[metmom]

The teachings came before The Book. Those teachers who trace their teachers most directly back to Moses are the best source authority.

Word of mouth is notoriously unreliable.

That is no authority.

[jjotto]

It is if God says He chose a people to transmit it. He chose a people, not a scripture.

“He sheweth His Word unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for His judgments, they have not known them.”