Heavenly Voice
Long ago, a few rabbis posing as scribes huddled together for a major announcement. A heavenly voice was about to announce the mortal whose words were also the words of the living God. In other words, whose words would get to become the first canonized books of the Bible. All of them made many arguments for the sake of Heaven just to get to this point.
Said Rabbi J, "The heavenly voice is on my side, guys. My words are the words of the living God."
Said Rabbi E, "Don't count on it! That voice will announce me as the Bible winner!"
Said Rabbi P, "Oh, really? My stuff will be determined to be the single correct version! It's only a matter of moments."
Said Rabbi D, "No way, pals! This, my masterpiece, will be judged as the one correct version to kick-start Project Bible. Your second-rate tidbits here and there are not up to the standards for authoritative consideration!"
Then did the heavenly voice indeed make a major announcement.
"Mashugana! Mashugana! All this!" came the pronouncement.
The scribes became startled and turned to one of their own, Rabbi R.
"What did the heavenly voice say?" they asked in unison.
Said Rabbi R, pointing to each leading scribe present, "Your words, and your words, and your words, and your words, are all words of the living God."
In truth, even Rabbi R could not comprehend the exasperation and even confusion that the heavenly voice had expressed.
Author's Note: Chapters will be written out of order, and may be rearranged later on.
All Bible quotations found in future chapters come from the NJPS version, unless specified otherwise.