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Rejection of the Oral Law From a Karaite Perspective

1) Throughout the Hebrew Bible, the word Torah (in the sense of the
body/corpus of Divine Instruction) is always used in the singular. Were
the Mishnah a genuine (oral) Torah, surely somewhere in the Scriptures
the existence of two torot (Torahs) would have been mentioned at least
once. On the other hand the Rabbanites specifically claim that there
are two Torahs, the written Torah and the Oral Torah. Yet the term
Torah, when meaning 'collection of divine instruction,' never appears
in the plural in the entire Tenakh. All we read about in the Tenakh is
a singular Torah of Moses, never the Torahs of Moses

2) Throughout the six divisions of the Mishnah there is a lack of the
Biblical formula, "And YHWH spoke to Moses and Aaron." Instead in the
Mishnah it is written "Rabbi so-and-so said to Rabbi so-and-so." The
Mishnah is thus clearly the words of men.

3)The Tenakh reports that the written Torah was both lost and forgotten
for over 50 years and only rediscovered by the Temple Priests (2Kings
22:8, 2 Chronicles 34:15). It is inconceivable that an oral law could
have been remembered (it's very large) when even the written Law was
forgotten - especially since the "Oral Law" is dependent on the Written
Law to derive its full meaning.

4) The Rabbis claim that the "Oral Law" was given on Mount Sinai as the
official interpretation of the Torah. Yet if one actually looks at the
Mishnah and Talmud they are full of the opinions of Rabbis who disagree
with each other on almost every issue. The Rabbis explain that whenever
there are such disagreements, "both opinions are the words of the
living God." While it is possible for two learned individuals to reach
differing binding conclusions, reason dictates that at least one of
them is wrong. We maintain that it is unreasonable to believe that God
would consistently contradict himself.

5) The Rabbis contend that the "Oral Law" was given to Moses at Mt
Sinai. This is hard to believe since the Torah itself was not given in
its entirety to Moses and the Israelites at Mt Sinai. Rather, it was
given to the Israelites in a series of revelations over a period of 40
years in the desert. Each revelation took a form similar to that in the
following verse: "And YHWH spoke unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai
in the second year of their going out from the land of Egypt in the
first month saying..." (Numbers 9:1) If the Rabbis are correct this
means that Moses learned the "Oral Law" and its explanation of key
verses before he learned these key verses!

Textual Reasons for the rejection of the "Oral Law"

The logical objections to the "Oral Law" would be meaningless if they
were not supported by sound textual evidence. Below are a few of the
many examples that demonstrate that the Written Law stands alone as
God's instruction to the Israelites:

1) The YHWH, Your God, will make you most prosperous . . . for YHWH
will again rejoice over you for good, as He rejoiced over your father;
if you shall hearken to the voice of YHWH your God, to keep his
commandments which are written in this book of the Torah. (Deuteronomy
30:9-10)

2) And Moses wrote this Law, and delivered it unto the priests, sons of
Levi...(Deuteronomy 31:9)

3) When all Israel is come to appear before your God in the place which
he shall choose you shall read this law before all Israel in their
hearing. (Deuteronomy 31:11)

4) This book of the Law (Torah) shall not depart out of your mouth; but
you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do
according to all that is written therein. (Joshua 1:8)

5) After that, he read all the words of the Law, the Blessing and the
Curse, just as is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word
of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua failed to read in the
presence of the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and
children and the strangers who accompanied them (Joshua 8:34-35)

This last verse could stand alone in summing up the entire Karaite
argument. It explicitly states that Joshua read every single word that
Moses commanded. To "read" something implies it is written down. In
this case, the verse indicates that he read the text "Just as is
written." Had Moses given the Israelites a second "Oral" Torah, Joshua
would not have been able to "read" all the words that Moses had
commanded. Furthermore, Verse 1 states that the only thing we need to
do for YHWH to rejoice over us is to follow the written commandments.
This negates the importance of an alleged "Oral Law." For God would not
give an "Oral Law," which as the Rabbis claim is religiously binding,
and then negate its importance.

Collectively these verses show that the Israelites received one law
from YHWH, all of the words of the law were written so that they may be
read aloud and followed by the nation of Israel to gain favor with
YHWH.