Several others echoed his reservations but argued that the usefulness of a commonly accepted division of the Bible overcame theological objections.
They were right to be wary, for while the vast majority of the chapters divisions were sensible demarcations between different sections, there were also some highly controversial ones, especially in the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis.
Chapter divisions were incorporated into the Jewish editions of the Tanach in medieval times[Missing Credit]
Chapter 2, for instance, should really start at verse 4, as the first three verses belong to Chapter 1, being about the seventh day of Creation and concluding the description of the origins of the world. It seems likely that the obvious literary unity was disregarded in favour of Christian polemic, to separate the Sabbath from the rest of the Creation story. This diminishes the importance of the former and removes problems over substituting Sunday as the Sabbath in commemoration of Jesus’s resurrection.
A similar suspicion occurs with the position of Chapter 3, which occurs in the middle of the literary unit 2.4 to 3.22 and unnecessarily interrupts the narrative. Again, there is a clear Christological motive at work here, highlighting the serpent, leading to the Fall of Man and emphasising the need for salvation through Jesus.
Chapter 4 seems misplaced too. The thematic break in the narrative is three verses earlier at 3.22, but the chapter division seems to have been deliberately placed to give prominence to the sex act.
It is the first occurrence recorded, and sex was thenceforth associated with sin in Christian teaching following the expulsion from Eden.
Given the theological battles that were being waged in the selection of chapters and verses, it is astonishing that their Christian origins were soon forgotten in Jewish circles.
[Missing Credit]
At the end of each of the Five Books of Moses in a Chumash, there is usually a verse printed that is taken from elsewhere in the Bible that contains a word whose numerical value reflects the number of chapters in that book, as if giving it Jewish imprimatur.
Thus Genesis consists of 50 chapters and is usually followed by Isaiah 33.2 “we have waited for you” in which the Hebrew word l’cha “for you” has the numerical value of 50. Similarly matching “proof texts” are placed at the end of the other four books.
The ignorance of the Christian nature of the chapter divisions was compounded by later rabbis who, without having the benefit of critical scholarship, declared that the chapter divisions came from Mount Sinai and are an essential part of the Hebrew text. Almost certainly not.
So what are the Jewish divisions of the Bible? They are the petuchot (open) and semachot (closed) – long gaps and short gaps – and usually indicated by the letters peh and samech in printed versions of the text alongside those gaps.
They are to be found in the very earliest texts, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, thus going back as far as the first century. Perhaps even earlier if the Talmud is right that they originated with Moses and warns that they are not to be altered (Shabbat 103b).
They serve to divide the text into smaller and more manageable sections and in such a way as to form a literary structure in the process.
Passage from the traditional Chumash text showing breaks marked by letters samech and peh[Missing Credit]
They can be compared to the division of a Shakespearian play into Acts and Scenes, with the petuchot separating the text into thematic units, while the semachot indicate sub-units within them.
Whether that editor was divine, or human, or even a committee has yet to be determined.
This is an extract from a new book of essays, Judaism Uncovered, celebrating the 70th anniversary of Leo Baeck College edited by Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain. Copies at £9.99 are available from: valerie@lbc.ac.uk
