While he was prime minister, David Ben-Gurion used to have regular Tanach study sessions. The group met in his home every other week. It included Bible scholars who held traditional views as well as those with more critical views.
I came across a book that collects some of the presentations that Ben-Gurion made to this group. It was published in Hebrew in 1969, but then came out in English: Ben-Gurion Looks at the Bible. (I obtained it from Aryeh Wiener. Thank you, Aryeh!)
The statements that Ben-Gurion makes in his various presentations are fascinating and I am going to collect some here:—“During the exile, the image of our people was distorted, and the image of the Bible twisted. Christian Bible scholars, with Christian and anti-Semitic motives, turned the Bible toward Christianity. Even Jewish commentators, who were uprooted from the environment of the Bible-from its spiritual and physical climate- have not yet been able to understand the Book of Books properly. Only now that we have again become a free nation on its own soil, and can again breathe in the air which surrounds the Bible at its creation, has the time come… to deal with the essence and truth of the Bible, historically and geographically, as well as religiously and culturally.” (P. 53)
“The old commentators ….missed several problems, because as members of an exiled people, dispersed among foreigners, they did not properly grasp the meaning of the concepts of the conquest and settlement of the land, and were not aware of the nature of the country or the desert. But… our generation is able to see things in their proper light, though it is not easy to penetrate the mysteries of a past that is 3000-4000 years old.” (P. 105)
“I accept completely Professor [Yechezkel] Kaufman’s refutation of the criticism of the Bible by Wellhausen… which to my mind, arbitrarily tortures the Torah and the Prophets by using unfounded flimsy hypotheses.” (P. 56)
“In the last 80 years no Hebrew book as important, original and as useful has appeared as [Kaufman’s] A History of the Israelite Faith…I learned more from this book than I learned from all the Hebrew books which have appeared in the last 80 years on the history of religion.” (P. 203)
“I am certain that if the authors of the books of the Early and Later Prophets had written the history of the Holocaust, they would have begun with these words: “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of God and he delivered them to Hitler…” (P. 82)
“We read [in Gen. chap. 10] that the descendants of Ham are ‘Cush, Mitzraim, Put and Canaan.’ But Canaan does not belong to the family of Ham because the language of Canaan was Hebrew…” (P. 218)
“I do not understand why people say ‘aseret hadibrot’…using the feminine form when the Bible says ‘aseret hadevarim.’ ” (P. 73)
“I have no doubt about the authenticity and importance of the exodus from Egypt, something which was etched so deeply in the memory of the nation and referred to by almost all of the prophets… [He cites many verses.]It is impossible that this ancient memory not be based on fact.” (P. 101)
“It is obvious that the word גר is not used here in its later Talmudic sense: a non-Jew who was converted, but [refers rather to] a non-Israelite who lived in their midst.” (P. 74). Ben-Gurion is referring to Lev. 19:33-34 and the obligation to love the “ger.”
“The establishment of the State and the War of Independence… cast a new light on our distant past. Questions which previously did not occur to me as I read the Bible, were aroused within me with an intensity that allowed me no rest.” (P. 57) He is referring, for example, to how the Israelites obtained food in the early years of the conquest.
“Abraham was an excellent strategist and chose the most suitable time to attack: at night [see Gen. 14:15], when the enemy was weary and lay down to rest. The Israeli army in our day has also preferred night operations…” (P. 133)
“ ‘Edomites came to Eilat and they lived there until this day.’ II Kings 16:6. In our times, in March 1949, the Israeli army entered Eilat and returned it to Israel.”(P. 178)
“Who were the עברים who, together with the Philistines, came to fight [against] the Israelites in the days of Saul [and eventually joined the Israelites]? ” (P. 109) Ben-Gurion is referring to 1 Sam. 14:21.
Ben-Gurion held some very non-traditional views. For example:
“The Hebrew people always lived in the land, and only one of its families went down to Egypt. The third generation of those who went down to Egypt left Egypt and returned to its land after wandering in the desert during which time Moses, through the lofty revelation of a Torah, refined the ancient faith of the Hebrews…” (P. 114)
“When the Israelites returned to their land under the leadership of Joshua, here and there they had to fight hostile neighbors from among the peoples of Canaan. There is no doubt that they were aided by their Hebrew countrymen.” (P. 226)
“If the number of those who left Egypt was only 600 or even several hundred more…then we can explain their wanderings in the desert, their entrance into the land, and their eating from the produce of the land immediately after arriving there. They had returned to their countrymen who had always lived in the land along with several of the Canaanite nations. For even before Joseph went down to Egypt…Joseph said to the chief cupbearer: ‘I was kidnapped mei-eretz ha-Ivrim ‘.“ (Gen 40:15). (P. 125)
“Abraham, who attained a faith in one God by himself…knew of the existence of a Hebrew nation which believed in this one God- a people located in the land of Canaan; and an inner voice told him to go and join up with this nation… (P. 68)
Regarding the last word in the Tanach (at the end of Chronicles): ויעל, from the decree of Cyrus: “This was a unique privilege to be merited by a non-Jewish ruler; to complete the Book of Books; and to complete it with a word which even today has fateful significance for all of the Jewish people [i.e., ויעל is related to the word “aliyah”].” (P. 265)
Finally, regarding “miracles’’ in Jewish history, here are some of his thoughts on the creation of the State: “And when I look back and consider the history of our revival in the last three generations…the revival of the Hebrew language and the transformation of most of the immigrants into field and factory workers; the war of the few against the many, the expansion of the borders as compared to the boundaries of the U.N. General Assembly of Nov. 29 1947; the flight of the Arabs from the confines of the State which had already begun in December, 1947; and the setting up of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel contrary to the U.N. decision- I see a great and awesome miracle, even though I know that everything was done ‘naturally’.” (P. 82)
Mitchell First can be reached at [email protected] Ben-Gurion was known for standing upside down on his head for health reasons. He also taught himself ancient Greek so he could read sources like Thucydides and Plato in the original to better understand the lessons they offered to the Jewish state. (Not sure if he did this while upside down!)
P.S. I have a new book: Words for the Wise: Sixty-Two Insights on Hebrew, Holidays, History and Liturgy. It is available at kodeshpress.com and at Jewish bookstores.
By Mitchell First
