 2020 - 18 Elul 5780

Introduction

The first and most basic answer is that God did not explicitly reveal the Trinity in the Torah.

What Christians claim to be God's explicit revelation of the Trinity in the Torah are in fact implicit references to what they assume to be explicit revelations. There is a difference between the words "explicit" and "implicit." God explicitly tells the Jews that His Nature is Unified. He explicitly tells them that He expects them to keep His commandments, and explicitly tells them what will happen if they do not. He does not explicitly tell them that He is a Trinity. When God wants to make something understood clearly and imminently He explains it in an explicit fashion so as to remove any possibility of doubt of what He is referring to. He does not leave it up to conjecture or interpolation. This does not mean that the Torah is low on mystery or enigmatic passages, for any student of the Tanakh knows it contains many. Instead, those passages tend to be found in association with particular details related to narratives and not when describing His true Nature, or His expectations of the Jews or humanity.

The question becomes, if God wanted to reveal Himself as a Trinity why did all Jews up until the first century fail to realize that God had revealed Himself as such?

Some Christians like to make the claim that appearances of particular angels throughout the Torah are in fact appearances of the Second Person in the Trinity before he manifested himself as Jesus. Some common examples are Genesis 18 (and 21) in which three angels visit Abraham's tent, and another is Judges 13, each of which will be examined independently.

1. Genesis 18 - Point 1
2. Genesis 18 - Point 2
3. Judges 13

Muslim Challenge Accepted!

July 8, 2020 - 16 Tammuz 5780

Background

Challenged accepted!

In a debate I had earlier this year with a Muslim about religion, he made the following challenge of me:

Let's see how many of the laws Muslims don't keep. Out of the 613 laws of Moses I challenge you to find 25 laws Muslims don’t keep.

Curious with what I would find, I began to compare the list of the 613 commandments in the Torah with a list I found of 100 commandments in the Q’uran. This took some not-so-fancy-shmancy Excel work and I was able to pull it off.

However, to make the comparison fair, I first removed from the list of the Torah commandments all those that are not applicable today. That left me with 126 (out of 248) positive commandments and 243 (out of 365) negative commandments. That's a total of 369 (out of 613), or about 60%. I also made the (perhaps incorrect) assumption that all of the 100 Q’uran commandments on my list were applicable today. However, because many of them seemed to belong to only a few categories of commandments, it most likely did not affect the outcome of my comparison.

When scanning the list of 100 commandments in the Q’uran it soon became clear to me that the majority, if not all, were either related to commitment to monotheistic practices, respectful treatment of others, or to equity and social justice. Out of these 100 commandments, 61 are positive and 39 are negative.

Because the link to the list of 100 laws in the Q'uran seems to be down, I've included them here in the table below:

Show/hide table

Index	Type	Law
1	Negative	Do not mix the truth with falsehood
2	Positive	Enjoin virtue to others only after practicing it yourself
3	Negative	Do not engage in or spread corruption
4	Negative	Do not prevent people from going to houses of worship
5	Negative	Do not follow anyone blindly
6	Negative	Do not break any promise
7	Negative	Do not engage in bribery
8	Positive	Never engage in fighting as an aggressor but only in defense
9	Negative	Fight when necessary to defend yourselves but do not aggress
10	Positive	Protect orphans
11	Negative	Do not have sexual intercourse during the menstrual period
12	Positive	Choose leaders based on their merit
13	Negative	Do not engage in compulsion regarding religion
14	Negative	Do not invalidate charity by bragging about your generosity
15	Positive	Seek out the needy and help them
16	Positive	Don’t be involved with usury or interest
17	Positive	Grant more time to repay if the debtor is in hard times
18	Positive	Commit to writing any transaction involving the taking or giving of loans
19	Positive	Keep and fulfil all trusts
20	Positive	Believe in all prophets
21	Negative	God does not burden a person beyond his capacity; nor should we
22	Negative	Do not become divided
23	Positive	Restrain anger
24	Positive	Pardon and forgive the mistakes of others
25	Negative	Do not be rude in speech
26	Positive	Think deeply about the wonders of nature and the creation of this universe
27	Positive	Know that God created the universe with meaning and purpose
28	Positive	Men and women have equal rewards for their deeds
29	Positive	Wealth of the dead should be distributed among his family members
30	Positive	Women have the right of inheritance
31	Negative	Do not take for yourself the property of orphans
32	Negative	Do not marry those related to you by blood
33	Negative	Do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly
34	Positive	The man is the protector and supporter of the family
35	Positive	Be good to others
36	Negative	Do not be miserly
37	Negative	Do not envy others
38	Positive	Judge with justice between people
39	Negative	Do not support or be an advocate for those who betray their trusts
40	Positive	Stand out firmly for justice
41	Negative	Support one another in virtue and piety, not in sin or enmity
42	Negative	Do not consume dead animals, the blood of animals, or pork
43	Negative	Be just and do not let hatred swerve you from justice
44	Positive	Know that being just is next to piety
45	Positive	Avoid intoxicants and alcohol
46	Negative	Do not gamble
47	Negative	Do not insult other people’s deities
48	Positive	Be honest; don’t cheat in any of your dealings
49	Negative	Do not be arrogant
50	Negative	Eat and drink but be not excessive
51	Positive	Wear good clothing during prayer times
52	Positive	Forgive others for their mistakes
53	Positive	God puts love and affection between the hearts of those who believe in Him
54	Positive	Protect and help those who seek protection
55	Positive	Strive for purity
56	Positive	Know that the bounty of God is better than anything man can amass or hoard
57	Positive	Never give up hope of Allah’s Mercy
58	Positive	Those who believe in God find satisfaction in remembering Him
59	Positive	Those who believe and do good are given joy and peace of mind
60	Positive	Know that God gave humans hearing, sight, intelligence, and affections so that they might be grateful
61	Positive	Know that Allah forgives a wrong done out of ignorance if the person repents and corrects himself
62	Positive	Inviting others to the way of God should be done with wisdom and graciousness
63	Negative	No one can bear another person’s sins
64	Positive	Be dutiful to parents
65	Negative	Do not say a word of disrespect to parents
66	Negative	Do not spend money extravagantly
67	Negative	Do not kill your children for fear of poverty
68	Negative	Do not commit adultery
69	Positive	Speak to people mildly
70	Negative	Compete with one another in doing good
71	Positive	Avoid vain talk
72	Positive	Guard your modesty
73	Positive	Respect other people’s privacy, especially in their own homes
74	Positive	Know that God provides security and peace to those who worship Him and act virtuously
75	Negative	Do not enter parents’ private room without asking permission
76	Positive	Be modest and humble
77	Negative	Strive for reward in the Hereafter but do not neglect your affairs in this world
78	Negative	Invoke not any other deity along with God
79	Negative	Do not engage in homosexuality
80	Positive	Establish prayer and give in charity
81	Positive	Enjoin the right and forbid the wrong
82	Positive	Be moderate in your bearing and the volume of your speech
83	Negative	Women should not display or flaunt their beauty and charms
84	Positive	God forgives all sins when the sinner repents and turns to Him
85	Positive	Repel evil by something that is better
86	Positive	Decide affairs by consultation
87	Positive	Facilitate peace between those in conflict
88	Negative	Do not ridicule others
89	Positive	Avoid being suspicious
90	Positive	Know that it is only righteousness that makes a person noble
91	Positive	Honor guests
92	Positive	Spend wealth in charity
93	Positive	Know that there should be no monasticism in religion
94	Positive	Those who have knowledge will be given a higher rank by God
95	Positive	Treat non-Muslims in a kind and fair manner
96	Positive	Stay away from greed and stinginess
97	Positive	Enjoin patience and compassion
98	Positive	Those who purify their souls succeed, and those who corrupt their souls fail
99	Negative	Do not ignore or push away the needy
100	Positive	Encourage feeding of the poor

Comparison Method

Because I don’t have any comparison software, the method I used when comparing the lists was to mark off any Torah commandment that was not related to the description of Q’uranic laws mentioned above. I was quite conservative with my selection, not eliminating any commandments that even slightly resembled the categories above. In other words, I erred on the side of caution by not removing Torah commandments that I even suspected were similar to those found in the Q'uran.

I as well did not mark off any commandments related to dietary restrictions (although that may have been inaccurate given that Muslims believe that Jews invented many dietary restrictions), and commandments related to sacrificing animals during festivals, which occurs during certain Muslim holidays.

This as well included all prohibitions against any type of idolatry, as well as those that are almost certainly not mentioned in the Q'uran, such as Ov and Yidoni, and any type of witchcraft or sorcery.

In short, the only commandments that I reasoned were certainly not found in the Q'uran were those directly relevant to Jews, such as Jewish holidays, Shemita, tefillin, recital of the Shema, kilayim (a prohibition on mixing species), sha’atnez (prohibition against wearing a garment made of both linen and wool), not mixing meat and milk, and commandments related to Levites and Priests (Cohanim).

The Findings

My Muslim debater challenged me to find 25 commandments from the Torah that Muslims currently do not observe. Applying a conservative counting method I found 238.

Breaking this down, I found that Muslims almost certainly do not observe 55 (43%) of the 126 positive Torah commandments relevant today, and 183 (75%) of 243 negative commandments. In other words, they observe 57% of the positive and 25% of the negative. In total, out of the 369 commandments applicable today, Muslims observe 131, or 35% (55 + 183 = 238. 369 - 238 = 131).

To put this into perspective of the Muslim claim against the preservation of the Torah, this 35% refers to the commonality between the Torah and the Q'uran in terms of laws. In other words, because Muslims believe the Q'uran to be the standard of truth, the percentage of the applicable commandments that Muslims assume the Jews to have corrupted over time is 65%.

If you calculate the difference based on all 613 commandments, and not just the ones that are applicable today, Muslims keep 21%. This indicates that the Jews invented 482 (79%) of the 613 commandments that they consider to be the original Torah.

Islam's Burden of Proof Against Judaism

Introduction

Islam's view on Judaism may be accurately described as considering it to be a remnant of God's first revelation to the human race. To that end, while the Tawrat (Tanakh) and Zabur (Psalms) contain within them many great points of wisdom and commandments, they have been both deliberately and accidentally modified, in terms of both their actual text and interpretations. Their tampered-with state required a second revelation known in Islam as the Injil (Gospels) revealed by Jesus, which was also corrupted, and culminated in the final revelation of the Q'uran revealed by the angel Gabriel to Muhammad.

Are the Arguments Equally Valid?

It is noteworthy that Judaism's and Islam's view on each other are virtually identical; each holds that the scripture of the other is not the absolute Word of God. In this way they are locked in an unresolveable stalemate. However, their ability to argue against the validity of the other is not identical; Judaism has a distinct advantage.

Judaism's argument in defense of itself (or against Islam, depending on how you want to see it) has three distinct advantages over Islam's argument against Judaism:

• Point 1 - Textual Support
• Point 2 - Burden of Proof
• Point 3 - The Seal of the Prophets
• Case Study - Discrepancies in Dietary Commandments
• Conclusion

Point 1 - Textual Support

The first and basic point is the argument made by any religion that proposes itself to have been revealed by God; a scripture containing any fundamentally different commandments is a priory assumed to not have been revealed. This is substantiated by the verse in Deuteronomy 4:2 in the Torah, which states, "Do not add to the word which I command you, nor diminish from it...".

Point 2 - Burden of Proof

Point 1 is corroborated by a well-known logical and legal requirement known as "the burden of proof." According to Wikipedia's article titled Burden of proof (law), "In a legal dispute, one party is initially presumed to be correct, while the other side bears the burden of producing evidence persuasive enough to establish the truth of facts needed to satisfy all the required legal elements of legal dispute." Further, the "burden of proof is always on the person who brings a claim in a dispute." Applying these legal definitions to the case at hand, Judaism is initially presumed to be correct, and the burden of proof falls on Islam, which is the Plaintiff.

Point 3 - The Seal of the Prophets

Not only is the argument in Point 1 a logically valid presupposition, it is used by Islam as well when rejecting the Divine authority of all religions subsequent to Islam. This is formalized as doctrine in the verse "Muhammad is not the father of [any] one of your men, but [he is] the Messenger of Allah and last of the prophets. And ever is Allah, of all things, Knowing." (Surah 33 [al-Ma'idah], ayah 40)

Case Study - Discrepancies in Dietary Commandments

For example, the Q'uran's dietary laws are different than the ones found in the Torah; the Q'uran only forbids the consumption of carrion, blood, and pig:

Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah, and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter [before its death], and those which are sacrificed on stone altars, and [prohibited is] that you seek decision through divining arrows. That is grave disobedience. (Surah 5 [al-Maʼidah], ayah 3)

The Q'uran explains this discrepancy by claiming that the Jews of Muhammad's time invented their own dietary restrictions that God did not reveal. For example, the Q'uran says that the Jews invented the prohibition against the consumption of camel meat:

"All food was lawful to the Children of Israel except what Israel had made unlawful to himself before the Torah was revealed. Say, [O Muhammad], 'So bring the Torah and recite it, if you should be truthful.'" (Surah 3 [al-Imran], ayah 93)

According to the Muslim tafasir (commentators on the Q'uran) on this verse, Jacob took vows not to eat certain foods (camel meat and camel milk) before the revelation of the Torah, although the Jews deceitfully claimed that the Torah itself restricted it. This is why the verse says, "So bring the Torah and recite it, if you should be truthful." Muhammad wanted the Jews to show him the verse in the Torah forbidding the consumption of camel meat. According to the commentary on this Q'uranic verse the Jews were unable to show him the Torah source, indicating that they had lied about the prohibition of eating camel meat.

The Jews' inability to produce these verses is strange given that the Torah contains two verses forbidding the consumption of camel meat:

1. But these you shall not eat among those that bring up the cud and those that have a cloven hoof: the camel, because it brings up its cud, but does not have a [completely] cloven hoof; it is unclean for you. (Leviticus 11:4)


2. But you shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those that have the split hooves: the cloven one, the camel, the hyrax, and the hare, for they chew the cud, but do not have split hooves; they are unclean for you. (Deuteronomy 14:7)

Their inability to produce proof texts also indicates that the Jews (deliberately or in-deliberately) confused between rabbinic legislation and Divine revelation. According to an article by faith columnist Imam Jawad Rasul of the Augusta Chronicle, "The addition of rabbinic commentary within the general definition of Torah complicates and confuses between word of God and word of man." However, Orthodox Jews today understand the distinction between laws found in the Torah and legislation introduced by the rabbis, and there is no reason to think the Jews of Saudi Arabia in the seventh century were not aware of this distinction.

Interestingly enough, Islam has its own sources of legislation outside of the Q'uran, namely Hadith, Sunnah, and fiqh, some of which which add dietary restrictions to the ones found in Surah 5 (al-Maʼidah), ayah 3. The conclusion is that in addition to prohibiting the consumption of carrion, blood, and pig meat, Islam as well most likely prohibits the flesh of donkeys, predatory animals with fangs (such as cats, dogs, and bears), predatory birds with talons (such as owls), lizards, snakes, scorpions, and mice. Muslim scholarship disagrees on whether shrimp is a permitted form of seafood, but prohibits crocodiles, crabs, lobsters, and mollusks. These restrictions are not found in the Q'uran.

Conclusion

Even if the rules prohibiting the consumption of animals in the Torah were rabbinic (which they are not because they are found in actual verses), Islam itself accepts the validity of its own sources of extra-Q'uranic legislation. As long as Islam relies on fiqh to properly observe the religion of Islam, Surah 3 [al-Imran], ayah 93, which claims that the Jews added rabbinical legislation and/or interpretation to the corpus of their Divinely revealed scripture, is an essentially meaningless criticism. In other words, Fiqh is Islam's corollary to Judaism's Halacha. On the same grounds this argument can be applied to other Q'uranic criticisms of the Torah as well. It seems that as Islam found itself increasingly needing to grapple with the complexities of the application of law, it became increasingly similar to the Judaism that it challenged.

Note that Jews may (and perhaps should) consider the Arabs' adoption of a legal monotheistic code a positive thing without assuming that it replaces the Torah. It may be binding on them with having no effect on the Jews.